Skip to content

7 Reasons You Should Write A Sports Movie

RUSH

Want to Write a Sports Movie?

I hate sports. I mean, REALLY hate them. What’s the point: run up a track? Unless you’re being chased by a monster, do me a favour. Kick or throw a ball? No chance. I was the kid who had “period pain” four weeks of every month rather than do PE at school. True story. (Of course, the joke’s on me now ‘cos Mr C is OBSESSED with sports … not a week goes by without some tournament, however obscure, on the telly. THANKS COSMIC JOKER).

So it may surprise you then to note I LOVE sports movies. Doesn’t matter what the sports are, either. Basketball, running, football, Formula One, whatever. I’ll watch it – and gladly. I’m also very happy to consult on sports features and always feel there are not enough of them in the spec pile, especially as good writing samples. So why?

1) A Sports Movie has a Tangible Goal

Let’s start with the obvious. As we realise, all protagonists need a goal of some kind – so what better than an ACTUAL goal, ie. winning a tournament, or turning a useless team around? Very often spec writers don’t know what motivates their characters, yet over the many years I’ve been working with writers, I’ve noticed very few writers of spec sports movies have this issue.

2) Winning/Losing is Universal

Whether you enjoy them or not, nearly everyone has *some* experience of sports and/or competition. The concept of wanting to win and not wanting to lose is built in to our culture – even if we’re not competing ourselves. This of course is why sports betting is so popular, whether it’s on a gambling site or an informal flutter between mates.

keira-knightley-and-bend-it-like-beckham-gallery

3) Secondary Characters can Pull Their Weight Easily

Most writers “get” that a protagonist must have a goal and even that an antagonist must counter that goal in a story, in order to wring the most conflict out of it.

However, very often things get confused when writers don’t realise they need to provide motivations for their secondary characters as well; they write too many secondary characters; they fail to differentiate them; and/or differentiate them too much.

Yet, in sports movies, the notion secondary characters must help or hinder the protagonist in his/her main goal is OBVIOUS. Everyone wants to win.

What’s more, especially in teams sports, those other characters have a dedicated place within that team. Even in the case of sports in which there is a single player such as tennis or boxing, there is usually a team behind that person: coaches, trainers, bank-rollers and so on.

4) A Sports Movie can Lend itself to Different Genres

Whilst the sports movie is often personal, worthy, “against all odds”-type dramas like Oscar Winners/Nominated ROCKY, MILLION DOLLAR BABY or THE WRESTLER, they don’t have to be. Here are some more examples from the last ten years or so.

tumblr_ljvp50Pqik1qi3h06o1_r1_500

Consider DODGEBALL. A very silly Frat Pack comedy, it is far from a perfect movie (WTF was Steve The Pirate all about? Or the highly stereotypical, borderline offensive German character?). Yet it is nevertheless otherwise deftly written and played, with some laugh-out-loud funny moments, cast against the “usual” template of that well-known underdog story.We **know** they will win against all odds from the offset, but we watch it to see HOW, which includes those fantastic sequences in which their trainer throws wrenches at them, or when they end up playing in bondage gear.

In the family genre, check out MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, which asks us to look at the origins of Mike and Sully’s friendship when they take part in the “Scare Games” on a similar basis.

In the Thriller/Action genre, we have many ways of exploring the dark sides of competition. This can be literal, in movies like DEATH RACE and THE HUNGER GAMES (which both borrow heavily from THE RUNNING MAN).

Or it could be psychological, as in RUSH. Peter Morgan’s clever and intricate screenplay pits its true life rivals Niki Lauda and James Hunt against each other from the offset as dual protagonists in what becomes a (pun intended) thrilling ride. The way the story is told makes it a Thriller, rather than a drama, because we can’t be entirely sure **how** it will turn out, especially if you are unfamiliar with the story of Lauda and Hunt. What’s more, at different points in the narrative, BOTH characters are the protagonist – and both are the antagonist. It is absolutely masterly.

In other words then, it’s more than possible to take unexpected deviations with the sports movie genre; it doesn’t have to be all feel-good.

5) The Structure is OBVIOUS

Still-from-The-Hunger-Gam-008

If you’re dealing with the three acts, the structure couldn’t be simpler in the sports movie. Here we go …

  • SET UP: Your characters realise they want to win.
  • CONFLICT (Part 1): They train to win, but things go wrong.
  • MID POINT: They think they’re never going to make it.
  • CONFLICT (Part 2): They begin to turn things around.
  • RESOLUTION: Things go wrong again, they snatch back victory from the jaws of defeat *somehow*; or don’t but gain something FAR MORE IMPORTANT … sometimes ALL of the above. 

