catgrad97 wrote:As long as we don't get Jelani McCoy.
I did a media marketing project back in school for Guilio Scalinger's class where I pitched a documentary based upon the John Feinstein book "A Season Inside".
You had to write a treatment, do financials, etc. My plan was to follow 3 college basketball players and a recruit...Hoop Dreams style, except Hoop Dreams had not happened. I had Damon Stoudamire (of course), Some kid named Nygard (?) from Wisconsin Green Bay, another random low level player, and my high school recruit was Jelani McCoy.
My co-producer (read...one who did not have his project picked) was with the basketball team staff, so we were able to use the AD color printer and he was able to send requests for media material on our "subjects". Basically, that dude did the leg work, I wrote the treatment and compiled the budget, then went to his place to hammer it out on his old Apple (well, it was new then...I had a Tandy 1000 with a dot matrix printer the size of my condo, so...).
At first, Scalinger was critical of my pitch. And I can see why...another kid with a baseball cap pitching a sports movie. But I wasn't a jock or frat boy...I may have looked it, but I did my homework. We took a week break for Guilio to attend Sundance...where he saw Hoop Dreams.
He came back absolutely on fire for my project. Like I think he wanted me to make it. I was a Poly Sci kid at the time thinking I was going to law school and just had media interest. I had no idea I would some day be chewed up and spit out by that industry and wind up in risk management and implementations (does anyone choose to go into either?). I just wanted a good grade and an illegal cable box I could get from my partner if I did all the work.
Jelani McCoy's high school actually sent some info since it was the Arizona AD asking (this was before he committed). I wonder if they told him we were requesting bio info (that had to be a question mark since we were recruiting him...but recruiting was a bit more innocent in 1993 or whenever)...
That's it...my Jelani McCoy story.