More Than a Sports Show: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at ‘The Shop’

Bexx Francois / UNINTERRUPTED The cast of the Season 6 finale of "The Shop."

On an uncharacteristically gloomy day in sunny Los Angeles, California, some of the biggest heavy hitters in the entertainment and sports worlds gather on a small film set. However, they aren’t filming the latest blockbuster movie. They are here to simply talk.

“The Shop,” which premiered in 2018, has provided a platform for celebrities, athletes, activists and many more to discuss whatever topics they’d like without the weight of a script or talking points. For the season six finale of the show, there was no shortage of star power. Los Angeles Clippers head coach Ty Lue, 12-time NBA All-Star guard Chris Paul, Academy Award-nominated actor Lakieth Stanfield and Grammy-winning rapper and activist Killer Mike would likely not all find themselves in a room together under normal circumstances but “The Shop” allows some of the planet’s most famous faces the opportunity to have conversations together.

A conversation isn’t always the easiest thing to start, but hosts Paul Rivera, who co-created “The Shop,” and Maverick Carter, CEO of The SpringHill Company, get things going before letting their guests run with whatever topics interest them. It didn’t take long for the conversation to take an unexpected political turn.

Memphis Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant has been in the news lately after a second incident where he flashed what appeared to be a firearm on Instagram Live on May 14. This was following a March 4 incident where he was seen holding a firearm at a Denver area nightclub that led to him missing eight games due to suspension. The NBA is currently weighing a punishment for him and that has driven much of the conversation.

“I’m a gun guy, I’m very pro [second amendment],” Killer Mike said.

Addressing one of the country’s most controversial issues, the rapper got into the importance of boys understanding and respecting guns when they’re young, so the weapon doesn’t seem so exciting once they get older.

It is not uncommon for modern political debate shows to break out in a discourse over gun control in America. That’s not what happens on “The Shop.” Instead of a fiery debate breaking out among the guests, Stanfield digs deeper into what Killer Mike is saying.

“I think we should be instilling within our youth what education is … yielding these tools that can be so devastating or could save your family,” he said.

This is just one of the many examples of how “The Shop” has evolved into much more than public expectations when it first premiered.

More Than a Sports Show

“That’s not an idea. That’s just a fact,” producer and director of photography Brandon Riley told Heavy when asked about the idea that “The Shop” is more than just a sports show.

UNINTERRUPTED, the brand associated with “The Shop,” has had a slogan for years that states, “I am more than an athlete.” Over the years, “The Shop” has been widely considered among other sports shows due to its close ties to Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, who is an executive producer and frequent guest. However, the show has had many guests that don’t exist in the sports world and the conversations aren’t always about sports.

Co-creator of “The Shop” Paul Rivera has never looked at it as simply sports. The goal was to create a space for people to share their beliefs without risk of judgment.

“The Holy Grail is those conversations,” Rivera said of the gun conversation with Killer Mike. “Having a safe space, a space where everyone’s respected. A space where someone can give an opinion that’s not a popular one, and be given the room to be able to contextualize why they feel like that and what their experiences are. Hopefully, we all learn from that. I don’t have to agree with every thought every guest has, but my hope is that I can learn and take something away from them, or at least have perspective on why they see the world the way they do.”

One of the big factors that helps drive the conversation is the setting. The set gets cleared out during filming and there are only a few camera operators left to watch the action in person.

“It gives you the feeling like you had a barbershop,” Paul told Heavy. “You know what I mean? And I think you get an opportunity to marry people from different worlds.”

Not only does “The Shop” differentiate itself from sports shows, but it’s also a unique spin on the format. Paul has done countless interviews and talk shows over his career, including some of the most popular. This was the first time he was able to do an episode of “The Shop,” and he quickly noticed the vibe.

“It’s a lot different,” Paul said. “When you go to Jimmy Kimmel or one of those top talk shows, it’s somewhat scripted. And here, what makes it great and interesting is it’s just a conversation. A lot of times when you go on talk shows they’re just asking you questions. Here, you find out information, you’re learning things, you’re asking questions to other people, which gives you the opportunity to get to know people in a different way.”

Behind the Scenes of ‘The Shop’ Filming

Very few people are allowed on the set of “The Shop” once filming begins. This is a product of how they shoot the show. Cameras capture the action from every angle so they can’t have anybody in the background. Everybody who isn’t necessary to the actual filming gathers in a tent outside to watch from monitors.

The streets of Los Angeles sing a unique song. Helicopters and sirens flood the air almost drowning out the sounds from the monitors. It’s so loud that the people inside the set can even hear it. One person watching the monitors notes that there’s a police chase going on near the studio. That’s not a surprise occurrence in the City of Angels and it’s certainly not enough to stop filming.

