Production Update: Screening & NFL Films

Roughly 17 years ago, I did something that changed my life.

I did an internship with NFL Films.

The three months that I spent in the Mt. Laurel facility was one of the most amazing times of my life. One of my bosses, Billy D, was one of the biggest ball-breakers that I had ever met but he would always take time to show me how to do something or who I needed to talk to. Billy taught me how to load film mags and that Kenny was the woman that could book you on shoots. So other than my regular duties, I practiced loading mags and bothered Kenny with the weekly calendar to see what shoots I could get on. I am not sure if Kenny liked or hated me but I think after a couple weeks, I wore her down to the point that she would book me as a Production or Camera Assistant on many shoots. These shoots were... magical. During these music and corporate videos, football interviews, and game days - I got to watch Directors of Photography illumination and shape from motivation or mood, I saw Hank McElwee use one of the early Steadicams, found out just how loud a stadium can be... from the field, and how much the crews really loved what they did. I fell in love with it and it guided and influenced my career to this day.

When I say "this day" I mean December 7, 2007. On that Friday night, we had an opportunity to show 3:15 for the first time to crew, family, and friends. At around 8:45p, the lights went down and 3:15 rolled. It was incredible... just incredible to see it on the big screen. When the lights came back up, as I walked from the back of the theater with Michele, I looked at the faces of the crew and they were all smiles. I knew they would be happy with the film but I can not tell you what a relief it was to see this. When we started filming this documentary, I told myself that I would never waste anyone's time and that no matter what - we would finish. Seeing the crew's faces gave me the knowledge that I had not wasted their time and that we had succeeded in finishing 3:15.

As I walked out that night, I looked back at the theater that we had just shown our film - Ed Sabol Theater. If you don't know who Ed Sabol is, you may know his son Steve. If you don't know who Ed or Steve are then you may know where they work... NFL Films. A couple months before the screening, I emailed my old boss Billy D, to see if he knew of any theaters that I could show 3:15. As he did 17 years ago, Billy showed me the way and asked the appropriate people if we could have a showing. A day later, I was able to call Michele and tell her that we were "in" at NFL. I knew this would be great news to Michele because as she had reminded me earlier that week, she had also done her internship 8 years after I had completed my internship at NFL Films.

Even after all this time, I still found the magic at NFL Films but this time it was from seeing and experiencing things for the first time but more about coming home.

Cheers to Billy D and my buddy Bobby C.