President of a professional basketball team in Los Angeles; powerful woman in a hyper-male industry; united with an unknown sibling — these are all things Running Point’s Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson) shares in common with her real-life inspiration, Los Angeles Lakers president Jeanie Buss. And while the workplace comedy by Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz, and David Stassen boasts Buss as an executive producer and pulls details directly from her life, it isn’t a biopic.
However, Buss tells Tudum that the series does accurately convey the weight she felt upon being named controlling owner of the Lakers after her father, NBA legend Jerry Buss, died at the age of 80 in 2013. “There’s one scene where Ali, Brenda Song’s character, says, ‘You can’t blow this. It would set women back,’ ” Buss says. “That really was the pressure I felt taking this job because it’s such a male-dominated field. Not only am I trying to do well by myself, I’m carrying the hopes and dreams of all women in professional sports or the entertainment business. It’s hard enough to be successful, but with that kind of weight placed on you, it’s a scary task.”
In Running Point, Isla’s promotion whisks her from coordinator of charitable endeavors to president of the Waves, but Buss’s ascent to the top role took a bit longer. She worked for decades in the NBA, including spending time as a member of the league’s Board of Governors, before becoming president of the Lakers. During her tenure on the board, she’s navigated the organization with an empathetic and encouraging approach. “When I walked in the room, I looked around and thought, ‘I’ll never win these men over,’ but every new person that came in behind me, I could reach out and make them feel welcome,” Buss says. “That’s how I made my reputation.”
That sentiment is largely why Buss trusted Kaling to tell this story and Hudson to embody a character built in her image.
“Mindy has a way of capturing things so well and so succinctly,” Buss says. “What I really liked was she understood what it was like to be in this position. I could spend hours trying to explain what she can say in one scene with a couple lines of dialogue. It’s brilliant.”
While Buss was hands-off in the casting process, she fully supported Hudson being the one to step into Isla’s power suits. In fact, they’ve known each other since Hudson was a teen. “I definitely put in my two cents about Kate early on. I just thought she would understand the character because she and I have known each other for so long. She has seen me operate, she knows sports, and she’s hilarious, talented, and beautiful.”
Buss is no stranger to running the show, but as an EP on Running Point, she strived to be a resource and spark ideation rather than to potentially impede creative processes. “It’s just talking about experiences and stories from over 30 years in the business. Trying to explain the mechanics of how the league works, the egos and agents — all the things that can trip you up,” she says. “Creative people don’t need all that much inspiration, so whatever we could do to fuel them is what we did.”
Buss also helped imbue details that will resonate with hard-core basketball fans, dishing them a fictionalized peek behind the curtain of professional sports operations. “People want to know what it’s like to be around a team and the dynamics,” Buss says. “In this business, things happen quickly and can turn on a dime. You’re always managing all these moving targets. We bring together all the resources so that a player can be the best he can be. It doesn’t mean they won’t get traded at some point, but you always want everybody to be at their best.”
Making trades and dealing with leaks of important information are just part of the job, according to Buss. “People in my position have to deal with leaks all the time. Media is important to us because of broadcast rights and sponsorship, but it can be a very tenuous relationship,” she says. “At the end of the day, you’re moving assets, but [the players] are human beings, and leaks can be very damaging to a person and to a deal. It just comes with the territory.”
Buss also sees her own real-life relationships threaded throughout the show. Take, for example, Ali Lee (Song), who is drawn from Buss’ close friend and colleague (and fellow EP), Linda Rambis. “Linda is the inspiration for that character. We’ve been working together since 1981. Linda doesn’t have the same title [that I have], but she wears many hats here, and I wouldn’t be where I am without her.”
Then there’s Jackie Moreno (Fabrizio Guido), the Gordon family’s long-lost sibling, who quickly joins their inner circle in the series. “I have a sister that I only recently met,” Buss says. “My parents were married, and she was the firstborn, but they didn’t have the financial means necessary [at the time], and the baby was put up for adoption. She didn’t find out she was related to us until maybe five or six years ago. It’s one of the stories that we related when we were meeting with Mindy early [in the process], about how we were adjusting to finding out about this new sibling. That must’ve inspired her, even though it’s a different storyline than what actually happened. And I love that character!”
The show’s range of emotions and complex relationships are what Buss believes makes it special. “I think people will be entertained,” she says. “It’s funny, but it also has heart. The [Gordon] family don’t always get along or see eye to eye, and that’s what their strength is. Anybody that has to work with their family will relate to that. That family dynamic that you see really seeps over into the entire [basketball] organization and it kind of functions like a family.”
One more through line between Jeanie and Isla that transcends fiction and truth — well, aside from a certain Playboy spread (Buss is “the first one to laugh,” don’t worry) — is that they’re both trailblazers. For those trying to make it in an industry where they might feel out of their element or unwelcome, Buss offers this guidance: “Just keep doing what you do, do it well, have pride in what you accomplish, and don’t look for validation from others. The validation from work should come internally, because you can’t trust that people are going to judge you bias-free or that they don’t have their own agenda. You can’t please everybody. You just really have to take care so that you can go to sleep at night and say, ‘I did a good job today.’ That’s all you need.”
Running Point is now streaming down the court on Netflix.
