I was packing kicks the other day and one of my peers, Parde, hit me on LinkedIn and said, “Go watch High Flying Bird.” It was cryptic and without any real information, but if Parde (featured in one of my Project + Exec interviews) says go do something, I go do it.
The film on Netflix is one in the long line of sports films to debut on the streaming service and everything about the project can be considered a symbol of disruption. The film was shot on an iPhone. This is noticeable when at certain moments the lighting in the film is not very good, but it doesn’t prevent the film from gathering steam and conveying an incredibly strong message about how established industries are now at the mercy of the phone. Check out this trailer:
Now, if you’re a fan of basketball and you’re expecting a film like Blue Chips with cut scenes and action, this is not that movie. If you’re a small business person who got chills by the end of the trailer, when you watch the film you will undoubtedly have a clearer understanding of the power of video in the age of YouTube. You will also connect the dots on why the new American Alliance of Football has an actual chance to succeed where the XFL and USFL both crumbled.
What am I talking about here? Why am I rambling? Because this movie shot on an iPhone, distributed on a streaming service and discussing a professional basketball league in the middle of a lockout, is an MBA class in 1 hour and 30 minutes.
If you don’t have the time to watch the film click through and read this post on the way we consume sports in today’s digital environment: https://arch-usa.com/tbt-the-basketball-tournament-elam-ending-new-professional-sport-opportunities/
We live in a world dominated by digital chunks. Watching a complete game is no longer the measuring stick of success for advertisers and it shouldn’t be. NBA players are the most marketable athletes in the world, but it’s not just NBA athletes. It’s any athlete with a phone and the ability to develop a business plan. In 2004 I launched Center Court Basketball. I sent over 100 players to college on scholarships. I had over 1000 player videos on my site and 100s of basketball games from high school to junior college. I ran the site from 2004-2010, this is before all of the big YT channels.
Imagine if I had placed all of that content on YouTube. Imagine if I had followed through with a locally based semi-pro league based on former college players in the region and created 20 minute games played in 5-8 minute YouTube videos. I already had my own shoe company… In this video below is a camp I organized. The uniforms are from my shoe company. Many of the shoes in the video are my shoes. Almost every player in this camp went on to play college basketball. The footage is grainy because I pulled it from a compressed file buried in a hard drive and stuck it on YouTube. Because the song used is by the Roots it has a copyright block so it hasn’t been seen much, but think about it… there was and is an amazing opportunity that I allowed to pass.
Now do what Parde said and go watch High Flying Bird; not because it’s a masterpiece. Watch it because it is a handbook on disruption, power and ownership. The world has changed, and the film does a very good job at showing just how fragile sports organizations and companies are in a time where a viral video can gain the same engagement as a televised game.
I just realized I didn’t give names of characters or info on the film. Here you go:
In the midst of a pro basketball lockout, sports agent Ray Burke (André Holland) finds himself caught in the face-off between the league and the players. His career is on the line, but Ray is playing for higher stakes. With only 72 hours to pull off a daring plan, he outmaneuvers all the power-players as he uncovers a loophole that could change the game forever. The outcome raises questions of who owns the game – and who ought to. Directed by Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh (Traffic) from a script by Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight) HIGH FLYING BIRD features an acclaimed ensemble cast that includes Zazie Beetz, Melvin Gregg, Sonja Sohn, Zachary Quinto, Kyle MacLachlan and Bill Duke, plus appearances from NBA athletes Reggie Jackson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Donovan Mitchell.
