Before there was a billion-dollar biopic, there was Steve Manning in his mother’s apartment in Harlem, running the official Jackson 5 Fan Club at 15 years old. That is where a four-decade relationship with one of the most iconic families in music history began, and now Manning is ready to tell his version of the story.
POLARIS has unveiled the first teaser for The Greatest Stories Never Told, a new television project built around Manning’s firsthand account of life inside the Jackson family circle. Expected to arrive this fall, the project has been officially co-signed by the Michael Jackson Estate and was in development long before the Michael biopic began its record-breaking run.
Manning’s journey from fan club founder to family confidant is the foundation of the project. By the mid-1970s he had moved beyond fandom entirely, living with the Jacksons, working as a publicist, traveling internationally with the group and witnessing major milestones including the move from Motown to Epic Records, Michael’s starring role in The Wiz and the launch of Off the Wall. POLARIS is promising untold stories and never-before-seen visuals drawn from those decades inside the family’s inner circle.
“This isn’t another familiar retelling,” POLARIS said. “It is a deeply personal look at Michael’s spirit, humanity and life beyond the spotlight, told by one of his own.”
The project arrives at a moment when everything Michael Jackson is having a moment. The biopic crossed $1 billion worldwide this summer, becoming Lionsgate’s biggest film ever and prompting a sequel. His catalog has surged alongside it, with “Chicago” climbing to No. 2 on Billboard’s R&B Streaming Songs chart, blocked from the top only by his own “Billie Jean,” while “Heaven Can Wait” was newly ranked among the greatest R&B songs of all time by Essence.
With competing versions of Jackson’s story emerging from all directions, POLARIS is staking out a specific lane.
“We believe this will be the most authentic and essential Michael Jackson project released yet,” the company said.