From an in-depth analysis of the sport of cheese rolling to footage of the World Sports Stacking Championship where competitors stack and unstack 12 cups as fast as possible, MTV’s Powerade sponsored Sportsblender serves up unconventional sports like you’ve never seen them before. Created by Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore., the show stars two amateur sportscasters who have inherited a TV station. With the kind assistance of Powerade and the fictitious Dave’s Drapery Kingdom, the boys are getting their break on MTV.
In addition to the top unconventional sports news stories, the hybrid reality/fictional show features an interview with the world’s second strongest man, a close-up of Okie Noodlin–a very hands-on approach to the sport of fishing–and even an interview with Lebron James who is the guest on the show’s Orb of Inquiry. Shockingly enough, all of the weird and wacky sports footage from around the world is real. The project was almost two years in the making.
“The bulk of that was getting the idea approved through both MTV and Coca Cola and then getting the deal between them done. The production part of it is longer than a typical commercial but not that much longer. It was about four months out of those two years,” explained Bill Davenport, executive producer of Wieden + Kennedy’s entertainment division. “In all of these long format projects, you spend a lot more time selling the product in and getting the deal done than actually producing it.”
With any branded entertainment piece Davenport said the biggest challenge is rather than working solely for one client, the agency in effect has two clients. “You have the brand and the network and you sort of have to please both Gods,” he said.
But there was an upside. “The good side of that is it helps our clients realize our side of the world and our perspective in that they were really kind of right there with us having to sell the concept at times to MTV, to defend their creative choices alongside us. So in that sense that was a good shared experience,” said Mark Fitzloff, one of the creative directors on the project.
Finding the right combination of branding and entertainment to please everyone is something Sportsblender does well, according to Susan Hoffman, the other agency creative director on the job. “Whenever we did any branding we had some fun with it so it didn’t feel like a long format ad. It was entertaining. People don’t mind ad messages if they are done in a funny way.”
At the beginning the team didn’t know if they wanted to follow the TV series model and bring in a strong lead writer from the world of TV or if they wanted to follow the commercial model where they write the script and partner with a spot production company.
Once they started writing it on their own with a three-person team led by copywriter Jason Bagley, they decided they needed a director who could work in both reality and fictional shows.
“There were plenty of guys who do documentary stuff and plenty of guys who do reality stuff, and then there were fictional guys as well, but to put them together as one was kind of challenging. Everyone sort of had a comfort zone they were working in and we didn’t want to do exactly the same thing. We wanted to create something new and different,” said Davenport.
When they knew they were going to be working with a lot of found sports footage, they wanted to make sure the result was not just another clip show, which MTV and VH1 have plenty of already.
“We wanted it to be creatively different than something that had been done before. So we came up with the concept of Sportsblender and the idea of these two guys who are huge fans of alternative sports and they have their own show in Bountiful, Utah. They are quirky but endearing characters.
“Once we had that concept, we knew Jared Hess (of bicoastal Moxie Pictures) was the guy to bring it to life. He’s the director from Napolean Dynamite,” Bagley said.
Davenport pointed out that with the longer form, it can be more difficult to determine what’s funny. Even though there’s a script, you have to improv with the talent that you’ve got on the set. The result on Sportsblender is a dorky, quirky small town sense of humor that Hess and Bagley share.
“Jason is a very funny guy. Watching it develop, it was like you would imagine a close-knit comedy improv group working together,” said Fitzloff.
“Jason got two guys within the agency as part of his writing team. And once that started to develop they brought in Jared and his very close-knit group of production guys. They were all a very like-minded unified force.
“And I think you need to have a comedy group who works together. As long as everyone is on the same page you will have a clear point of view in that comedy. And that’s what we got because of Jason leading the way.”
Kudos also goes out to bicoastal Brand New School, which was called upon to create the graphics package for the show, and to bicoastal Beast Editorial.
“The graphics had to be sort of clunky and unpolished. And it took some effort to hit it right. It was either too polished or too amateurish, so there was a real balance to strike there,” said Davenport.
“From an editorial point of view, Beast was also great. There were four or five editors cutting round the clock on this to make a deadline. What could have been a real nightmare post production schedule was actually very organized. If you are used to that commercial mindset where you want to get in and get out and move on, you are going to fail miserably.”
“While the show was fully scripted, the creative left a lot of room for spontaneity,” said editor Igor Kovalik. “This, and the fact that we had several editors working on it at once, fostered a real team atmosphere in the edit bay. Seldom have I worked on a project where there was such a stong sense of camaraderie between the editors and the agency.”
Overall the collaboration and flexibility of everyone involved in Sportsblender, which was promoted primarily on MTV and YouTube, stood out from more traditional projects. “The common theme from our client to our production partners was everyone was really motivated to try this. So it had a lot of positive momentum going into it. Everyone was prepared to be a little more flexible about this timeline or this approval schedule because they really wanted to make a show,” said Fitzloff.
Producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher To Receive Harold Lloyd Award From The Advanced Imaging Society
Producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher will be presented with the 2025 Harold Lloyd Award in recognition of their producing achievement in creating Gladiator II at The Advanced Imaging Society’s (AIS) 15th annual Lumiere Awards luncheon, which takes place Friday, February 7, 2025, at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Empowering their storytelling with groundbreaking technology and skill, Wick and Fisher have thrilled audiences and driven the film industry forward for three decades. Their steadfast dedication to the highest standards of cinematic excellence have resulted in epic films, including Memoirs of a Geisha, The Great Gatsby, the Stuart Little franchise, the Divergent Series and both Gladiator films. The first Gladiator earned Wick an Academy Award® for Best Picture. In light of their consistent and distinguished contributions over the years, as exemplified by this year’s Gladiator II, the Advanced Imaging Society wished to recognize the team with this year’s esteemed Harold Lloyd Award.
“Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher of Red Wagon Entertainment have revolutionized modern filmmaking with their bold storytelling and ability to elevate large-scale productions to epic levels,” remarked Jim Chabin, AIS president. “Their work has not only captivated audiences but also redefined filmmaking standards, leaving an indelible mark on the art of cinema. At AIS. we deeply admire their visionary contributions and enduring influence on the film industry.”
Suzanne Lloyd, granddaughter of the late, great Harold Lloyd, remarked, “Doug’s artistic vision and Lucy’s dynamic leadership have brought authenticity, beauty and profound emotion to some of our favorite epic films. Together, they are a... Read More