Disney Announces First-Look Deal With Colin Kaepernick, Focusing on Race and Social Injustice

From Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing


On Monday, Disney announced a first-look deal with Colin Kaepernick and Ra Vision Media (his production company). The projects created would focus on race, social justice, and equity, while also spotlighting Black and Brown directors and producers.

Here are the details from ESPN’s release.

The Walt Disney Company today announced an overall first-look deal with Colin Kaepernick’s production arm Ra Vision Media. The partnership will focus on telling scripted and unscripted stories that explore race, social injustice and the quest for equity, and will provide a new platform to showcase the work of Black and Brown directors and producers. The first-look deal will extend across all Walt Disney Platforms including Walt Disney Television, ESPN, Hulu, Pixar, and The Undefeated. Kaepernick will work closely with The Undefeated, which is expanding its portfolio across Disney, to develop stories from the perspective of Black and Brown communities.

Additionally, the first project coming out of this partnership would be a docuseries about the last five years of Kaepernick’s life. Notably, former ESPN personality Jemele Hill is attached as a producer.

The first project in development as part of this deal is an exclusive docuseries chronicling Kaepernick’s journey. Using extensive new interviews and a vast never-before-seen archive that documents his last five years, Kaepernick will tell his story from his perspective. Libby Geist, Kevin Merida and Connor Schell will executive produce for ESPN. Kaepernick has enlisted the help of Jemele Hill, who previously worked for both ESPN and The Undefeated, as a producer on the project. Further details will be announced.

Hill tweeted about her inclusion in the project.

I have always known Colin is on the right side of history and this is an opportunity to make sure history continues to always reflects that.

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) July 6, 2020

Colin’s vision for this collaboration isn’t just about content, but empowerment. He was adamant that his work be surrounded by black and brown voices. It also was important for me to use my influence to elevate these voices, particularly inside of ESPN. I am truly grateful.

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) July 6, 2020

Kaepernick has been busy in 2020. Earlier this year, his memoir was announced. Last month, Kaepernick began a partnership with Medium to produce race and civil rights content and also partnered with Ava DuVernay for a Netflix series about his years in high school.

This is your obligatory “hey, no one is forcing you to watch any of this programming” note. If you don’t like it, don’t watch.

I think the most interesting note here is the cross-platform synergy from Disney, with Disney’s TV arm, Pixar, and Hulu all involved. This seems like a substantial investment in the content, and reinforces the idea that they’re looking to target more than just sports fans.

[ESPN]