Granity Studios is a multimedia original content company formed by former NBA player Kobe Bryant, focused on creating new ways to tell stories around sports. The company is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.
History Granity Studios was launched by Kobe Bryant in 2013 to make films, television shows, novels, and other forms of media.
In 2017, Granity Studios produced Dear Basketball, an animated short film based on Kobe Bryant's retirement poem in The Players' Tribune. It was directed and animated by Glen Keane with music by John Williams. At the 90th Academy Awards, Keane and Bryant won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Bryant became the first African-American to win the category and the first former professional athlete to be nominated and to win an Academy Award in any category. The film also won the Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject and a Sports Emmy Award. It was also the first Oscar win for Keane, a veteran Disney animator.
Beginning in 2018, Bryant wrote, produced, and hosted the television series Detail, which aired for multiple seasons on ESPN and ESPN+. It featured his insights into the game of basketball and in-depth analyses of games and individual players.
On October 23, 2018, Bryant's book The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, with photographs and afterword by Andrew D. Bernstein, an introduction by Phil Jackson, and a foreword by Pau Gasol, was published by MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book looks back on his career.
In the six months before his death in 2020, Bryant had been in talks with animator veterans Bruce W. Smith and Sergio Pablos about starting his own animation studio. At the time of his death, Bryant was working with Brazilian author Paulo Coelho on a children's book aimed at inspiring underprivileged children. After Bryant's death, Coelho deleted the draft, saying in an interview that "it didn't make any sense to publish without him." He did not say how many pages had been written or whether the book had a title.
Bryant also co-wrote or -produced several young adult novels through Granity Studios: The Wizenard Series: Training Camp, Legacy and the Queen, and Epoca: The Tree of Ecrof. A fourth novel, The Wizenard Series: Season One, was released posthumously in March 2020. The Wizarenard Series: Season One topped the New York Times middle-grade hardcover list.
Vanessa Bryant is the president and chief executive officer of Granity Studios.
Films Year Title Director Notes Ref 2015 Kobe Bryant's Muse Gotham Chopra 2017 Dear Basketball Glen Keane Winner of Best Animated Short Film at the 90th Academy Awards.
Television YearTitleCreated & Written byNotes2017MusecageKobe BryantProduced by Granity Studios for ESPN and ESPN+2018DetailKobe BryantProduced by Granity Studios for ESPN and ESPN+; 18 episodes as a host, 16 episodes as a writer for Bryant
Books Year Title Written By Created By Publisher Notes 2018 The Mamba Mentality: How I Play Kobe Bryant Farrar, Straus and Giroux Introduction by Phil Jackson, foreword by Pau Gasol & photos by Andrew D. Bernstein 2019 The Wizenard Series: Training Camp Wesley King Kobe Bryant Granity Studios 2019 Legacy and the Queen Annie Matthews Kobe Bryant Granity Studios 2019 Epoca: The Tree of Ecrof Ivy Claire Kobe Bryant Granity Studios 2020 Geese Are Never Swans Eva Clark Kobe Bryant Granity Studios 2020 Epoca: The River of Sand Ivy Claire Kobe Bryant Granity Studios 2020 The Wizenard Series: Season One Wesley King Kobe Bryant Granity Studios posthumously published after Bryant's death 2021 Legacy and the Double Annie Matthew Kobe Bryant Granity Studios posthumously published after Bryant's death
Podcasts Year Title Written By Created By Notes Ref 2018–present The Punies Jon Haller Kobe Bryant 2 Seasons
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