LeBron James' show 'Survivor's Remorse' begins second season

Debbie Allen is in a director’s chair in an Atlanta house-turned-TV set and she’s giving direction to Mike Epps, who plays Uncle Julius on Survivor’s Remorse, the Starz show in which LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter are executive producers.

Allen is having a blast, laughing at Epps’ comedic quips. But she’s also not easily pleased, shooting the same scene at least times until she is satisfied with camera angles, line delivery, timing and pace of this episode of Survivor’s Remorse, the well-written, well-cast series which begins its second season on Starz on Saturday.

Carter sat in a chair behind Allen with a few of the show’s writers and assistant directors. Earlier in the day, James made a surprise visit to the set – on an off day during the Cleveland-Atlanta Eastern Conference finals series – and cast and crew were still excited.

James makes a guest appearance in season two of the series about a young professional basketball star, his close family members and the pressure, excitement and joy that expectations, celebrity and new-found wealth bring. While basketball is the backdrop, it is not a show about basketball. Rather it is a behind-the-curtains glimpse of what happens when practice or a game is over. There are jokes but the show also addresses serious topics.

Jesse Usher plays Cam Calloway, the basketball star; RonReaco Lee plays Reggie Vaughn, Calloway’s cousin and business manager; Erica Ash plays M-Chuck, Calloway’s foul-mouthed, sarcastic, lesbian sister; Epps plays Uncle Julius, Calloway’s funny, in-search-of-good-times uncle; Tichina Arnold plays Cassie, Calloway’s proud mom; and Teyonah Parris plays Missy, Reggie’s wife.

The series picks up in season two with friction between Calloway and the owner of a fictional Atlanta-based pro basketball team.

USA TODAY Sports talked with show creator and head writer Mike O’Malley, Lee and Ash.

Mike O’Malley, show creator and head writer

What do you enjoy about Survivor’s Remorse?

We have the freedom on a pay-cable network to tell stories where you’re not limited by subject matter, by whether or not it’s dinner-table talk. It’s just the freedom to see what it’s like behind the scenes. Sports is such a massive center of discussion of right and wrong and dos and don’ts in our country. What I like about this particular story and family is watching when our family comes up against what they should’ve done, what they could’ve done, what they will do, what they should do. I just like that terrain. I like the idea that when a crisis happens in a family – and in a famous family – being able to watch them debate how they should handle the situation. Because often in sports we get a very measured, sanitized message from folks.

I would love to know what it’s really like in Tom Brady’s house or Roger Goodell’s house. What are they saying to their friends and their family that they’re not saying to the judge and the press? It’s not to cast any nefariousness on either individual, it’s just they’re in the middle of a national conversation about reputation and truth and defending your honor and cheating and at the end of the day, that’s what we’re really talking about. What’s the right thing to do? What’s the wrong thing to do?

What did you know about the behind the scenes life of an NBA superstar? How much did you have to rely on the Maverick Carter and LeBron James?

I like to joke I got cut from the freshmen basketball team in Nashua, New Hampshire in 1981, so I love the game of basketball but the show really isn’t about basketball. It’s about a family and fame and character. What do I know about it: I know what it’s like to be a son. I know what it’s like to be a brother. I know what it is to be a cousin. I know what it is to be a friend and to leave my hometown and pursue something that people think that you’ll fail at just by the nature of your pursuit. Does that fuel you? And look, maybe they’re right.

LeBron and Maverick, they know and they can vet at any moment in the scripts that deal with the business of basketball and the playing of basketball, and I know that’s very important to both of them. Maverick is involved on a granular level. He’s reading every script. We’re talking almost daily when we’re in production and certainly thrice-weekly about moments in the script. These guys don’t want to walk into an arena and have someone say, ‘Well that would never happen.’

The sports side, the sports business side and what it’s like to be a professional athlete, they have a big influence of that authenticity, and they just want to tell stories about people doing the right thing and people doing the wrong thing.

What we’ve tried to do is construct characters that are completely fictional so none of it comes back on people saying ‘Well did that happen in LeBron’s life?’ No. By design, we made these people completely fictional so we didn’t have that tension. We didn’t want anything restricting us from trying to tell the truth about any particular topic.

Why do you have different directors for a majority of the episodes not only in season one, but season two, also?

One of the things I love about making a television show goes back to my love of sport. Right now, I think about my boys and my daughter and being on a team is so important to them. Yet, at their ages, it’s going to be over. They’re 12, 10 and 8 years old. After high school, team sports are pretty much over. Team sports were a big part of my life, and I still remember the teams I was a part of.

I, as we try to formulate and have this show succeed, I’m always looking for different opinions in terms of motivating. I like how someone comes in with an idea. I love that the hair folks, the wardrobe folks, the camera department are bringing their level of expertise to their jobs, and I trust that they’re doing it.

