Footage For Kobe Bryant's Doc On His Last Season Remains a Mystery
Kobe Bryant Shot Thousands Of Hours Of Footage In His Last Season – Where Is It Now?
Kobe Bryant’s appearance in The Last Dance, just after he passed away in a helicopter accident on January 26, 2000, sparked regret at what might have been had he been able to do his own documentary.
Truth is, he was in the process of making that happen when he was killed in the crash that also took the life of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.
But whether anyone will ever see a Kobe documentary remains a mystery. Per a new report in The Hollywood Reporter, Bryant shot thousands of hours of footage during the 2015 – 2016 season, his last with the Lakers. The footage was shot both on and off the court, providing insight into Bryant’s public and private lives. It was intended as one of the projects Bryant hoped to do as part of his Granity Studios film production company, where he saw his post-NBA life as a film and TV producer.
In 2018, Kobe won an Oscar for his animated short Dear Basketball and had plans for more projects through Granity, including a musical and a podcast. Since his death, the company has shut down and those projects have been permanently scrapped.
It is believed that while there is strong interest in a possible Kobe documentary, given the success of The Last Dance and other docs on prominent sports heroes, there is no immediate plan for one to happen, as Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, controls his estate and has not made her plans for one known.
Craig Greiwe is the former chief strategy officer at Rogers & Cowan PMK, who handled both Kobe Bryant and his Granity Studios. He says that Vanessa Bryant rarely publicly supported her husband’s film projects. He believes that she is hurting the chances of his documentary ever happening, thus ending his dreams for the film studio he wanted.
“Why is it that so many people are terrified to talk? I think it’s clear that her actions have spelled the destruction of Kobe’s legacy and his vision, at least the one he articulated to me,” Greiwe said. “All the things that he had planned for are gone.”
Vanessa’s representatives say that Greiwe has never met Vanessa and that any future doc would follow Kobe’s stated wishes.
Kobe was working on an edit of the doc, named 20th Season, in 2019, putting together a two-hour early cut, as detailed in the Hollywood Reporter story. Due to his perfectionist ways, he wanted to redo it, but in 2020, his life was cut short. That means thousands of hours of footage are now locked away somewhere. Filmmakers hired to work on 20th Season would not speak on the record, citing NDAs.
Vanessa may have her own project brewing because other Kobe-related films have been discouraged by the estate. A project based around a cache of tapes Kobe recorded at 17 has been shopped, but buyers have been told that if they participate in making that happen, they won’t gain access to any of the hours of footage already shot.
(I was at an event in 2023 where the Philadelphia-based sportswriter who has possession of the tapes played some of the recordings. In one poignant excerpt, Kobe is heard talking about how close he was with his mother and sisters and how much he enjoyed spending time with his family. He was reportedly estranged from his parents, Joe and Pam Bryant, when he died. His father, Joe, died last year.)
As of now, any documentary made from the footage has to be approved by Vanessa. Though two Oscar-winning filmmakers want to work with her, she has not yet greenlit anything. It is said that she’d want to shape the doc more as a love story than a sports story. But no one knows for sure.
“Kobe knew he had influence, but what he really wanted was to help kids who felt alone and offer them a path,” says Kevin McCollum, a Tony Award-winning producer who was in talks with Kobe to do a musical version of The Wizenard, a children’s book series written by Kobe.
“Kobe’s legacy is not just the stories but the ideas. If the Bryant family was interested, I would do anything to help get the musical made. It’s still a worthy project.”
