Video Research

As part of my homework for writing my football script, I watched a bunch of football movies. I wanted to see what they did right, what they did wrong, and what I should avoid as far as clichés and over used material. I’m both sad and elated to say that, barring Remember the Titans (which I really like a lot), all of them were plain awful. I watched Friday Night Lights. I watched North Dallas Forty. I watched The Longest Yard. I watched The Program. I also watched a few others (the list isn’t long or storied). They were all awful. I thought that The Longest Yard and North Dallas Forty would be the best of the lot. I was so under-whelmed. Whatever luster they may have had is now gone. Since, they failed to capture me in any way, their flaws just stood out like an open receiver, arms flailing wildly. Any Given Sunday is the only DVD I have yet to watch, but since I hated the movie so much when I saw it originally, I can’t bring myself to open the packaging let alone view it. I suppose I’ll have to suffer through it again at some point.

I also watched movies that I thought would help out with my writing. I saw Saving Private Ryan and We Were Soldiers back to back, because I want parts of the my story to have a war movie type feel. I really like We Were Soldiers, but watching it in such close proximity to the venerable Saving Private Ryan really exposed its flaws in my eyes. I also watched The Natural and Rollerball.

The Natural is one of my favorites (maybe my favorite sports film). So many of the football films are exposés that criticize the sport rather than celebrate it. The Natural treats baseball as a good thing that people end up corrupting. Roy Hobbs is a legend in the game. He elevates the team and captures the imagination of the public. When Ty Jackson, the main character in my story, hits the field I want him to have some of that he’s-too-good-to-believe magic. I also want my story to celebrate football without seeming like a 120 minute infomercial for the NFL. It won’t be easy.

Rollerball was another movie I viewed (just last night as a matter of fact). It has a player that is bigger than the game. It also opens up with a prolonged in-game segment as my story does. It was great to see how character came through in those opening moments that were short on dialogue and heavy on action. Rollerball has its flaws, but it still holds up. “Jonathan! Jonathan!”

In addition to my movie watching, I also took in many hours of NFL Films documentaries. Lots of great stuff there. If you like football, hopefully you will have the good fortunes to watch a segment called The Rites of Autumn. Written by NFL Hall of Fame writer Ray Didinger, it eloquently expresses the essence of football and why it resonates with Americans. Awesome stuff. If I could post a link to it without Steve Sabol showing up and kicking me in the crotch, I’d do it in a finstant*.

I hope all of the above plus book research helps me craft a compelling story. First draft is done. Now I’m in the evaluating/overhauling stage. Things are muddy. I need to get on track. I want a 115 page script packed with quality.

*quicker than an instant.