Oscar-Winning Duo Behind ‘Two Distant Strangers’ Launch “Unreasnble” New Company (Exclusive)
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Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe have found their next act.
The Oscar-winning duo behind police brutality short Two Distant Strangers and, more recently, HBO’s BS High, have teamed with Group Nine Studios’ former president Mickey Meyer to launch a new entertainment company titled The Unreasnble. The goal of the full-service media company is to develop, produce, finance and incubate stories that have had historically limited access to mainstream media.
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“The work stoppages and battles we recently experienced and are still experiencing across our industry for fair and equitable pay and ownership of our work is a clear sign we can no longer adapt to the ways of this business,” explains Free, “but instead we have to adapt it to us, the creators, and that’s what we intend to do.”
As part of the launch, the team will also acquire Roe’s award-winning production company Dirty Robber, which is best known for its unscripted and premium doc work with major athletes and music artists, including Showtime’s Kobe Bryant’s Muse, Wiz Khalifa: Behind the Cam for Apple and Tom vs Time (Tom, as in Brady) for Facebook. More recently, Dirty Robber has pushed into the true crime genre, with BS High as well as Heist and the competition series We Are the Champions, both at Netflix. The outfit also comes with an advertising division, which has worked with top brands from Nike to Hasbro.
According to press materials, the name Unreasnble was chosen because the three co-founders believe that true industry progress relies on being “unreasonable,” whether that be to question the status quo or to find innovative ways to create and distribute content. The first project to be distributed under the new banner is The Smell of Money, an independent feature documentary, which premiered theatrically last week. The doc, about a North Carolina community’s years-long legal battle with a major pork company, was directed by Shawn Bannon, and exec produced by the Unreasnble team alongside Kate Mara, DeRay Mckesson and David Lowery.
Meyer, who was once featured on THR’s Next Gen 35 Under 35 list, is also an award-winning producer who brings corporate experience to the partnership. In addition to Group Nine, he was a co-founder of the comedy studio JASH, alongside Sarah Silverman, Tim & Eric, Reggie Watts and Michael Cera, and has produced and sold a slew of films and TV projects across the landscape. As an early employee at Maker Studios, he helped launch and curate YouTube’s first comedy week, and later served on the Entertainment Advisory Council of the Obama administration, where he reportedly advised the White House on how to use YouTube to its advantage.
Of his new partners, Meyer says: “Martin and Travon are remarkable, boundary-pushing storytellers in a time when it’s needed and being welcomed more than ever. When we started talking about the challenges we faced as filmmakers and entrepreneurs today, it was clear that we would be stronger together, and could build something sorely needed in the communities in which we exist and beyond.”
Free and Roe have already won eight Emmys and an Oscar between them. Just last year, the writing/directing partners picked up a Sports Emmy for writing and directing What Agnes Saw, a short film about the 100-year-old Olympian Agnes Keleti, which was incorporated into the opening ceremony at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. And their celebrated feature-length doc, BS High, about the scam that was the Bishop Sycamore high school football program, premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival and now streams on Max. The pair is also co-writing and set to direct an adaptation of S.A. Cosby’s best-selling novel Razorblade Tears for Paramount, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and readying the release its first graphic novel, Black Solstice.
Individually, Free has become a sought-after comedic voice on social, political and pop culture issues, having written on shows including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (and later, Trevor Noah) as well as Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Single Drunk Female and Winning Time. He was also a producer of the doc shot, 38 at the Garden, which was short-listed for an Oscar in 2022, and ultimately won a Sports Emmy that same year. Roe, for his part, has found success directing music videos, commercials and premium docuseries, including Heist, Tom vs Time and Shut up and Dribble for Showtime. For his contributions to the world of sports advertising, where he’s become a formidable player and frequent helmer of Nike ads, he was included in Ad Age’s 40 under 40 list. His film, Breaking2, for Nike and Nat Geo, won the Golden Lion at Cannes.
Of their new entity, Roe, Free and Meyer add in a joint statement: “The world is changing, including our industry. So often, both filmmakers and entrepreneurs can feel so isolated. If the strikes were any evidence, we’re not alone, and are so much stronger together. We’ve been fortunate to meet and work with so many great people and are excited to open our doors to help build a future more sustainable and considerate of the artist and our responsibility to represent the world and perspectives around us.”
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