Yahoo Lifestyle Producer Jonathan Saba Acquires Film Rights to NBA Betting Exposé ‘Gaming The Game’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Producer Jonathan Saba (“Butcher’s Crossing,” “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot”) has acquired adaptive rights to Sean Patrick Griffin’s novel “Gaming The Game: The Story of the NBA Betting Scandal and the Gambler Who Made It Happen.” Saba will produce with a script from Marc-Edouard Leon.
According to an official logline, the sports betting exposé “explores the fascinating world of sports betting through the eyes of Jimmy ‘The Sheep’ Battista who, starting in the early ‘90s, helped run with a motley crew from blue-collar Delaware County, Pennsylvania one of the most respected betting syndicates to ever exist: The Animals.”
“The revelation that a professional referee was betting on his own games rocked professional sports. However, this story goes so much deeper and everything you think you know is just the beginning,” Saba said. “The Animals were a living paradox, unassuming yet sophisticated, crude yet shrewd, hardworking yet uninterested in ostentatious symbols of material success. These are the kinds of original and complex characters that actors dream of playing.”
Saba currently serves as chief content officer of Los Angeles-based distributor Saban Films. His other producer credits include “Knox Goes Away,” “The 4:30 Movie,” “Fatman” “Cult Killer” and “Paradice City.”
Leon previously served as executive producer on “Lioness,” Taylor Sheridan’s wartime drama series for Paramount+. The show boasts an all-star cast of Zoe Saladana, Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman.
The negotiations were handled by Saba and attorneys Vince Ravine and Judith Karfiol. Leon is represented by Ian McKnight at Anonymous Content.
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