Cinetic launches Vertical Leap, a producing pathway and investment vehicle for pro athletes

John Sloss’s Cinetic Media has launched Vertical Leap, a new investment vehicle and producing pathway aimed at professional athletes. The program promises members a “working seat inside Cinetic’s slate,” with access to rough cuts, creative input, and the same industry guidance that supports Cinetic’s filmmakers.

The aim is to help athletes build a production career by training in documentary storytelling and potentially backing new projects. Membership costs $25,000 per year, and participants are pitched a minimum of 10 documentary projects vetted from established directors and producers. Investors can back additional projects should they choose to do so.

So far, Sloss has signed up 10 prominent athletes and intends to grow the pool to as many as 50 current and former players, with interest across sports including NFL and NBA. Three college football players from the Michigan Wolverines are pooling part of their NIL for a membership. Cinetic has repositioned two people from its team to fuel the new initiative and expects to hire a few more staff as the label expands. Sloss is expected to discuss Vertical Leap publicly for the first time at the Zurich Summit.

Sloss characterized Vertical Leap as a way for elite athletes to support impactful documentary work while gaining hands-on production experience. “Vertical Leap offers a pathway for elite athletes to support commercial, impactful documentaries, while learning the ins and outs of film production from the most experienced storytellers working today,” he said. The program is currently focused on documentary projects, with potential for non-doc investments as the member base grows.

Source: Deadline

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