Gunpowder & Sky’s Dust Teams with Balboa Productions to Develop Sci-Fi Sports Drama Series, “Meshed”

Gunpowder & Sky’s sci-fi label DUST announced today that they have teamed with Balboa Productions, helmed by Sylvester Stallone and Braden Aftergood, to develop and executive produce “Meshed“, a sci-fi sports drama to be written by Edward Ricourt (“Jessica Jones“, “Wayward Pines“, “Raising Dion“).

“Rich Larson’s visionary short story sits at the cross-section of two very prescient ideas: the role of technology in enhancing athletic achievement and the increasingly immersive world of spectator sport,” said Braden Aftergood, Partner at Balboa Productions. “Sylvester Stallone and I are honored to be partnered with Gunpowder & Sky and Ed Ricourt on this incredibly relevant project.”

Based on the short story, ‘Meshed‘, by Rich Larson and set in the not-so-distant future, the series is centered around Mesh technology which allows for an immersive experience of professional basketball through the eyes of its athletes. Mesh enhances the game for viewers while commoditizing the lives of its players. The show will explore the intersection of sports, sponsorship, friendship, global entertainment, and winning at all costs.

“One of my favorite things about ‘Meshed’, and science fiction in general, is that oftentimes it’s prophetic,” said Eric Bromberg, SVP of Development, Gunpowder & Sky. “This prescient series examines the future of sports in our society, and what a dream it is to craft such a show alongside Ed Ricourt and Balboa Productions.”

This news comes on the heels of a series of announcements from Gunpowder & Sky. Last month, in partnership with Hulu, Gunpowder & Sky released 69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez, a true crime documentary about the rise and fall of Tekashi69, one of the most controversial figures in contemporary pop culture, now available exclusively on Hulu. On November 12th, Gunpowder & Sky’s DUST announced that they are developing “Moreau“, a sci-fi TV series that puts a modern spin on the classic novel, “The Island of Dr. Moreau“, by H.G. Wells, and signed Zack Stentz (X-Men: First Class, Thor, Rim Of The World, “Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous“, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles“) to write the series. Recently, Gunpowder & Sky’s DUST announced that they teamed up with John Wick creator Derek Kolstad, John Davis (Predator), and Black Label Media (Sicario, La La Land) on Time Agent, a high-octane time travel feature film. In September, DUST announced that they have partnered with legendary filmmaker, Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World, Into The Inferno, Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds) and his son, Rudolph Herzog (How to Fake a War, The Heist) to produce Last Exit: Space, a new, out-of-this-world documentary exploring mankind’s push to colonize space. In September, DUST launched season three of its hit “DUST” podcast series, starring and executive produced by Emmy Award-nominated Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, 6 Underground, “Macbeth“) and co-stars Academy Award-nominated Toni Collette (“United States of Tara“, Hereditary, The Sixth Sense), which is the #1 fiction podcast on Apple.

ABOUT GUNPOWDER & SKY

Gunpowder & Sky is an independent studio that creates and distributes feature films, series, short form content, podcasts and channels, bridging digital and traditional entertainment.

Since its inception in 2016, Gunpowder & Sky has released more than 30 feature films and series, more than 750 short films in theatres, on TVOD and on leading platforms such as HBO, Netflix, MTV, Hulu, Sky, Showtime, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, Quibi, Audible and Discovery.

Notable films and series include 69: The Saga Of Daniel Hernandez, Her Smell, Everybody’s Everything, Prospect, Sea Fever, The Little Hours, Cam, Hearts Beat Loud, Lords of Chaos, Tragedy Girls, Betting on Zero, Summer of 84, Villains, Survive, 50 States of Fright and Drawn & Recorded.

With a collective audience of more than 65M monthly unique viewers, Gunpowder & Sky also owns and operates content brands that include DUST, the number one free sci-fi channel; ALTER, a leading horror brand, and CUT, an unscripted & comedy brand that is home to the successful formats “Truth or Drink” and “Fear Pong”. DUST, ALTER and CUT are presently distributed on platforms such as Apple, Amazon, Comcast, Sling, Roku, Samsung, Vizio TV, Xfinity Flex, YouTube, Facebook, AT&T, DirecTV, Sinclair, Samsung TV Plus and Instagram.

Gunpowder & Sky also recently launched its premium audio studio, and in less than one year has established a leading position in music and sci-fi, claiming #1 fiction podcast on Apple and the #1 podcast on Audible.

With offices in Los Angeles and New York, Gunpowder & Sky was founded by Van Toffler and Floris Bauer, in partnership with The Chernin Group and AT&T.