SHAWN "JAY Z" CARTER AND WEINSTEIN TELEVISION PARTNER WITH SPIKE TV FOR A LANDMARK TELEVISION EVENT
Six-Part Event Series Tackles The Story Of Kalief Browder And His Legacy That Shines A Light On The Extensive Inequality Within The Criminal Justice System
"TIME: The Kalief Browder Story"
Premieres on Spike in January 2017
New York, NY, October 6, 2016 - Weinstein Television and Shawn "Jay Z" Carter have teamed up with Spike TV for a groundbreaking event series that will forever change the way we look at the criminal justice system in this country.
"TIME: The Kalief Browder Story" a compelling, six-part documentary event series tells the story of Kalief Browder, a young African-American student who spent three years on Rikers Island without ever being convicted of a crime.
Browder was a 16-year old high school student from the Bronx walking home from a party when he was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack. He spent an unthinkable three years in jail awaiting trial; two of those years in solitary confinement. The case never went to trial and the chargers were ultimately dropped. After his release from Rikers Island, he took his own life. His story and the challenges it poses to our understanding of American freedoms are at the heart of the event series.
"TIME: The Kalief Browder Story" set to debut on Spike in January 2017, will be an important television event that takes a comprehensive look at Browder's story using first-person accounts, archival footage, and cinematic recreations of key scenes from Browder's life to present a definitive narrative of the shocking story that became a symbolic touchstone for criminal justice activism and reform. "TIME: The Kalief Browder Story" will feature exclusive interviews from a wide range of those connected to the story, from politicians to close friends and family members to social reformers.
"Kalief Browder is a modern day prophet; his story a failure of the judicial process," said Carter. "A young man, and I emphasize young man, who lost his life because of a broken system. His tragedy has brought atrocities to light and now we must confront the issues and events that occurred so other young men can have a chance at justice."
"JAY Z, Kevin Kay, Sharon Levy and the entire team at Spike have been incredible partners on this project. What happened to Kalief is heartbreaking, but sadly, in reality, not the first of its kind. This series will take an important look at why Kalief's life was cut so short, the flaws in our justice system and hopefully will continue some powerful conversations and movements for some much needed reform," said TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein.
"Kalief's story should endure and inspire much-needed change in the criminal justice system," said Sharon Levy, Spike's Executive Vice President, Original Series. "When Weinstein Television brought us this project, we immediately knew it was a story that had to be told."
"The story on the evening news created a lot of attention and action around Kalief Browder, but it wasn't the whole story. If Kalief Browder's life matters then his whole life matters, and that's how we have been approaching this project," said Jenner Furst, the director of this six-part series, from his Brooklyn-based company The Cinemart.
Executive Producers for "TIME: The Kalief Browder Story" include Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, Harvey Weinstein, David Glasser, Jenner Furst, Nick Sandow, Julia Willoughby Nason, and Michael Gasparro. Sharon Levy is Spike's Executive Vice President, Original Series, Chachi Senior is Senior Vice President of Original Series for Spike and will oversee the documentary series for the network.
About Spike TV:
Spike TV is available in 91.4 million homes and is a division of Viacom Media Networks. A unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), Viacom Media Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV's Internet address is www.spike.com.
About Roc Nation:
Founded in 2008, Roc Nation is a full-service entertainment company, inclusive of artist, songwriter, producer and engineer management; music publishing; touring & merchandising; film & television; new business ventures; and a music label. It is home to a diverse roster of critically acclaimed recording artists, writers and producers including Rihanna, Shakira, J. Cole, Santigold, HAIM, Meek Mill, Big Sean and more. Roc Nation also has partnerships with global management companies Three Six Zero and Philymack.
About Weinstein Television:
The Weinstein Company (TWC) is a multimedia production and distribution company launched in October 2005 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979. TWC also encompasses Dimension Films, the genre label founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein. During Harvey and Bob's tenure at Miramax and TWC, they have received 351 Oscar nominations and won 82 Academy Awards.
Since 2005, TWC and Dimension Films have released such films as VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA; THE READER; INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS; SCRE4M; SPY KIDS: THE KING'S SPEECH; UNDEFEATED; THE ARTIST; THE MASTER; SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK; DJANGO UNCHAINED; SCARY MOVIE 5; LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER; PHILOMENA; THE IMITATION GAME; PADDINGTON; WOMAN IN GOLD; SOUTHPAW, CAROL and THE HATEFUL EIGHT. Upcoming releases include HANDS OF STONE, THE FOUNDER, and LION.
Weinstein Television boasts an active television production division which garnered twelve Emmy nominations in 2015. Weinstein Television produces the reality powerhouse Project Runway, with its spin-off series Project Runway All Stars, hosted by Alyssa Milano, Project Runway Jr, featuring supermodel Hannah Jeter and fashion critic Kelly Osbourne. Upcoming series include the business focused Fashion Inc. which premieres later this year on Lifetime, and the late night AMC talk show Geeking Out.
Scripted series include John Fusco's Marco Polo with Netflix, which premiered its second season in July 2016, critically acclaimed miniseries War & Peace, which debuted on Lifetime, A&E and HISTORY in 2016, Scream with MTV, which premiered its second season in May 2016, Peaky Blinders with Netflix just aired its third season, and Julian Fellowes' Doctor Thorne with Amazon. Upcoming series include Stephen King's The Mist (a straight-to-series 10 episode order) for Spike TV, military drama Six (a straight-to-series 8 episode order) for HISTORY and animated series Spy Kids for Netflix (a multi season commitment).
Television projects in development explore a range of arenas and are not exclusive to drama or comedy, minis or continuing series, live action or animated. An active slate of more than 60 projects include soon to be sold reality competition show Incubator, Mario Puzo's Omerta with Antoine Fuqua and Sylvester Stallone, Stephen King's The Breathing Method with Blumhouse, Scott Teems and Scott Derrickson, and UK series SS-GB and Love, Nina.
About The Cinemart:
The Cinemart is a Full-Service Production Company and Creative Firm founded by Award-Winning Filmmakers Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason. After spending a decade producing seminal Docuseries Events like Brick City and Chicagoland, and working for industry luminaries like Robert Redford, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese; The Cinemart now produces Independent Films, Groundbreaking Television and disruptive Commercial Content for some of the world's most influential Brands and Musicians. Recent Projects include the award-winning Sundance favorite Welcome to Leith and Sprite's Obey Your Thirst Campaign starring Drake and Nas. The company is currently producing "TIME: The Kalief Browder Story," a six-part Docuseries Event for Spike TV, Executive Produced by Jay Z, Harvey Weinstein, Nick Sandow and Michael Gasparro. The Cinemart's studio and post facility are located in Downtown Brooklyn, New York.
|