J.R. Smith: Redefined tells the next-chapter story of J.R. Smith, who won titles with LeBron James on the Cleveland Cavaliers and the LA Lakers. After being drafted straight out of high school at age 19, a 35-year-old Smith found himself without an NBA team to call home and in search of redefining his life and career. The series picks up with Smith as he sets a new intention for himself: getting a college education and pursuing a new athletic passion as a member of the Men’s Golf Team at North Carolina A&T, the nation’s largest Historically Black University.
Long-time collaborator Amy Glickman Brown and director Philip Knowlton brought us on to create animated sequences for the Amazon Prime series. We teamed up with designers Podenco, Troy Browne and Elena Chudoba to create a collage style to help us tell stories where no archival footage was available.
The series was picked up by Amazon Prime and began airing in April 2023.
Client: Uninterrupted / Amazon Prime Sports
Role: Animation Direction, Design, Storyboarding, Animation, Post-Production
Directed by: Philip Knowlton
Executive Producers: LeBron James and Maverick Carter
Co-Executive Producers: Amy Glickman Brown, Philip Knowlton, Erikka Yancey
Animation Direction: //kneeon
Design: Podenco, Troy Browne, Elena Chudoba
Animation: Pavelas Laptevas, //kneeon
Producer: Mike Healey| Animation Producer: //kneeon
Series Post-Producer: Jason Brey
