TBC Sports Entertainment has officially been launched by Former NBA player, film and TV producer Jarnell Stokes and film/music producer Vassal Benford III have entered a collaboration with noted sports manager Torrel Harris of Unique Sports Management International to launch.
The studio will kick off with "Learning to Win," hosted by Stokes. Produced by Jeffrey “JP” Wetzel, the show takes well-known sports figures back to their past, reuniting them with an educator who made a difference in his/her life and honoring the work of outstanding teachers in communities across the country. The show was co-created by John Ballis and Tim Salem. Executive producers are Jarnell Stokes, John Ballis, Tim Salem and Jon. R. Stockel.
Stokes is founder and CEO of Stoked Film Group and Benford is founder and CEO of The Benford Company. Harris is father of Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris and manager of Kelly Oubre Jr. of the Charlotte Hornets. In collaboration with USMI, TBCS will provide A-list content featuring noted sports figures based on relevant stories produced by Stokes. Additionally, TBCS will utilize social media and digital platforms to promote and create ancillary incomes for the athletes.
TBCS projects already in pre-production include "Memphis on the Mountain Top," a docuseries showcasing the intersection of iconic civil rights leaders, sports and music during the city’s struggle in the late ’60s as the epicenter of the social justice movement in partnership with 10-time Emmy-winning producer/director Daniel H. Forer, music and film producer Vassal Benford, and Isaiah Stokes, a former Memphis Tigers basketball star. The title joins "Break the Cycle," a basketball drama series co-created by Stokes with writer-producer Taylor Materne (Hustle), with Chris Pavoni producing alongside Walk Like a Duck Entertainment Rocky Top College, a collegiate sports series drama starring Geoffrey Blake and Shannan E. Johnson co-writing, produced by Stokes and Benford. Stokes serves as executive producer on all three projects.
Additionally, Stokes has signed with Mascot Publishing for the Fall release of "Wings to Fly," a children’s book set on the basketball court co-written by Stokes and Howard Flamm, a stand-up comedian, actor and producer best known for the feature film Shut Up and Kiss Me; and illustrated by Eunsoo Jeong, a refugee from South Korea who now lives in Los Angeles and is best known for her illustration on the Nick Jr. show, Shimmer and Shine and Dreamworks’ Pinky Malinky, as well as other children’s books. The executive is also producing an animated film version of Wings to Fly in partnership with Film Roman animation legend Jay Fukuto, for which Stokes and Fukuto are currently co-writing the screenplay. Dea Shandera, who spent more than 25 years as a creative executive with Paramount Pictures, The Walt Disney Company and MGM, is executive producer.
