EXCLUSIVE: Mayim Bialik’s Sad Clown Productions is gearing up to produce The Maccabeesa new article about the historic achievements of the Yeshiva University men’s basketball team, coached by Elliot Steinmentz.
Written by Matt Ritter (Chained to my ex), the film will see a disillusioned lawyer moonlighting while a basketball coach leads his underdog team of Jewish players to a remarkable winning streak, shattering stereotypes.
Against the odds with a historic run and winning more than 50 games in the 2019 and 2020 seasons – the longest winning streak in men’s basketball history – the Yeshiva team has continued to shatter stereotypes to this day as they come close on their way to the NCAA Division III finals in 2024. A solid team that has defied the odds while staying true to their heritage. They have played while enduring anti-Semitic insults and creating a schedule that works for their religious needs while observing the Sabbath, fasting days and Jewish holidays. Their trust in each other as teammates combined with their Jewish faith has created a remarkable team that continues to be a true force to be reckoned with.
Bialik will produce alongside Sad Clown partners Hayley Lozitsky Weisser and Alyssa Wilden. Samir Hernández (Two distant strangers), founder and CEO of GTG Studios, will serve as executive producer of the project. There is currently no director attached.
In a statement about the project, Bialik noted that “while it has certainly been a complicated year, it remains true that stories of Jewish ingenuity, perseverance, and resilience are needed more than ever. Who would have ever dreamed that a basketball team from the most prestigious religious Jewish university in the country could reach the DIVISION 3 NCAA finals. Our company is proud to bring this truly incredible and inspiring story to life, and we are eager to find partners who believe in continuing the message that Coach Elliot Steinmetz and the Maccabees of Yeshiva University were able to spread during their historic run.
Since launching in 2019, Sad Clown has strived to build a range of smart and inspiring content, both scripted and unscripted, that focuses on real, flawed, grounded characters looking for answers and seeking trust. So far, the company has produced the Fox sitcom Call me Catstarring Bialik, which ran for three seasons, as well as the 2022 indie drama The way they made uswritten and directed by Bialik, it stars Dianna Agron, Simon Helberg, Candice Bergen and Dustin Hoffman, marking Bialik’s feature film debut.
Breaks through in the 1990s as the star of the sitcom Blossomwhich ran for five seasons on NBC, Bialik is best known for her favorite role of Amy Farrah Fowler on the critically acclaimed CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theorya role that earned her two Critics’ Choice Awards, as well as four Emmy nominations and one from SAG.
More recently, Bialik hosted Danger! for two seasons, earning her fifth Emmy nomination for her contributions to the iconic quiz show, which won its first primetime Emmy the year she hosted. Bialik also hosts the popular mental health podcast, Mayim Bialik’s breakdown, with over 26 million downloads and counting. She has a BS and PhD in neuroscience from UCLA and has written four books, two of which are on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
The creator of the critically acclaimed MSNBC series Chained to my exRitter also directed the documentary Tasteless and was on the 2019 Black List for his script Puppet wars. He is also the co-host of the Friendship Podcast Man of the yearwhich has been featured on the Today Show, NPR and in The New York Times.
Hernandez’s production credits – most of which are sports-oriented – include the Emmy-winning HBO docu-short 38 in the garden about NBA’s Jeremy Lin, Emmy nominated for Showtime NYC point godsNetflix’s Oscar-winning live-action short Two distant strangersand the Netflix document A kid from Coney Island about former NBA star Stephon Marbury, to name a few.
Bialik, Hernandez and Ritter are all represented by UTA. Ritter is also repped by Bellevue Productions.
