Role: EP, D, W and Ed
The Ask: Create an event highlights video of Jerry Rice’s visit to a high school football team
My Role: Executive Producer, Director, Copywriter and Editor
The Challenges: The agency planned to share clips from the event to news outlets in the hopes they would use the footage in their news stories. In my experience, this rarely, if ever happened. Actually, I could count on zero fingers how often it happened. Zilch. How could I help ensure people outside of the client’s organization watched a video of Jerry’s visit?
The story of Jerry inspiring a winless team in football crazy Texas would pull at the heart strings. I believed in the power of the story being well-told in an emotional documentary. A full, engaging story would better deliver the client’s message than a bunch of clips. The client couldn’t see the value. They took a pass. Just get the highlights.
I had only been at the agency a few months. A film like this was a new idea for the PR-first agency. The account reps would have a difficult time selling clients on them. I went to my boss and convinced them we should invest agency money in a proof-of-concept. We’d already be sending me with a camera for event coverage. Let’s make the doc anyway. On spec. With a teeny budget, myself and an expanded production crew of three, we filmed for a day and a half.
The account team media trained Jerry before his arrival. He knew all the talking points and what to say. He’s a seasoned veteran used to giving great soundbites in interviews. I wanted none of that for the video. Jerry needed to sound more authentic and personable. As I asked questions during filming, he resisted and stayed on message. I worked different angles, probing delicately. Eventually, I got Jerry to reveal the empathy and personal connection he had to the high schoolers. It made all the difference.
The Results: We got the highlights. And more. The client became interested in the documentary, asking to make changes so they could distribute it to a wider audience. Over the next few years, I helped the agency sell in a dozen more documentary styled branded films.
