EXCLUSIVE: OBB Pictures has launched a new division, OBB Music, focused on developing and producing content around the world’s biggest artists, stories and events in music. The company’s expansion into music comes after their original series with Kevin Hart, Cold as Balls, launches into its second season after a successful 100M YouTube viewing round. The company is working on three new projects including an, as yet, untitled feature doc directed by Mandon Lovett that chronicles the ascent of multi-platinum hip-hop artist Jeezy. Production began on that project today.
The Jeezy film, which OBB is doing in conjunction with YJ Productions, marks the company’s return to the documentary space as it previously produced the ESPN 30 for 30 film, Gonzo at the Derby, narrated by Sean Penn that relives the birth of Gonzo Journalism during Hunter S. Thompson’s famous trip to the Kentucky Derby. It also produced One in a Billion for Netflix, which followed Satnam Singh Bhamara as he worked to fulfill his dream of becoming the first India-born player drafted into the NBA out of a population of 1.2 billion people.
The new music division will be led by OBB’s co-founder Scott Ratner with the company’s Kfir Goldberg and
Matthew Hirschhorn overseeing the development of unscripted and scripted projects.
Two other new projects under the new division are My Outbreak Moment, a docu-series produced in partnership with The Outbreak Tour (notable alumni include Kendrick Lamar, The Chainsmokers, 21 Savage, Logic, Cole Swindell) and looks at musical artists as they approach the breakout moments in their careers and then the mockumentary Liner Notes comedy series satirizing the legendary Behind the Music program.
“Ever since we launched OBB, we’ve been looking for unique angles to break into the music space. We’re excited to introduce this division with a set of dynamic projects that take a peek behind the curtain of our favorite artists’ lives to tell authentic stories in the unscripted space, as well as create opportunities for artists to branch out in scripted projects tailored to them and their fan base,” said company founder Michael D. Ratner.
OBB, alongside 3Arts Entertainment, is in the final stages of developing on a half-hour, dramedy television series, The Smart Money, from screenwriter Jay Longino (Uncle Drew) who adapted from Michael Konik’s 2006 memoir chronicling life inside one of the world’s most sought after gambling rings run by the industry’s most feared player.
Ratner and OBB are repped by UTA, 3 Arts and law firm Hansen Jacobsen Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman.
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