TV show to be based on a forthcoming podcast series about the Astros from Cadence13, hosted and written by award-winning Sports Illustrated journalist Ben Reiter
Left/Right is developing a new TV docuseries about the Houston Astros baseball team and their 2017 World Series-winning season sign-stealing scandal.
The TV series will be based on a new sports documentary podcast franchise from podcast company Cadence13, that will explore in-depth a wide range of compelling stories and people from the world of sports. Season One will be focused on the Astro sign-stealing scandal, hosted and written by Ben Reiter, the award-winning longtime Sports Illustrated writer who predicted the Astros 2017 World Series victory in a June 2014 SI cover story, and author of the New York Times bestseller Astroball: The New Way to Win it All. The podcast is produced by Leon Neyfakh and Andrew Parsons, co-creators of the award-winning podcasts Slow Burn and Fiasco.
The TV series is in development with Reiter, Leon Neyfakh’s Prologue Projects, and Steven Fisher’s Underground Entertainment. Left/Right also co-produce two other podcast-to-documentary shows with Leon Neyfakh, both for EPIX: new series Slow Burn, which premieres this Sunday, February 16; and Fiasco, also produced with Underground and Luminary.
Both the TV series and podcast will explore the sign-stealing scandal that rocked the sports world this year when MLB unveiled the findings of its investigation, revealing that the Astros 2017 World Series winning season that led to their victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers was tainted by cheating.
Left/Right are the award-winning production company behind a diverse slate of television series and specials including The Circus (Showtime) and New York Times series The Weekly (FX & Hulu).
“This is a story that everyone is talking about and partnering with Ben and Leon to deep dive on this scandal should give listeners the best insight and context possible,” said Chris Corcoran, Chief Content Officer, Cadence13. “We are thrilled to expand Cadence13’s powerful line-up of original documentary storytelling with this new franchise.”
“The Astros of the 2010s were the most innovative organization in the history of sports,” said Ben Reiter. “As it turned out, the ‘new way to win it all’ involved factors that no one could have imagined – myself included. Cadence13, Prologue Projects, and Left/Right are the ideal partners with whom to reveal the full story of the Astros’ exhilarating rise and shocking fall.”
“We have long wanted to apply our narrative approach to a story that’s outside the world of politics,” said Leon Neyfakh. “The Astros saga is the perfect place for us to start — in addition to being populated by amazing characters, it forces you to ask yourself hard questions about the meaning of fairness, cheating, and secrecy.”
Cadence13 is home to C13Originals, the creators of the #1 podcast Root of Evil; Gangster Capitalism, the docuseries exploring white collar corruption and the dark side of the American Dream, with Season One focused on the college admissions scandal; and Long May They Run, the music documentary series that explores iconic touring bands, the impact they have on their fans, culture and the music industry at large, with Season One focused on the band Phish.
Ben Reiter wrote 26 cover stories as a longtime senior writer for Sports Illustrated. Reiter’s SI feature ‘The Seeker: The Complicated Life and Death of Hideki Irabu’ won the 2018 Deadline Award for Magazine Profile, and his work has been honored four times as a notable selection in the annual The Best American Sportswriting series. Before joining SI in 2004, he worked as a research assistant for the legendary investigative journalist Wayne Barrett at The Village Voice.
Leon Neyfakh is the co-creator of Slow Burn and Fiasco and the founder of Prologue Projects, an independent podcast studio in Brooklyn. Andrew Parsons is the executive producer at Prologue Projects, where he oversees Fiasco and The Trevor Noah Podcast.
Cadence13’s new sports documentary franchise is slated to launch in Summer 2020 with a minimum of six episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RADIO.COM and everywhere podcasts are available.