Entertainment

Us Weekly’s Athletes of the Year: Jason Kelce, Ali Krieger and More on December 25, 2023 at 5:00 pm Us Weekly

Published

2 years ago

December 25, 2023

Jason Kelce, Nick Bosa and Ali Krieger. Getty Images (3)

In the world of sports, 2023 was the year Swifties embraced football, Kim Kardashian put athletes in Skims and Ali Krieger channeled her inner Beyoncé.

While Patrick Mahomes earned the NFL MVP award, Corey Seager and the Texas Rangers won the World Series and the Denver Nuggets took home the NBA Championship trophy, Us Weekly has slightly different criteria for what makes an Athlete of the Year.

In a shocking turn of events, Travis Kelce is not actually on our list, but the Kansas City Chiefs tight end (and his relationship with Taylor Swift) inspired more than one pick. Kelce and Swift started dating this summer after he attended one of her Eras Tour shows. They went public in September when she attended a game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, and Us has been watching football ever since.

Scroll through to see which athletes made Us’ list — and why:

Angel Reese: Best Refusal to Settle

After the Louisiana State University women’s basketball team won the NCAA championship in April, they scored the traditional invitation to the White House — but so did the losing team, the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. LSU forward Reese, however, wasn’t having it, because when do the losers ever get to meet the president? “A JOKE,” she tweeted after First Lady Jill Biden publicly extended her invite to both teams.

Reese ultimately visited the White House with her LSU teammates, but the Hawkeyes did not, and Biden’s press secretary clarified that the first lady only meant to “applaud the historic game” between the two teams. Now in her senior season, Reese was recently named The Sporting News’ Athlete of the Year alongside her Iowa rival Caitlin Clark.

Angel Reese Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Marcus Jordan: The Michael Jordan Trophy

The NBA announced in December 2022 that the league’s Most Valuable Player award would be renamed to honor the Chicago Bulls legend. While his son Marcus never even played in the NBA, he’s an MVP to Us for joining The Real Housewives of Miami with girlfriend Larsa Pippen. Marcus has all the makings of a good Househusband: He’s showing up to events on the show, he’s stirring the pot by giving different answers every time he’s asked about a potential engagement and his family situation brings serious drama. (ICYMI: Michael has a complicated history with Larsa’s ex-husband, his former Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen). Marcus could even make the list again in 2024 based on his performance in the upcoming season 2 of The Traitors.

Bryson Stott: Best Walk-Up Song

The Philadelphia Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park is known for bringing in some of the rowdiest crowds in baseball, and Stott’s walk-up song only has only added to the hype. Each time the second baseman approached home plate this season, Tai Verdes’ feel-good single “A-O-K” blasted through the speakers. With every game, fans got louder and louder as they sang along — and the 2023 playoffs were no exception.

“It’s really cool, kind of locks me in,” Stott said in an October interview of the crowd’s reaction. “You almost can’t even hear the actual song. It’s just everybody else singing it, so it’s pretty cool. I love it.”

The Phillies may not have made it to the World Series this year, but “A-O-K” has become the team’s unofficial anthem leading into 2024. (Watch out “Dancing on My Own,” because rumor has it “A-O-K” is still echoing through the Bank to this day.)

Tommy DeVito: Poultry Prince

The New York Giants quarterback got his first start in November after starter Daniel Jones and backup Tyrod Taylor were both injured. While he’s found some success on the field, he solidified his spot in pop culture for 2023 via his love of chicken cutlets — which he proudly enjoys at home with his parents.

Ellen Goltzer: Queen of Pickleball

Goltzer may not have ended up with Gerry Turner, but she dominated the court during a group date on The Golden Bachelor, winning the first-ever Golden Bachelor Pickleball Tournament with partner Kathy Swarts. It’s a true skill to show off your abilities on a Bachelor group date without ending up with a target on your back.

Ellen Goltzer ABC/Ricky Middlesworth

Jason Kelce: Achievement in Journalism

It was Travis’ brother, Jason, who asked Travis about a recent concert he attended when the siblings recorded a SeatGeek ad in July, which led Swift to contact Travis. In another commercial for the ticket platform in November, Jason tee’d up Travis to tease a trip “close to the equator” ahead of his now-viral appearance at Swift’s Buenos Aires concert. When he returned, Jason got all the scoop on how Travis felt about Swift changing her “Karma” lyrics to give her boyfriend a shout-out and how he converted Swift’s dad, Scott, from an Eagles to Chiefs fan. Plus, who could forget Jason’s investigation into Travis’ interaction with Taylor’s security guard outside of SNL?

