Having to deal with ‘Survivor’s Remorse’
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, October 1, 2014
ATLANTA — The title of “Survivor’s Remorse,” Starz’s new six-episode comedy series about a fictional professional basketball player who has just signed his first multimillion-dollar contract, came from Maverick Carter, who is the manager and a childhood friend of the newly returned Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James, the most famous basketball player in the world.
It is a phrase they had used often to describe their conflicting emotions about their enormous success, a life of private jets and manicured estates beyond anything they could have imagined when they were growing up in their poor and often dangerous Akron, Ohio, neighborhood.
The phrase came up when Carter was talking to Tom Werner, the chairman of the Boston Red Sox and a producer of numerous sitcom hits (including “Roseanne” and “The Cosby Show”), about opportunities for James in the television business. Werner wanted something like the Samsung Galaxy commercials that ran last year showing James, 29, with his family at home, just a regular dad with his wife and kids, relaxed and playful, away from the public eye.
“LeBron always wanted the commercial to be as close to his real life as possible,” Carter said. “And it was. But we weren’t going to make a show about LeBron’s life.”
In wide-ranging conversations over the course of months, Carter, 33, came back to the idea of “Survivor’s Remorse.” He recalled: “I don’t know if we were even talking about it as a show. I explained to Tom how I have it sometimes, because of my family and my neighborhood where I come from. There’s a lot of good people there, and not all of them, to use a phrase, make it out. And I did. But a lot of times I feel bad about making it when they didn’t. I have survivor’s remorse.”
Werner suggested, despite the title, that the show should be a comedy, adult in tone and often dealing with serious topics and difficult emotions, but a comedy nonetheless.
“In some ways, comedy is an easier platform to talk about serious issues than drama,” Werner said as he watched a scene being filmed at a home in the upscale Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead. “We can talk about race and privilege and culture, but in a smart, clever funny way.”
He brought in Mike O’Malley, whose script credits include “Shameless” but who may be better known for his acting roles in “Glee” and “Yes, Dear,” to write and serve as show runner. The series he created, which begins Saturday, revolves around Cam Calloway (played by Jessie Usher), a point guard who, after playing for the league minimum in Memphis, has a breakthrough season, signs a big-money contract with Atlanta and, just like that, finds himself surrounded by the trappings and temptations of sports stardom. How he — and his family — deal with that sudden wealth and fame is what “Survivor’s Remorse” is about.
“Cam is someone who’s generous at heart and feels guilty about having all this money when he knows so many who are still struggling,” said O’Malley, who took elements of Carter’s and James’ experiences but created fictional circumstances and characters to illustrate them. Cam, for instance, is from Dorchester, the Boston neighborhood, and his manager-confidant-best friend is his cousin Reggie (played by RonReaco Lee).
“I will not let you be a cautionary tale,” Reggie tells his cousin in the pilot, trying to explain that no matter how much money he has, he can’t save everyone who asks for help. “Some tweaker does not deserve a place on your generosity list just because he grew up two doors down.”
O’Malley and everyone associated with the show make a point of emphasizing that “Survivor’s Remorse” is not about James, that the characters and situations are fictional and that beyond reading a few scripts, James — although listed as an executive producer — had no direct input into storylines. In an email interview, James said the show came together during basketball season, so his time was limited.
“Most important for me was the opportunity to empower my organization to have an impact,” he said. “The show created over 200 jobs for people. We need more television shows for great black actors.”
James also said it didn’t matter to him whether “Survivor’s Remorse” was about basketball per se. “It’s not a show to help people understand the life of an athlete,” he said and added, referring to the ESPN documentary series: “They can go to ‘30 for 30’ or places like that for a serious story.”
Even though Cam Calloway is clearly not LeBron James, there will inevitably be speculation as to which plot points — and characters — might be based on actual incidents. In Carter’s view, “people are sophisticated enough to know that these are fictional characters,” he said. “We want it to be entertaining and funny and to feel real. But it’s not about us.”