Beyond The Lens

Eric Newman’s journey to the top of Showtime basketball was one of hard work and dedication. An accomplished basketball coach on the Nike circuit, Newman used an experience he had with Kobe Bryant at Rucker Park to springboard himself into the world of sports media. After grinding on the freelance market, Newman took his skills to Bleacher Report and then eventually to Showtime basketball where he helped create the mega popular podcast All The Smoke and directed the film we’ll talk about today, Kevin Garnett: Anything is Possible….

Eric’s love for basketball and more specifically the Boston Celtics matched up well when the opportunity to direct a Doc featuring Kevin Garnett was presented to him.    We dive into the four pillars that helped guide his story and and he tells us why they made the decision not to include Stephon Marbury.  You won’t want to miss a moment of this episode of Beyond the Lens presented by Diesel Films. 

Steve James needs no introduction. In my opinion, the most prolific sports documentarian of all time. He took his vision from the Cabrini Greens playground in Chicago to what became Hoop Dreams, the most successful sports doc of all time, the film that paved the way for the proliferation of Sports Films on HBO Sports, 30 for 30, and Netflix. James has since gone on to produce and direct a variety of films from Prefontaine to America to Me, an award winning docuseries on the education system in Chicago , but in this conversation we deep dive into the  Legendary Hoop Dreams….

 Steve James’ hoop dreams started on the courts of Hampton Va where he had his first experience with basketball and race.  From there he studied at James Madison University before his heart led him to follow his future wife to Southern Illinois.  Steve shares the films that inspired him when he first started and tells us how stories from his father helped pushed him to return home to make a film about a basketball icon who had gotten into some trouble in a bowling alley.  It is our pleasure to have Steve James on this episode of beyond the lens presented by Diesel Films.

Self taught and self-made, Rudy Valdez is a shooting star in the world of documentary filmmaking. After his sister was incarcerated for 15 years and separated from her 3 children for a first time, non-violent offense, Rudy Valdez picked up a camera & went on a 10 year journey documenting his family’s fight for her clemency and return  back to her family. The culmination ended up being “The Sentence” a documentary which won the Audience Choice award at Sundance and was picked up by HBO. This experience has led Rudy on a wildly successful career and recently ESPN tabbed him to tell the extraordinary story of WNBA superstar Maya Moore who left the game in the prime of her career to rescue the love of her life who spent 23 years in jail on a wrongful conviction, for the film Breakaway …

Rudy sat in the back of his high school drama class attempting to skate his way towards graduation.  Little did he know his teachers simple push would lead to his first steps in the entertainment world.  From that moment Rudy followed his heart and not his head and that became became the secret sauce to his filmmaking style.   In this episode of Beyond the Lens presented by Diesel Films, Rudy Valdez opens all the way and details turning points in his life as well as significant moments in his films.  For fans of the docuseries We are the Brooklyn Saints on Netflix, you will want to listen all the way until the end because Rudy gives us the goods.   Enjoy the pod

After a chance meeting with super producer Seth Gordon on his first film set as a production assistant, Clay Tweel quickly packed his bags and moved from Virginia to Los Angeles. In LA, Tweel honed his craft as a jack of all trades, he learned to edit and shoot, and Gordon quickly put him to work on what is now a cult classic, The King of Kong. Tweel took that experience, what he considers his masters degree in documentary filmmaking, and became a director himself. In 2014, a sizzle about Steve Gleason’s fight against ALS was being passed around Hollywood in search of a director, and Tweel knew he was the man for the job….

Clay Tweel is an enjoyable conversationalist.  His ability to draw parallels between his subject and everyday humans is his gift as a filmmaker.  I love how a game of ping pong helped seal his fate as the Director of the heart wrenching film, Gleason.  And how his father’s famous client became an inspiration for the story.  Gleason has so many layers to it and we were lucky to have Clay join us to peel some back, on this episode of Beyond the Lens, presented by Diesel Films.

After winning a BAFTA nomination for their first documentary, McQueen, a Greek tragedy about fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen, Peter Ettedgui and Ian Bonhote turned their attention to another powerful subject, the Paralympics, its history, its challenges, and its awe inspiring athletes. Ettedgui, with his masterful writing and Bonhote with his dynamic visuals, made Rising Phoenix1 more than just a documentary but rather a cinematic masterpiece that cast the athletes not as disabled but as superheroes straight out of something you would see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe…. 

AJ - I’m going to keep it real with you, this doc was challenging for me to watch due to my own insecurities but after talking to Peter and Ian I realized that was their intention.   They wanted to open the viewers eyes to a topic many may have usually avoided.  And that’s exactly what happened to me.  Ian and Peter have such great chemistry.  It shows in the film and in our conversation.  The transparency Ian shared with us was refreshing and Peter’s attention to detail make it obvious why they make such a good team.

