U.S. sporting equipment and apparel retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods has officially launched its content and production studio Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios ahead of the premiere on ESPN next week of its latest production Big Dreams: The Little League World Series 2024.
Directed by Rudy Valdez (The Sentence, Breakaway), the documentary goes behind the scenes of one of America’s most iconic youth sporting events, taking viewers to Williamsport, the unassuming town in rural Pennsylvania that’s hosted the tournament for nearly 80 years.
It is produced by Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries, in association with MLB Studios.
Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios was quietly established in 2023, with its work building on its parent company’s growing legacy in sports storytelling which began in 2014 with feature documentary, We Could Be King.
The documentary, following the path to glory of two rival Philadelphia area high school football team which were forced to merge due to a budget crisis, won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Documentary.
The company won a second Sports Emmy this year – which was the first award for Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios – for short documentary The Turnaround by Ben Proudfoot.
The short doc saw Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios partner with Michelle and Barack Obama’s production company Higher Ground, Proudfoot’s Breakwater Studios and Major League Baseball.
The documentary tells the story of Philadelphia Phillies’ superfan Jon McCann, who helped inspire an unlikely 2023 standing ovation for Phillies shortstop Trea Turner, which helped turn the team around after hitting a major roadblock.
The company’s catalog now features five feature-length films and ten short-form or episodic documentaries, with additional projects forthcoming.
“Dick’s believes that sports have the power to change lives,” said Mark Rooks, VP of Creative, Entertainment & Sponsorships at Dick’s Sporting Goods
“And we’ve seen through our work how true that is for so many who have excelled, triumphed against the odds, and been defeated in sport. There are so many incredible and inspiring human stories that deserve to be told, and we could not be more excited to showcase how individuals, teams and communities are shaping sport, bringing people together and unifying and building communities for thousands.”
The name of the studio, Cookie Jar & A Dream, is inspired by the founding story of Dicks’ Sporting Goods dating back to 1948, when an 18-year-old Dick Stack borrowed $300 from his grandmother—her savings, kept in a cookie jar— to open a small bait-and-tackle shop in Binghamton, New York which grow into the company of today.
Rebecca Covington, Sr. Director, Creative Production at Dick’S Sporting Goods, said upcoming documentary Big Dreams was emblematic of the kind of projects Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios is aiming to produce.
“Being able to share big sports moments with fans is something that drives our team, and we look at the upcoming years with great excitement as we know there will be so many unforgettable stories deserving of the spotlight,” she said.
Watch the trailer for Big Dreams below:
