Day 05 - The Sucker
As we continue on in the blog spree month of December, enjoy my take on Sports Movies and what we could learn from them. I’m a sucker for inspirational films. Big time. I love those sports movies where the intensity builds with every big football hit, every triple deek, every amazing 60’s R&B song (thank you Remember the Titans). I can’t help but get sucked into the feel good, under dog cheering, inspirational monumental movie. I am a sucker for these movies and it’s really quite simple why, let me tell you.
I watched The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock. It’s based on a true story… why do they say that? Isn’t everything based on a true story? Well most things anyways. I already knew how the movie was going to go. I already knew that I was going to walk out of it and feel inspired to do more. I knew I was going to have those happy little feelings of thinking that all things are possible. I was going to walk out and for a few moments feel like my dreams and aspirations will happen in the same amount of time it took to watch that movie.
I love sports movies because of how they wrap up everything so perfectly. What they don’t tell you though is how much work actually went into making that “based on a true story” something worth turning into a feature film. Look into what really made those stories worthwhile and you’ll find the amount of blood, sweat and tears it took. You’ll find out that there were more losses, more failures and fewer moments of triumph then what the movie actually shows us. It’s a love hate thing for me knowing this about these inspirational sports movies, but it’s the truth movie studios don’t tell you, not even the final notes at the end of the movie.
Movie producers easily follow the general sports movie rule of thumb “If You Build It, They Will Come”. They package up these movies to bring tears in the right sections, bring inspiration in the beginning and end and provide the appropriate amount of conflict, conflict resolution and of course the well timed, wonderfully orchestrated working out or big game montages.
I really believe that everyone has the capability to rise above the rest. I think that everyone could write or star in that same “based on a true story” movie. The only problem: not enough people are willing to put the necessary work into it. Too many people want the 2-hour packaged up version of the true story and they refuse to acknowledge the amount of work it takes to get to the winning side of the big game.
SO what are you going to do about making your movie come to life?