Not because it rhymes with his name, but John Dahl has literally done IT ALL at ESPN. Getting his first byline as a senior in high school at the Charlotte News, Dahl has been on a road to success since his teenage years on Tobacco Road. From Sports Century to The Last Dance, Dahl has had his hand in hundreds of documentary projects at ESPN, and today he will take us down memory lane.

 John’s experience and unique insight comes shining through in this latest edition of Beyond the Lens presented by Diesal Films.  We don’t focus on just one documentary instead we pepper john with questions about the vast array of docs he has been apart of during his long tenure at ESPN.  Be it The Two Escobars, The Last Dance or With Out Bias, John break down the role he played in bringing those and many other docs to life.  I really enjoyed hearing him discuss all of the friendships that he has developed over the year with personalities like Kenny Chesney. 

Andrea & Sean Fine met serendipitously working at National Geographic and fell in love over their passion for movies and storytelling.  The couple decided to leave Nat Geo and make their own films, and boy was that a good idea. Their first feature documentary War/Dance about Ugandan child soldiers, garnered their first Academy Award nomination, and then they hit the red carpet again in 2013 but this time they were victorious winning an Oscar for their short documentary, Inocente. Just recently, they took aim at the US Soccer Federation with their film LFG!, documenting the US Women’s Soccer team’s fight for equal pay….  

Sean’s keen eye for photography was a skill passed down from his grandfather to his father to him.  Andrea’s gift of storytelling starts with her natural ability to connect with people.  Together they collaborate and form a great team, who has learned how to strike the right life balance between work and home.  It’s a skill Sean witnessed firsthand by watching his parents create great content together.  In this episode of beyond the lens presented by Diesel films we focus on their films but the real lessons to be learned are in the journey.  It’s an enjoyable conversation and we hope you like  it as much as we did.   

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Marquis Daisy's passion for hoops and hip hop motivated him to focus and achieve through higher education. Daisy headed north to prep school in New England and then to the Little Ivy, Williams College. His plan to be a teacher was derailed when he was offered  a Production Assistant job at HBO Sports. After 6 years at HBO, Marquis found himself working freelance on a  ESPN 30 for 30 film which led to him to a staff Producer position in ESPN's Original Films department….

His relationship with fellow Williams College Alum and Last Dance Director Jason Hehir helped provide Marquis with the experience and confidence to know Directing films was his calling. His gift lies in his ability to capture the true essence of each subject by finding parallels from his own life experiences. This was best exemplified in what started as a 25 minute short film but turned into the critically acclaimed 30 for 30, Rand University   Marquis walks us through the process of starting this project with out Randy Moss but details how he was able to secure an interview by being in the right place at the right time.  He shares what it was like to work with the late great Michael K Williams and why an emotional Michael walked off set leaving Marquis worried he might not return.   And he shares with us what it was like partner with National Geographic for the March on Washington, Keepers of the Dream project.

You will hear all of that and much more on this episode of Beyond the Lens presented by Diesel Films

Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1980’s basking in the glow of the Showtime Lakers and the golden era of LA Sports, Jon Weinbach found himself glued to the LA Times reading the likes of Jim Murray and Gene Wojciechowski. Then At Yale under the watchful eye of his Sports Editor, Baseball’s eventual boy wonder, Theo Epstein, Jon flourished as a writer for the Yale Daily News. After a short stint with the Wall Street Journal, Jon then transitioned to producing a show for ESPN called the Life, which propelled him into a career of creating iconic sports programming. For the last 9 years he teamed up with legendary producer, Mike Tollin under the banner Mandalay Sports & Entertainment…

Jon explains why it was so important to him to tell the story of the 1992 Lithuania Men’s basketball team in a wonderful documentary titled, The Other Dream Team.  He shares what it was like to write a track for legendary rapper Ice Cube for the ESPN 30 for 30, Straight Outta LA, and Jon tells us how they were able to get Michael Jordan to agree to participate in the Last Dance and how much influence Jordan really had.

 Growing up in what appeared to be a retirement community in North Miami Beach, Alfred Spellman quickly realized Miami was more than meets the eye. After meeting Billy Corben in his 9th grade production class, the duo went on to be the youngest filmmakers ever to reach Sundance and then went on to start rakontur, a Miami-based documentary studio. Perfecting their craft of what they call ‘synthesis journalism’, Rakontur has created a legacy of exploring the corruption and drug trade in the Magic City with their epic trilogy, Cocaine Cowboys. 

Alfred’s anecdotes held us captivated as he detailed the decision to turn down a request from ESPN and how that turned into a Primetime slot for, The U. He told us about the film Broke and shared how that story might have been told differently had some reluctant athletes participated, but what really had us floored was the story about being an 8th grader in the back seat of a car and how that experience led to the idea for the Cocaine Cowboys Kings of Miami documentary. Yeah, Rakontur is the perfect name for the company because they are skilled storytellers.  The Producer, will have your full attention on this episode of Beyond the Lens presented by Diesel Films.