Jason has found the perfect balance of making his brother blush while respecting his privacy. Consider this an endorsement for Jason’s inevitable post-football broadcast career … unless he is interested in a sports reporter position at a certain weekly magazine. For a complete list of the best “New Heights” moments in 2023, keep checking Us’ End of Year hub.

Mecole Hardman Jr.: Social Media Star by Association

The Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver’s girlfriend, Chariah Gordon, nearly broke the internet when she posted a pic of Swift kissing Travis on the cheek in October. Hardman Jr. may have not played a down of football since week 11 because of a thumb injury, but his relationship with social-media-savvy Gordon made Us forever thankful for his time in the NFL.

A’ja Wilson: Queen of Good Times

Wilson led her Las Vegas Aces to their second straight WNBA championship in October and won her first WNBA Finals MVP trophy, but it was her unparalleled celebratory skills that landed her on this list. At the team’s post-game press conference, Wilson couldn’t contain her laughter as her teammates brandished champagne bottles while she tried to answer questions over the sounds of Crime Mob’s “Knuck If You Buck.”

Then, at the Aces’ victory parade, Wilson wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the voting results for the regular season MVP race — including a “1” for the lone vote for her to finish in fourth place. (The New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart was named the regular season MVP in September.)

“Whoever you are out there that voted me fourth, thank you. Thank you so much,” Wilson said at the event. “I want to say I appreciate you because that just means that I got a lot more work to do. We coming back, we coming back, baby. We gonna do this s–t again.”

Nick Bosa: Hottest in Skims

If you didn’t see the photos of the San Francisco 49ers defensive end modeling Kardashian’s new men’s underwear line at least five times when the collection dropped in October, you’re not following the right people on Instagram.

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A post shared by Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian)

Coco Gauff: Best ‘I Told You So’

Gauff took home her first Grand Slam title in September when she won the US Open after defeating Aryna Sabalenka in three sets (making her the first American teenager to win the tournament since Serena Williams in 1999). While accepting the trophy, the 19-year-old thanked her parents, her coaches, tennis trailblazer Billie Jean King — and her haters.

“Honestly, thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me,” Gauff told the thrilled crowd. “A month ago, I won a 500 title, and people said I would stop at that. Two weeks ago, I won a 1000 title, and people were saying that was the biggest it was gonna get. So, three weeks later, I’m here with this trophy right now. I tried my best to carry this with grace and I’ve been doing my best, so, honestly, to those who thought you were putting water on my fire, you were really adding gas to it, and now I’m really burning so bright.”

After a hard-fought battle on the court, Gauff saved a little energy for a polite kiss-off — and fully cemented her status as an icon.

Dak Prescott: Most Unhinged Touchdown Celebration

A Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving has become a time-honored sports tradition, but Prescott brought a little extra shock value to the field this year. The QB threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin, who hopped into an oversized Salvation Army bucket after making it into the end zone. Prescott followed, pulling turkey legs from the bucket and taking a huge bite. (The Cowboys beat the Washington Commanders 45-10.)

“Team effort, team idea,” Prescott said in a postgame interview, revealing it was “a two to three day long process” to get the plan in place. “We understand we’re going to be in [the end zone]. It’s not like we had [turkey legs] in just that end zone, we had them in every bucket.”

Jordan Mailata and Jordan Davis: Unexpected Singing Talent

Teammates Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Mailata returned to the studio for the second annual Philadelphia Eagles holiday album, A Philly Special Christmas Special, and once again, Mailata’s vocals took listeners by surprise. He hit all the right notes on Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and held his own alongside the legendary Patti LaBelle on “This Christmas.”

It was newbie Davis, however, who truly caught fans off guard as he crooned the bridge of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” While his performance quickly went viral, Davis needed a little convincing to join the charity project. “It was incredible,” he told USA Today in December. “I’m really happy that I have something to show for it, something to give my mom for Christmas. … Not a lot of people know I can sing. I don’t even think I can sing half the time.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: Best Met Gala Serve

The Oklahoma City Thunder star has become a street style icon throughout his time in the NBA, and he further proved his fashion prowess by pulling up to the 2023 Met Gala in custom Thom Browne. His layered black-and-white suit was paired with a black bow tie, black combat boots and cropped black trousers, perfectly embodying the “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” theme.