There are many ways in which “The Shop” stands out among a robust media and podcast market. Perhaps the biggest reason is the look of the show. Many aren’t expecting striking cinematography or dynamic camera angles, but it was important for the team at UNINTERRUPTED to create a cinematic experience.

Director Robert Alexander and Riley, who has been with the show from the beginning, were instrumental in developing the distinct look of the show, which features hard lighting and consistent camera movement.

“[Rob] and I’ve been working together for over a decade, and we just have similar tastes,” Riley told Heavy. “We like to make things as cinematic and interesting to look at as possible. And that means lighting, set design, camera angles and things like that, instead of just kind of a straightforward coverage thing. We wanted to do everything we could to make anything that we were a part of stand out.”

Alexander wasn’t around to direct episodes for Season 6 so the team enlisted Condra Magee, who is better known by her director name “conDRAMAgee.”

“If you put my first and last name together Condra Magee, there’s DRAMA in the center, and I just thought that that was just so fitting for me,” Magee explained.

Magee was the first woman to direct an episode of “The Shop” and she had no problem thriving in the role long held by Alexander.

“She’s incredible to work with,” Rivera said. “Super intelligent, super curious, shows up overly prepared every day, but at the same time brings everything to the table in the form of a question. She’s very collaborative. We had Rob Alexander from day one until this season, who was incredible, and we would not have a show literally, without him. A lot of things you see are Rob’s vision. She’s taken it to another level with her eye and vision and style.”

Directing a talk show may seem like a pretty straightforward operation to the untrained eye but the way “The Shop” goes about shooting is a bit different. One of the unique challenges Magee faces on set is that she can’t call “cut” once the cameras start rolling. It’s paramount to have free-flowing conversations and having to stop in the middle of the action could derail what makes the show stand out. Even if there is a serious technical issue, the team has procedures in place to ensure the conversation doesn’t stop.

“We would not call cut no matter what,” Magee told Heavy. “We would not call cut and we just gotta go with it.”

However, just because stopping the action isn’t an option, doesn’t mean the team doesn’t get creative with how they fix issues that arise.

“In the worst-case scenario where, let’s just say, a mic isn’t working, then we’ll just send one of our sound guys out there,” Magee says. “Everybody’s still having a conversation, the conversation doesn’t stop. We send one of our sound guys out there. We might make a camera adjustment to do as much as we can to hide the fact that that person is now on set making the adjustment. But then otherwise, we’ll just stay rolling.”

One thing Magee really can’t control is continuity. Viewers only get to see a small chunk of the full conversation. A two-hour chat between the guests will get edited to well under an hour. Throughout the filming of the episode, Paul was wearing a hat until he decided to take it off for a while. It’s not the end of the world but it does present challenges.

“When that happened, I looked back at my producer and I said, ‘Chris Paul just took off his hat’ just so that she can make it not that okay, we won’t have continuity,” Magee said. “That’s gonna kind of pigeonhole us in a way, and so that just makes our tasks a little bit harder, but that’s where the creativity comes.”

The editing process is a brutal one. Not every nugget of information that a guest drops will be used in the final episode. That means Magee has a tough balancing act, especially when the guests are discussing complex topics.

“It’s a little bit of a task to respect the creativity of our overall show, and the storytelling that we’re trying to do, as well as then respect the talent and the message that they were trying to convey. … I’m sensitive to it, and just want to make sure that whatever it is I’m doing, I’m presenting the person’s words and the way that they were expressed and the meaning and intent that they had originally not to create something that then is kind of contrived,” she explained.

What’s Next for ‘The Shop’?

“The Shop” has wrapped up Season 6, but how long will the show carry on? SpringHill Company is becoming a major player in Hollywood and just had the new film “Shooting Stars” drop on Peacock. Despite the rising popularity of the studio, Rivera doesn’t believe “The Shop” is growing stale for him yet.

“I still get excited to do the show after all these years, because I still truly am a fan of the guests we have on and I’m still learning,” he said. “I learn something every single episode. I believe UNINTERRUPTED and SpringHill as a platform have the responsibility of making sure we’re giving access to information, opportunities and inspiration to the 17-year-old versions of ourselves. I feel like every episode, we’re able to accomplish that. And it’s still exciting to me to this day as it was Episode 1 (of) Season 1.”

As long as there are interesting and fresh conversations to be had, there will be a place for “The Shop” in the pop culture zeitgeist.

Tune in: The Season 6 finale episode of “The Shop UNINTERRUPTED presented by GREY GOOSE Vodka” is now on UNINTERRUPTED’s YouTube Channel.