Planning football

Yesterday was probably the best day in a prep period that I've ever had. I learned more about a sport, gained appreciation for a genre of filmmaking and explored the art and arc of character development. We have to get it right!

Our film is a love story with a football theme. All in total there will be maybe 25- 30 scripted pages of football and that translates to the same number of minutes on the screen, give or take. Because the nature of shooting football, moving cameras around to cover the plays from different angles, evolving the love story between the characters and the planning of our " secret techniques" that will propel us to the emotional climax of the film, there are a lot of elements to juggle. Looking at football beyond the sport but as a prism in which you view the character of someone is an enlightening process. The plays and the camera angles take on new meaning as your appreciation for the game evolves. Beyond that, sitting in a room with 4 passionate, intelligent, experienced people who all have a love sports movies and who's soul interest is to evolve the genre and tell a new story is a wholly sacred experience. The energy in that room will be translated to the screen, I promise that. Every moment on the screen will have thousands of human hours and sacrifice behind it. Where else can you get that much for the price of a ticket?

Insight: the truly talented people in the business don't have egos because they have nothing to hide. Mark Ellis, that is you my friend.

The town of Coopersville, Michigan is so supportive of us and they promise to fill the stands with 3000 extras. The local news stations from Grand Rapids came out to the field to meet us yesterday, they interviewed Don, our Director and Mark Ellis, our sports coordinator to try and promote the film and get the word out. I threw the football on the field with the AD, (assistant director) Brian, I cant throw a spiral to save my life. As a matter of fact, I think everyone lost respect after watching me throw a football.

The currency gained from planning great shots was spent, wasted, by throwing a football. Damn. The boulder is at the bottom of the hill again. Talk to you later.