Gilgeous-Alexander previously attended Fashion’s Biggest Night in 2021, and returning to the iconic Met steps was just like prepping for a basketball game. “You just want to get it right. … When you play at the Staples Center, you walk in and you can feel it,” he told GQ in May. “When you play at The Garden, you walk in, you feel it.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Kevin Mazur/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Ali Krieger: Best Divorce Swag

Soccer fans were shocked in October when news broke that Ashlyn Harris had filed for divorce from wife Krieger, thus ending their reign as one of the sport’s biggest power couples. The situation only got more shocking when Harris started dating Sophia Bush, who’d recently split from husband Grant Hughes, leading some internet sleuths to wonder whether there was any overlap in the relationships. (Harris subsequently denied cheating on Krieger.)

Krieger’s lone comment on the split is an October Instagram caption that read, “Preparing for playoffs while in my Beyoncé lemonade era.” (As the Beyhive knows, Beyoncé’s 2016 album, Lemonade, was all about Jay-Z’s inexplicable infidelity.)

One month later, Krieger captained NJ/NY Gotham FC to its first-ever NWSL championship, then dropped the mic by retiring. In her Lemonade era, indeed!

Jabrill Peppers: Funniest Mic’d Up Flub

When the New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants 10-7 in November, Peppers was caught throwing major shade at his own team on a hot mic, telling Giants running back Saquon Barkley after the game, “You lucky we ass.”

Peppers’ commentary quickly made its way around the internet — and was even included in the NFL’s Mic’d Up highlight reel for Week 12. He later issued an apology for the flub, telling reporters, “We’ve got more important things to worry about than me being caught on a hot mic. … We all know the standard. We know what it’s supposed to look like, and it’s not that right now.”

The safety said he was just letting out “a little frustration” after a tough loss and insisted that his quip wasn’t directed toward anyone in particular. “That’s one that I wanted. But at the end of the day, we’re not doing enough to get it done right now, and we all know that,” he added. “But we’ve got six more opportunities to go out there and try to build momentum going into next year. … I want to be a part of the solution. So, it is what it is.”

In the world of sports, 2023 was the year Swifties embraced football, Kim Kardashian put athletes in Skims and Ali Krieger channeled her inner Beyoncé. While Patrick Mahomes earned the NFL MVP award, Corey Seager and the Texas Rangers won the World Series and the Denver Nuggets took home the NBA Championship trophy, Us Weekly

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Entertainment

What Filmmakers Should Actually Steal From Euphoria

Published

7 days ago

June 4, 2026

Bolanle Media Staff

Most of the talk about Euphoria asks one question: was it realistic? That’s the wrong question if you make films. The better one is simpler. How did Sam Levinson get an audience to feel addiction from the inside? And what did it cost him to end the show the way he did?

Strip away the noise and Euphoria is a clinic in three choices: point of view, style, and the ending. Here’s what’s worth taking — and what isn’t.

1. Put the Camera Inside the Character

Most shows about drugs watch from across the room. Euphoria doesn’t. When Rue is high, the camera is high too. Walls breathe. Floors tilt. Time skips. You’re not watching her — you’re stuck inside her head.

That’s the lesson: point of view is a decision you make with the camera and the cut, not a mood you add later in color. Levinson builds it into the lens, the blocking, and the edit.

So before you shoot a scene through a character’s eyes, ask one thing on set: whose eyes is this lens standing in for? Then make every cut respect that.

2. Your Style Has to Mean Something

The glitter. The slow push-ins. The impossible club lighting. Euphoria‘s look got copied everywhere. That’s the trap.

The style worked because it carried weight. The beauty wasn’t decoration — it was the lie addiction tells you, the reason the next high looks worth it. The camera made self-destruction gorgeous on purpose.

The copies missed that. A thousand music videos took the look and left the meaning behind, and you can feel how hollow they are. So here’s the test: if your signature style could be swapped onto any other project and still “work,” it’s not a style. It’s a filter. Every choice should have a reason behind it.

