101 Studios Names Matt Summers SVP, Sports

EXCLUSIVE: 101 Studios has brought in Matt Summers, an Emmy-winning entertainment and sports executive, with decades of experience in film, television, sports and entertainment marketing, to serve as SVP of Sports, Deadline has learned.

Summers joins after nearly a decade at NASCAR, where he served as Managing Director and head of the L.A.-based entertainment division, overseeing scripted and unscripted original content as well as all entertainment integrations. In his new role, he will oversee and build a portfolio full of sports content, distribution and experiences across 101 Studios’ platforms. Based out of the company’s Beverly Hills office, Summers will focus on securing distribution partners, create an ambitious slate of original and ancillary IP, and collaborate internally on brand partnerships and events, reporting directly to COO David Hutkin.

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“We are thrilled to have Matt join our ever-growing team,” said Hutkin in a statement to Deadline. “At 101 we look to all entertainment outlets for the latest and most exciting material, and the sports world is exploding with stories. Matt is well suited to shepherd existing and new projects in this new role at 101 Studios.”

“I’ve been a fan of 101 Studios for quite some time and couldn’t be more excited to join the team,” Summers added. “I can’t wait to build onto the stellar slate of projects and grow 101 Sports into a premium destination for telling the best stories in sports.”

Prior to his time at NASCAR, Summers served as SVP at indie film financier 821 Entertainment. He began his career at ICM before transitioning to Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Films, where he grew to oversee development and production as a Senior Vice President.

An executive producer on Netflix’s recently released docuseries Full Speed, Summers’ other past EP credits include the Sports Emmy-winning documentary Race: Bubba Wallace and Kevin James-led scripted comedy series The Crew — both for Netflix — and Race for the Championship for NBCUniversal. A co-producer on Steven Soderbergh’s heist comedy Logan Lucky, starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig, he.’s also an EP on the upcoming United Garage 56 documentary and the feature Clean Air (with Will Smith’s Westbrook), both for Prime Video.

Founded in 2019, 101 Studios is well known for collaborating with Oscar nominee Taylor Sheridan on numerous acclaimed series for Paramount+/Paramount Network including Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, Special Ops: Lioness, and the upcoming Landman, starring Billy Bob Thornton. Also behind films like Brian Helgeland’s Finestkind, the company’s credits on the unscripted side include the Prime Video doc Kickback exposing corruption within FIFA; documentary The Last Cowboy, on the high-stakes world of professional horse reining; and an upcoming HBO docuseries about the sexual abuse and cover-up at Ohio State University, co-produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures.

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