Fun, or at least funny.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, F1
racing is now, officially, the hottest
ticket in the United States of America. This fact may
not surprise but it absolutely should. Only a handful of years ago,
the ultra-sexy and extremely exclusive auto sport was seen as a
lost cause in the land of the free, home of the brave, entirely
eclipsed by NASCAR and its moonshine runnin’ roots.
No longer.
An event in Austin, Texas last year drew the biggest crowd of
the entire international season with attendance north of 400,000
over three days. This weekend’s race in Miami is officially the
hottest ticket in the nation with prices soaring into the four
digits for modest seats.
What changed?
A plucky British production company, Box to Box Films, created a series
for Apple Television called “Drive to Survive” featuring in
depth interviews with the drivers, teams, owners, fans that was
watched and loved by many.
Coincidence?
No.
Every major media outlet credits the program with the wild spike
in interest which leads us directly to professional surfing.
The selfsame Box to Box is behind our Make or Break,
which you have certainly read about here, here, here, here, etc.
and I was afforded the opportunity to chat with its showrunner
(head producer) for a limited 20 minute window in order to see if
one-time World Surf League CEO Paul Speaker’s bold declaration that
surfing would soon eclipse
the National Football League might come true.
Warren Smith (not that Warren
Smith), showrunner, agreed to chat and chat we did,
though after a light pause in communication. I had wondered if
BeachGrit‘s reputation had preceded itself, World Surf
League Guardians of the Wall™ wagging fingers and shutting down
lines, but no, though he, and others on the crew, had read
BeachGrit prior to and during filming.
You are seen.
In any case, Smith is handsome, as Smiths are wont to be, direct
and transparent. Thus we begin.
Did that dang World Surf League try to limit your
control or did you really and truly have full access?
We had access to all areas. With this show, they didn’t
approach us. There was a chance meeting and we realized there was a
world that was interesting here. They were open. We want to tell
the human stories and, as a world, there’s not a whole lot of surf
content out there. We saw it as a great opportunity. They opened
doors for us, introduced us to the players, gave us access to the
judging tower, anywhere we wanted to be. But no, there was nothing
off limits.
So….?
The way that we like to work, we go in with a (can’t read my
own writing) approach. We’re not surfers, we have no preconceived
notions. We were there to capture what we found
compelling. The world’s number ones have great stories but
also surfers further down the rankings. We were just looking for
the interesting bits. We learned early on that sometimes things
happen in the judging tower, for example, so placed a camera up
there but also run very lean. There are not a ton of cameramen
everywhere. So much of the footage ends up on the floor, that
doesn’t go into the final edit, but (can’t read again and full
transparency, I was taking notes with my daughter’s sparkly green
pen while sitting in the parking lot of a suspect San Clemente
neighborhood using her equally suspect book “Crow Boy” as my
desk).
And….?
It has been flattering to hear the positive response from
the surf community. We get so immersed in it during production that
we begin to question ourselves. But if we focus on the human story,
with sport being the payoff, then it will all hopefully work. At
the end of the day, we’re also trying to bring in a new audience.
We want to, and need to, please the core surf fan but also explain
it all to the new audience. There were times when even we, on the
crew, were asking “why is that the way it is?” related to the
rules, etc. so it is important to clarify.
But….?
We found out, going in, that there is a huge appetite (for
surfing and surf culture). You have these incredibly fit,
incredibly talented individuals competing at these gorgeous
locations. We are trying to widen that appetite. It’s a fucking
hard sport to conquer. Seeing it up close, these guys and girls are
unbelievable. It’s one of the hardest things. The talent. The highs
and lows. And yet, all of them (the surfers) felt “nobody knows who
we are.” Gabriel Medina, even, thought nobody knew who he really
was. It was a little difficult to capture, correctly, in Hawaii as
we had all those Covid restrictions, but once we got to Australia
we had far greater access and that’s where you see it really pick
up. The surfers, themselves, really don’t care about our cameras.
They are there to win world titles, not be television
stars.
Though….?
The stakes? I think the stakes in surfing can be much higher
for the individual than F1. The surfers are only one cut away from
not being able to focus, solely, on professional sport. There are
six tiers of pro soccer leagues in European soccer, for example, so
a player has many opportunities available to support his or
herself. But in surfing, if you don’t make the cut, you won’t be
able to support yourself. All these surfers are self-employed. I
think there are incredible stakes in that way.
At the end, it feels like surfing is in good hands, or at least
honest ones, with the Box to Box crew. There is a self-awareness
about what surfing is, what it can be, how it can be, that feels
realistic. It is not trying to craft a narrative out of the ether
for some nefarious gain. Furthermore, there is a steady eye
directed toward the core conversation. To BeachGrit and
Ain’t That Swell etc. A much steadier eye than our very
own World Surf League.
Surfing will never be more popular that the National Football
League (suck it, Speaker) because of the aforementioned “why
is that the way it is?” There is much “why is that the way it
is?” but that makes it fun, I suppose, or at least funny.