3. The Ending Tells the Audience What It All Meant

When Euphoria ended for good in Season 3, Levinson killed Rue — an accidental, fentanyl-laced overdose. He called it “the honest ending,” saying he wanted to tell a true story about addiction and grief in a time when one mistake can be the last one. Reportedly, that wasn’t the original plan; the death of Angus Cloud, who played Fezco, changed the script.

Forget whether you agree with the choice. Study how it works. An ending is the last instruction you give your audience about how to read everything before it.

By ending on consequence instead of recovery, Levinson reframed seven years of beautiful chaos as a story about cost — not a celebration of it.

It’s also the show’s most debatable move, and that’s worth noticing too. A show that spent years making pain look beautiful had to fight to make that pain land as loss. Did it earn the ending, or enjoy the wreckage too long to stick it? Smart filmmakers will disagree — and that argument is exactly what a good ending is supposed to start.

What Not to Take

The neon grief is the most copied part. It’s also the least useful. Take the surface — the colors, the slow-mo, the trauma-as-texture — and you get the costume without the body.

The real craft is underneath. Commit your camera to a real point of view. Make every stylistic choice earn its place. Treat your ending as the point of the whole thing. Do that, and your work won’t look like Euphoria. It’ll do what Euphoria did.

This piece touches on addiction and substance use. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available through the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

Entertainment

How a 22-Person Film Crew Each Walked Away With $300,000

Published

1 week ago

June 2, 2026

Bolanle Media Staff

In the spring of 2020, with Hollywood shut down and most film workers suddenly out of a job, Zendaya made a movie in a single house with a crew of 22. The film was Malcolm & Marie. What happened to that crew afterward is the part worth paying attention to — and it’s quietly become a blueprint indie filmmakers are borrowing five years later.

Instead of paying everyone the standard flat day rate and sending them home, Zendaya structured the production so the crew owned a piece of it. They received “points” — a share of the film’s revenue.

When Malcolm & Marie sold to Netflix for roughly $30 million, those points turned into real money. Because one point typically equals 1%, a single point on that sale was worth around $300,000.

For a crew used to being paid by the day, that’s a life-changing number.

The Math That Makes It Click

The reason points are so powerful is that their value scales with the film, not with your hours on set:

At $30 million in revenue, 1% equals $300,000
At $50 million, 1% equals $500,000
At $100 million, 1% equals $1 million

Now hold that against traditional indie crew pay, which runs roughly $300 to $800 per day. A 20-day shoot totals somewhere between $6,000 and $16,000 — full stop, no upside, no matter how well the film does. The points model flips the entire logic: you stop getting paid for time and start getting paid for success.

This Isn’t New — It’s Just Newly Accessible

Backend deals are how the biggest names in Hollywood get rich. Robert Downey Jr. reportedly earned tens of millions from his Avengers: Endgame backend; Keanu Reeves made a fortune off The Matrix through profit participation. The leverage to demand that kind of deal has always belonged to A-list stars.

What changed with Malcolm & Marie is who got a seat at the table. Zendaya didn’t reserve the points for herself and a couple of producers — she extended them to the crew, the people she described as laying the tracks and doing the heavy lifting. That’s the shift indie filmmakers are now studying: ownership as something you share down the call sheet, not hoard at the top.

Why Indie Filmmakers Should Care

Independent films usually run on budgets between $50,000 and $500,000, where labor can eat up 40% to 60% of total costs. That creates a permanent squeeze: how do you attract genuinely skilled people without torching the budget before you’ve shot a frame?

Equity is the pressure valve. Offering ownership instead of higher upfront pay lets you reduce immediate production costs, attract more experienced collaborators, and — maybe most importantly — build a team that actually wants the film to win.

How to Apply It to Your Own Project

You don’t need a $30 million Netflix sale for this to work. Say your budget is $250,000 and your revenue goal is $500,000, making 1% worth $5,000. Instead of stretching cash thin across every line item, you might offer 1% to a cinematographer, 1% to an editor, and 1–2% to a producer. You preserve cash during production and hand your key people a real reason to overdeliver.

Ownership Changes How People Show Up

A stake rewires behavior. People who own a piece of the outcome stay sharper on set, pitch in on marketing and promotion without being asked, and stay invested long after wrap. That last part matters more than it sounds — a crew that’s financially tied to the film becomes part of its distribution engine, not just its production.