What you’re doing as a showrunner, you’re just more of a conductor. I have strong opinions about what the joke is and how lines are delivered because you have to have a consistency of tone. That’s the biggest thing by having different directors come in. As we begin to hit our stride in the second season, people know what to expect and what you expect and they begin to see the results of the episodes. It becomes fluid but you have to be on point when you’re shooting every day. I love to see different people come up with cool ideas. Then I like to coach and conduct.

A theme was established in season one with the initial influx of money that a young superstar comes into and how the family deals with all that comes with that: demands on time and money from other family and friends. What is the theme we might be seeing in season two?

This season it’s about what is in an individual’s character – his own appetite, for lack of a better word, sin, his ability to be tempted by anger, pride, lust, greed. How is he going to cope with his own humanity and beat back the things that prevent him from happiness? That’s what he and his family are dealing with this year. What does a man or woman say or do that impacts their own lives. A lot of times when this fortune befalls us, we dust ourselves off quicker than when we generate our own misfortune. That’s the great struggle of being an individual. … It’s about his character. Who is he going to be? Is he going to be a guy like a guy like LeBron James who give back?

Erica Ash, who plays M-Chuck

What is Survivor’s Remorse about?

The show is about family. As dysfunctional as this family may be, they are tight, and they have each other’s back. That is the through-line that connects all the different demographics that we reach and speak to. Everybody knows what it means to have a family. Having people who have your back – despite their flaws and shortcomings – you know those are the people you can fall back on no matter what happens. The Calloways this season create some serious drama that really highlights that.

How does your character develop this season?

A lot of the things that viewers wanted to see last season was a bit more vulnerability from M-Chuck, and I can definitely say you get that and you get that in a variety of different ways. You see it in her relationships with different people, not just with Cam but with Cassie, and you see her relate to people outside of the family in a bit more of a vulnerable, compassionate way, and that’s a wonderful juxtaposition for M-Chuck who has always been this really hard, tough, brick-on-the-exterior girl. It will be refreshing to see that. As far as Cam’s career, she has settled into her PR role but don’t think that.

LeBron has been on set before and appears in an episode this season. What is it like when LeBron visits the set?

OK, here’s where you have your story. I don’t know what it’s like when LeBron comes to set because I was not there. I tape all the time, every week. That happened to be the one week where I hardly had any scenes. They wanted to surprise the cast with LeBron’s visit but I was given the wrong time so when I showed up, he had just left. It was gut-wrenching for me. I do know the cast and crew was giddy when he visited. I saw that when I arrived.

But let me tell you what they did do. This is amazing. They made it up to me in such a major way. They felt bad. They got me floor seats to one of the Eastern Conference finals games in Atlanta and got backstage. I got my moment.

RonReaco Lee, who plays Reggie Vaughn

What do you enjoy about the show?

There’s a lot I enjoy. I’m not going to lie to you but what is on the top of my list is doing work I’m really proud of. As an actor – as an artist period – sometimes you are forced to survive and take of your family and yourself or to be really picky about the projects you choose. Survivor’s Remorse is just the perfect combination of allowing me to do both. It’s quality work I’m proud of, and it also allows me to take of myself and my family. I’m doing a project I really, really believe in and right up there with it is the people. Mike O’Malley does something I’ve never encountered in another showrunner. He creates an environment that is amazing to be in, and that’s the best thing about Survivor’s, how much he cares for the cast and the crew.

What is the show about?

Reggie doesn’t want Cam and his family to become a cautionary tale. He doesn’t want them to end up on 30 for 30, another statistic of an athlete who had a big contract but lost it all. The other pieces of that puzzle involve fiscal responsibility. What we never get to see is how a guy like LeBron James or Maverick Carter and how they were able to deal with those first millions they made. There would be a brief moment where I would lose my mind.

The show has a few different components to it and certainly basketball is down the list. That’s something I enjoy.

You have your light moments in the series but for the most part, you have a lot of pressure to make sure the Calloways are not a cautionary tale. What should we expect from Reggie in season two?

Reggie screwed up at the end of season one. He missed a key point, and that’s the quality of the shoe. The boys have to regroup, and Reggie has to figure out what’s next for Cam. He has the endorsement deal in place. We pick up this season with Cam beginning the regular season but Reggie is still searching for what’s going to expand Cam into different territories. Reggie has definitely done his homework. Some things work. Some things don’t work and we’ll get tested.

Do you ever feel you’re playing Maverick and do you ever ask him if something in the episode actually happened?

I don’t need to know which is which. But what was really great is that after the Finals, we all flew up to Akron and we shot there with LeBron. What was great about is that I got an inside look at what it is like to hang with LeBron for an entire day. I later told Maverick that it was something Jesse and I could benefit from going forward because those guys move differently than we move. I mean that literally. When they get up to go from Point A to Point B, they do it in a manner – yeah it’s one foot in front of the other – in which energy surrounds them at all times. It’s really amazing. Little things like that provide me with insight. Reggie just isn’t Maverick. For the sake of 30-minute television, Reggie is actually a combination of a couple of people in LeBron’s life. That was a lesson for me just to sit back and be a fly on the wall.