Q: You have had a rather varied and exciting career that’s transformed from being a young actor and working with Steven Spielberg in Hook, and later working as a director of footage for the Band of Brothers project on a behind the scenes with Steven as an adult. And now Sports Stories with Denny Lennon.
A: I was also taught to look at things with a critical, directorial eye from the time I was young. I was working for Disney and there was a production team called Smith and Hemion. Gary Smith and Dwight Hemion taught me about seeing the big picture without getting bogged down in the small details. It’s a feeling I have based on having directed countless documentary and journalistic interviews, as well as directing the television production of major orchestral concerts with conductors like John Williams and Michael Tilson Thomas. The orchestra works like a sports team, functioning together for a greater goal.
Q: You have a degree in Cinematic Arts from Loyola Marymount University here in Los Angeles.
A: You mentioned was I involved with sports. Well yeah, I was in a Coca Cola commercial that played during the 1996 Super Bowl that ended up putting me through Loyola Marymount School of Film and Television, which I’m a very proud graduate of SFT program at LMU. I had some really fine mentors at LMU, like Emmy award winner Mario Congreve, Media theorist Sue Scheibler, and Conductor Mary Breden. Their pedagogy encouraged positive, winning attitudes — requiring in-depth knowledge of a subject, but theoretically and practically. It’s because of their guidance, that I go all the way today with the knowledge of how to be a top performer without cutting corners. That was one of the cornerstones of the Jesuit education. A lot of our SSDL athletes are from LMU as well, so there’s a lot of tie in. The Jesuits at LMU taught us how to ask analytical questions, to do things the right way, and put ourselves in a place of service before self. Rather than assuming that you know something, the process is more about asking questions. I think that’s how we tell the best stories, by asking people questions, rather than telling them what we think.
Q: As a director you’re very involved with Denny and Sports Stories and the team? You’re not really coming from a sports or athletic background.
A: If you would’ve told me a year and a half ago that I’d be the director of a successful cable sports show, I’d have laughed in your face. I have a huge amount of respect for athletes, but I come from the film, music and theatre world. In my younger years dance performance was my sport. People would ask if I wouldn’t rather play sports and I’d explain that theatre was a really big team sport and dance is incredibly athletic and requires great team work. What attracted me to Sports Stories was the sense of family, the sense of team. That’s something I’d been longing for because I’ve watched teams dissolve into a sterile, compartmentalized form. Production is much more interesting when you are working together as a well-rehearsed team.
Q: As you know I’ve been on the set of Sports Stories and it’s quite obvious to me that these are human being stories too.
A: I think I’m lucky to be a part of Sports Stories at this point in time because to run the gamut from Jerry West to young talent like JuJu Watkins – and getting the opportunity to direct the interview with her and have the experience of directing this massive talent of people between a span of 60-70 years, coming up generations apart but they aren’t that different. The overcoming of obstacles – one of the great things about sports is that it levels the playing field. You cannot make it about race or gender but can instead include everyone. That’s what we’re doing with Denny at Sport Stories – there’s a home for everybody and I’m proud of that.
Q: You’ve been on a lot of different sets from child acting to doing videos with people from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What are some of the things that impress you the most about Denny Lennon as host of the show?
A: The cool thing about Denny Lennon is that he comes to Sports Stories as the host with this joie de vivre, this love of life, and the love of watching people succeed. It’s what he sees in people that matters and he brings out the best in them. That’s who I want to work with, and I think that’s our responsibility as creators of media, as purveyors of stories. I’m a storyteller so give me whatever tools I need to tell the best story. Denny is a great tool as a storyteller because he knows how to craft peoples’ stories and bring out the best.
Q: Another thing you have going on with Sports Stories is bringing music into it by composing music for current or future stuff. So you get a chance to bring music into this endeavor.
A: I love that! Every television show has music involved. Cinema brings all art forms together into one venue. Motion picture is always accompanied by sound. The motion picture tells the story, and the sound tells the emotional content. The score carries that musical content. We’re very fortunate to have Denny’s cousins of the band Venice that have contributed music to the show. It underscores a lot of the excitement. I had the opportunity to write the theme song for Sports Stories and that’s my orchestration and my orchestra – the Los Angeles Recording Orchestra and the Los Angeles Recording Choir which are part of my studio Allport Command Unit. So, we have a lot of resources available at our fingertips that are in house. I’ve always said if you want something done right, go do it yourself. There’s a million great ideas and only one’s going to get made. A show has to have legs and be at the right moment in time.
Before I arrived, SSDL had great interview subjects, but the video resolution wasn’t great. You can’t shoot on phones with bad audio when the big players come into the room. if you have Bob Klein, Jerry West or the Pump Brothers. So, I authorized all of the production resources of Alpha Command Unit as the technical media backbone to support Sports Stories production. When you have the big players, you need the 35mm digital cinema cameras in the room. Denny said ok! And that says a lot.
Q: Talk to me about Marlee Rice, the producer.
A: Marley Rice is an incredibly exceptional lady who is able to almost magically slip through the cracks to solve an issue before it becomes a problem. Because I’m always anticipating problems, that’s my job as a director. I already know what to expect and Marlee has my back. You have to have resistance to support what’s going on and she has that resistance training. She has that basketball background and she’s really a celebrity in her own right after winning Wipe Out with her sister. They come from a great family. Another thing that’s cool about Sports Stories is that we’re all from LA. People think no one is from LA but there’s a culture here and families that’ve been around here for generations. It’s not just a place you come to get famous. You have to work hard if you’re going to survive.
Q: Tell us about our Cinematographer Bob MacColl.
A: Bob MacColl, our Sports Stories cinematographer, is like a brother to me. I’m so lucky to have him. We met at a party about six years ago and we started talking at a party, and geeking out on cameras. I was shooting an orchestra concert a few days later and one of my camera guys bailed. I decided to take a chance on Bob, and he did me right. I’m a very demanding director when it comes to camera work. The focus is critical, and it takes a trained eye. I’m demanding about the resolution, prime depth of field and also making sure the talent feels conformable.
When I first came into Sports Stories it was a small team made up of Denny, Marlee and Denny’s wife Christine who was running the controls for the livestream – and doing a fabulous job even though she’s not in media or cinema. She’s a teacher but she was supporting Sports Stories full throttle. She was so supportive and was such a go getter. I was able to relieve some of those technical pressures but for me to come in and already have the streaming piece set up was a huge help. Christine is still a huge part of our team keeping everything running in the background.