Read the Fine Print

Equity is not a salary, and it’s honest to say so. Malcolm & Marie worked because it sold to Netflix at a high price — that’s the upside scenario, not a guarantee. If a project underperforms, points can be worth little or nothing. So if you use this model, do it cleanly: define revenue participation explicitly in contracts, spell out recoupment structures so everyone knows who gets paid and in what order, and offer partial upfront payment where you can to balance the risk. The whole thing runs on trust, and trust runs on transparency.

The Bigger Picture

What Zendaya pulled off with a 22-person crew in one house pointed to something larger about how creative work gets valued. In an industry where funding is the hardest wall to climb, ownership has become its own currency. You may not control access to millions in financing — but you fully control how value gets shared on your set. And that, more often than not, is the difference between a film that stalls in development and one that actually gets made.

Advice

Independent Film’s New Reality: 10 Brutal Truths You Have to Face in 2026

Published

2 weeks ago

May 25, 2026

Bolanle Media Staff

If you are still approaching independent film like it’s 2015, you are going to get crushed. The landscape that once rewarded a scrappy feature and a couple of festival laurels has become a crowded, algorithm‑driven marketplace where attention is the rarest currency. Recent industry analysis on “inflection points” for 2026 all say the same thing: the business model for independent film has changed, whether you like it or not.

1. You’re Competing With Everything

Your film is no longer just competing with other indie features. It is fighting for attention against TikTok clips, prestige series, and endless back catalog on every streaming platform. That means “pretty good” is invisible. You either have a sharp, specific audience and a clean logline, or you disappear into the scroll.

2. Festivals Are Not a Distribution Plan

A festival premiere and a few Q&As can help with credibility, but they are not a business strategy. Without a parallel plan—email list, community building, partnerships, and a clear path to paid viewers—you come home with a laurel and no deal. Even festival‑aligned organizations now frame their “don’t miss indies” coverage as part of a broader visibility and audience strategy, not a finish line.

3. The Middle Is Collapsing

Industry voices are blunt about it: micro‑budget genre films and clearly branded auteur work still find lanes, but the soft, mid‑budget drama with no hook is almost impossible to monetize. If your film cannot be pitched in one or two sentences to a specific audience, it will struggle regardless of how “good” it is.

4. You Are a Small Business, Not a Starving Artist

The indie filmmakers who will survive 2026 are treating their careers like businesses. Guides focused on creating a “film business turnaround” talk about lifetime value, repeat customers, multiple revenue streams, and audience retention—not just finishing one feature. Your filmography is a product line, not a lottery ticket.

5. SAG Is a Competitive Advantage

SAG actors and union rules are not your enemy; they are a way to level up. SAGindie and SAG‑AFTRA low‑budget agreements exist to help genuine independents hire professional talent and present themselves as serious, compliant productions. Understanding those tools gives you access to stronger cast, better reputations, and more credible pitches.

6. Streaming Is Not a Golden Ticket

Streaming is no longer the dream “one deal solves everything” outcome. The deals are leaner, the competition is brutal, and many filmmakers now make more by going direct‑to‑fan through TVOD, memberships, or niche platforms than by chasing a low‑MG all‑rights license. You need to know why you want a streamer—brand value, audience reach, or pure revenue—and plan accordingly.

7. Format Matters Less Than Relationship

Audiences care more about access than whether your project is a feature, series, or hybrid. If you give them a reason to show up repeatedly, they will follow you across formats. If you do not, a 90‑minute feature is just one more piece of content in an endless feed.elliotgrove.

8. Marketing Starts at Concept

Marketing is not something you “figure out later.” The most effective 2026 indies build their hook at the idea stage—title, poster, and logline are treated as core creative decisions, not afterthoughts. If you cannot imagine the trailer, one‑sheet, and social teaser while you are still outlining, that is a red flag.

9. Community Is Your Real Safety Net

Filmmakers who plug into networks, reading lists, and producer education hubs are adapting the fastest. They are not reinventing the wheel alone; they are leveraging shared knowledge, updated contracts, and peer feedback to make smarter decisions project by project.

10. Accepting Reality Is Your Edge

Here is the real brutal truth: if you can accept all of this, you gain an edge. Most of the field is still clinging to old myths about discovery, “overnight” success, and festival miracles. If you are willing to treat your indie career as a living, evolving business—grounded in current data and audience behavior—2026 might be the moment where “truly independent” stops meaning powerless and starts meaning in control.