Billie Jean King will lend her voice to a docuseries exploring pay inequity, motherhood, LGBTQ+ rights, intersectionality, and inclusion in women’s sports. The tennis legend is narrating and producing a project for Glamour magazine and Condé Nast Entertainment that spotlights “the trailblazers who tried to bridge the appalling disparity of pay and standing that female athletes past and present have endured,” Deadline reports.
Oscar-winning “Free Solo” filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin will also produce via their Little Monster Films, as will Glamour and Condé Nast. The as-yet-untitled project will be shopped to potential outlets.
The inspiration for the docuseries was a Glamour cover story revisiting the fight for gender pay parity King and other top female tennis players — nicknamed the Original 9 — waged in the ’70s. “The 27-year-old King was [the] top player in her sport where the entire women’s prize pool was $5,000. King led a group that included her doubles partner Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Julie Heldman, Valerie Ziegenfuss, Judy Tegart Dalton, Kerry Melville Reid, Peaches Bartkowicz, and Kristy Pigeon,” the source details. “They announced their own tour — it became the forerunner of the Women’s Tennis Association — and found enough sponsors and financial support to launch a 23 match tour with an unprecedented $100,000 in prize money.”
The project will also investigate other social struggles throughout the history of women’s sports, including issues that have been addressed and problems that still persist today.
“We’ve made progress in pay equality in and out of sports, but there’s still so much more to do for future generations,” said King. “People have to invest in women — and I don’t mean just women investing in women, I mean everyone. I’m excited to partner with Glamour to bring these vital issues to a wider audience.”
“Jimmy and I have a long history of telling athletes’ stories, digging in to both their sport and a larger narrative of ambition, motivation, and risk,” Vasarhelyi commented. “We are passionate about spotlighting new and unheard voices among women athletes, and this series with Glamour and the legendary Billie Jean will capture those character-driven stories. On the court, we’re seeing more and more teams standing united in their activism. Now is the time for this project, as the relationship between our sports and our wider political conversations is at an all-time high.”
King recently appeared in the doc “Unraveling Athena: The Champions of Women’s Tennis.” Her history-making match with Bobby Riggs was reimagined in Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton’s 2017 biopic “Battle of the Sexes.” She was portrayed by Emma Stone.
