Directing
30 for 30 is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This currently includes four "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series under the ESPN Films Presents title in 2011–2012, and a series of 30 for 30 Shorts shown through the ESPN.com website. The series has also expanded to include Soccer Stories, which aired in advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and audio podcasts. This entry refers to the main Volumes of the series presented by ESPN
On December 10, 2010, Sotheby's auctioned off what could be considered the most important historical document in sports history -- James Naismith's original rules of basketball. "There's No Place Like Home" is the story of one man's fanatical quest to win this seminal American artifact at auction and bring the rules "home" to Lawrence, Kansas, where Naismith coached and taught for over 40 years.
Ricky Powell boasts a quintessential New York story, rising to fame as a street photographer in the 80’s and 90’s and touring with the Beastie Boys, capturing some of the wildest moments in popular culture.
Empire Skate chronicles the colorful rise and enduring influence of New York skateboarding culture in the 1990s, through the global phenomenon of Supreme and intimate portraits of the skaters who breathed life into that world. From the highs of breakout film success and the creation of a brand and movement to the lows of fractured families and the loss of close friends, it is a style-and-substance trip through a unique moment when multiple trends converged on one city to create something timeless.
The Kansas City Royals’ odyssey to the 2014 World Series ran parallel with the equally improbable journey of SungWoo Lee. A die-hard Royals fan who lived in Seoul, SungWoo had not only charmed the faithful in a visit to Kansas City in the summer of 2014, but he also seemed to spark the team to the run that took it to the postseason. This film takes us from Kansas City to South Korea and back again on the eve of the World Series as our filmmakers try to convince SungWoo’s bosses to let him come to the Fall Classic. It’s a tale of two cultures linked by social media, but more than that, #BringBackSungWoo is a moving tribute to a game that shrinks the world. As one of SungWoo’s Kansas City friends says, “He’s one of us with a different address.”
