Sport and Cinema.com

Hollywood’s playbook has long been open to footballers. Oh sure the glamour positions of acting have been filled by such gridiron talent as Paul Robeson, Woody Strode, Mark Harmon and Jim Brown, but where are all the linemen, the blocking backs and special team players to do the writing, directing and producing? Those behind-the-scenes crafts as well as editing and cinematography will be the focus of the inaugural NFL Hollywood Boot Camp that kicks off Monday on the back lots of Universal Studios.

Born out of a meeting between Film Life CEO Jeff Friday and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs at a film festival produced annually by Friday down in Miami, the new program is funded by the Player Engagement division of the NFL, an educational arm which also has offers programs in broadcasting, business and music for current and former NFL Players.

Competition to be accepted among the class of twenty players for the four-day Hollywood camp was intense. The entry qualification process was aimed to test the player’s true commitment to entertainment and required among other things writing a critical essay on a motion picture that inspired them to explore a career in filmmaking.

The player-turned-critic essays covered such films as “Slumdog Millionaire”, “The Black Swan”, “Crash”, “The Godfather” and Kurosawa’s 1950 classic “Roshomon”.

In reviewing the applicants what surprised Troy Vincent, NFL Vice President of Player Engagement, the most was that “many are already in the business”.

Indeed some have made forward progress with their Hollywood careers hoping to score in their new field of play.

Former NFL linebacker Jon Alston, through his own production company, Dream America Pictures, has written and directed a feature film called “Red Butterfly”. Currently in post-production, Alston describes it as ‘a gritty underground New York crime thriller.’

Still performing at a high level in the NFL, Suggs, a five-time Pro Bowl linebacker, has also enjoyed some early success in filmmaking.

The first movie Suggs wrote, a short film entitled “When Beautiful People Do Ugly Things” was accepted at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

“It is a pretty amazing feeling to get your inaugural effort in Cannes. I said to myself ’yeah I think this is for me, movies are going to be my business after I’m through sacking quarterbacks,” says the one-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

The examples of cinematic creativity and initiative has impressed the NFL’s coordinating executive.

“It shows the talent level out there,“ says Vincent. “We just don’t think about these stars on Sunday in that fashion.”

The range of goals about what these players want to get out of this program are as diverse as their film tastes.

“I have a goal going in to be a writer, but we’re going to be exposed to the full gamut of filmmaking so I am open to other crafts that will be presented there.  I know the mastery of film is what takes place behind the camera. The director’s vision using the script as a template. How do you effectively put the audience into that scene where a given character is going through an emotional moment in the story. I want to learn to do that,” says former NFL safety Nick Ferguson

Eagles pro bowl longsnapper, Jon Dorenbos, who won an Emmy hosting the team’s weekly cable tv show, is looking forward to soaking in all the creative talent on hand.

“Good things happen when good creative people get together. I love the producing angle but I don’t know anything about the financing of films or screenwriting so I am excited to be learning about those aspects, at the same time I am open to all the crafts presented.”

Adds Alston: “I want to expand my knowledge about the craft of filmmaking, including cinematography. In terms of career paths I would like to come away from this experience with a mentorship. They can be so valuable.”

Consisting primarily of lectures and panel discussions, some of the Hollywood professionals lending their talents will be such multi-hyphenate filmmakers as John Singleton, Michael Mann and Eriq La Salle.

“We only have 3 full days so we are covering the basics – screenwriting, cinematography producing, directing and another class on how the film industry works bringing in agents, managers, actors, and execs talking about how projects get done. There will be direct representation from the guilds like writers, editors and cinematography,” says Friday.

The players better pay attention in class because the program culminates in a very hands-on manner.

There will be a production component.

Program creator Friday explains, “Filmmakers La Salle (“ER”, “Ringer” and the upcoming CBS drama “Widow Detective”) and Robert Townsend (“Los Americans”, “Partners in Crime”) will captain two teams. Holding a mock draft, each team of ten will be driven from their hotel and dropped off at the Universal Studio back lot. Based on a brief script I present, each team will do preproduction, break the script down, create a shot list, cast it (pro actors on hand), and make a 3-5 minute movie. The players will have varied interests so the role of the coach is to get them involved based on what their interests are – do they want to be cinematographers, do they want to write, direct or be actors.”

Adds actor/director La Salle: “We’re gonna have fun in our work. Robert (Townsend) and I will walk our respective teams through each stage that we encounter starting with the script and working with the actors, why we put the camera where we do, how we tell the story cinematically. It will be nuts to bolts but the bottom line is about exposure. We won’t make assumptions, some will know more than others coming in. First and foremost we hope that they come away with a respect and better understanding for the craft.”  

Actor/Director Eriq La Salle

As the players come out of the editing room, an interested audience will be on hand to see their finished work as some of the league owners will be coming out to review the players’ short films. A couple of the team owners have some pretty good movie credits of their own. The Philadelphia Eagles’ Jeffrey Lurie was a producer for the Oscar-winning documentary “Inside Job”. Steve Tisch, one of the owners of the reigning Super Bowl champion New York Giants, produced “Forrest Gump”, winner of six Academy Awards.

But the program does not end after the curtains fall on the fourth day as a core component of the program is mentoring.

“By the last session we will be pairing players with Hollywood professionals for a mentoring program, “explains Friday. “They will ask the players now that they have gone through program if there is a certain craft they want to explore further. From there we will pair them up with a professional from that field. We then ask mentors to commit to a one year period where they stay in touch with the player. And bring players in on their active projects.”

For these “stars on Sunday” like Suggs just getting started and filled with dreams of making it in the film world, they’re hoping this program will get them closer to their heroes.

“Story, financing, production, distribution, casting, marketing – successful producers in Hollywood are like a combination of a great NFL coach, GM, owner and league executive rolled into one. So many variables come into play. That is why my hero is Harvey Weinstein. Words can’t describe his genius for picking films to be a part of. I don’t think he is given enough credit. If I meet him I’ll be like a little kid meeting his favorite football player,” says Suggs, who is in post-production on his first theatrical film, “The Coalition”, which the emerging filmmaker describes as ‘The First Wives Club meets The Entourage. The ultimate battle of the sexes’.

Battles, in the back field or on the back lot, both look like they’ll be part of Suggs’ life for a long time to come.

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