Amy Poehler Sets Sports Comedy Balls At Universal

Amy Poehler is toplining this winter’s comedy Sisters alongside celebrity gal pal and fellow comedian Tina Fey, but the Parks and Recreation alum isn’t waiting on the box office numbers of that vehicle to start setting up more comedy projects. Sticking with Universal, which is distributing Sisters, Poehler has set up basketball comedy Balls, in which she’ll star as a “once-promising basketball coach who is asked to lead an NBA team.”

Ike Barinholtz, who has a part in Sisters and recently broke out with a supporting role in Neighbors, will co-star and pen a script with David Stassen.

Poehler is pulling double duty on the pic as well, producing through her Paper Kite Productions. Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark are on board producing through Bluegrass Films, while Paper Kite’s Brooke Posch, Barinholtz and Stassen will executive produce.

The timing for Balls seems opportune, seeing as the San Antonio Spurs recently made history by choosing former WNBA star Becky Hammon as the first female assistant coach in the NBA. Hammon became the head coach of the Spurs Summer League team and led them to a Summer League title.

For Poehler, this new project comes in a packed year, as she’s hot off the blockbuster success of Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out and is also starring in Netflix’s Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, which drops on the streaming service at the end of this month.

In addition to Sisters, which will capitalize on the much-publicized professional partnership between Poehler and Fey, the comedian is also working on New Line comedy The House, in which she and Will Ferrell play a married couple who lose their child’s college fund and decide to run an illegal casino out of their basement to recoup the losses.

As for Barinholtz and Stassen, they penned the script for Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart’s upcoming Central Intelligence, which has led to them becoming one of the most in-demand comedy writing duos in town. No word yet on a shooting time for Balls, but I’d expect to see it next year.