Of course, other structural methods ARE available (I’m a “if ain’t broke, why fix it?” type). And occasionally the above steps are mixed up more. But very generally speaking, it’s all about the winning/losing in sports movies, so it makes sense the BIG contest is at or towards the end.

6) You Can go Against Expectation 

Sports movies are pretty much of muchness at grassroots level. Characters want to win and sometimes they do; sometimes they lose. In that respect, they’re very similar to Rom Coms (boy meets girl and lives happily ever after – OR NOT) or Horror (nearly/everybody dies).

Like those other two genres then, the sports movie is not setting out to SURPRISE via execution, but HOW. So if you want to bust this genre? You need to go against expectation. Don’t just write about about an underdog team, or a guy or gal struggling on alone.

Instead, focus on a sport never seen before; or in a way we’ve not thought about, featuring characters that have never graced the silver screen in a sports movie before. THAT’S the way to get noticed. For example, remember STREETDANCE 3D mixed ballet and street dance. So what are you going to do?

7) Complicated Themes & Characters Can Abound

Because the audience have essentially signed up for a story about “winning/losing” in the sports movie (and thus know this in advance), the filmmakers can get down to business and really get complicated if they want to.

If we consider a movie like BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, it introduces complicated themes of belonging, tradition and ambition, using the character of Jess rebelling against her parents’ wishes to be a “proper” Sikh girl. Throughout the entire movie, she is contrast against her family, especially her sister, who is preparing for her own wedding, like a “good” daughter should.

The ROCKY movies are not just about boxing, personal responsibility or being on the top of your game, but also about the love story between Rocky and Adrian. Rocky is played as a guy who may not be the cleverest around, but he’s one hundred per cent genuine. He says what he means and means what he says. We know that when he declares his love for his wife he will stand by her no matter what.

By that same token, Adrian’s own devotion to her husband is not in question. Even though he sometimes makes the wrong decision, we don’t think of her as a doormat. We realise she trusts him enough to put it right, which of course he always does. This is why ROCKY BALBOA was in part so amazing, because they managed to pull off the film even though Adrian has since died, which was down to a masterly portrayal of Rocky’s quiet, introspective grief at the loss of his soul mate.

121625121_c7ebfcc8d9_z

CONCLUDING:

So, if you’re unsure what to write next, consider writing a sports movie. They can be brilliant writing samples to show around those all-important contacts. Just remember: it’s not about the sports, or even *just* the winning/losing, but the themes and characters.

May the odds be ever in your favour!

Share this:

10 thoughts on “7 Reasons You Should Write A Sports Movie”

  1. Hi,

    Enjoyed reading your thoughts on the sports movie concept, on the winning and losing sometimes ruthless and blind ambition. Could not come at a better time as I am writing a screenplay about a runner called ‘Second Chance’.

    Thanks again,

    Paul,

  2. Hi Lucy

    I have written a first draft script called It’s Just Not Cricket which is a 60’s set comedy drama about a village cricket team in Yorkshire. Cricket serves as a backdrop for more pressing relationship issues and racial tension and domestic abuse etc, but with light hearted moments.

    One day maybe you will see it on the big screen!

    cheers

    Tom

  3. I love both sports and sports films. They transcend the sport itself which is why REMEMBER THE TITANS, ROCKY, THE BLIND SIDE… were all so successful. BUT…

    Sports movie are generally shunned by producers and studios because:

    1) American sports have virtually no value in the foreign markets which comprise the majority filmgoing audiences.

    2) Many sports films are “period” which is a commercial no no.

    3) Casting an actor that has value in the market that is believable as an athlete makes casting the project VERY DIFFICULT. That’s why the “name” actors in these films (the ones who actually secure funding for the project) often play the tole of the coach: Denzel in REMEMBER THE TITANS, Billy Bob in FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS…

    While I would never discourage anyone from working on a project that they’re passionate about, just go into it with your eyes open. I sold my sports film to a studio after a small bidding war and it died in development, even after a major star was attached. These are VERY TOUGH to get going.

    I hope you go out and prove me wrong!

    1. Let’s be frank. ANY spec script is very tough to get going 😉 The whole market is the triumph of hope over experience. What a sports movie CAN do for spec writers however – is get their writing NOTICED, regardless of whether it gets made or not. And that can be worth its weight in gold.

  4. Hey Lucy!

    Great article, thanks. Yes, even a sports movie isn’t ultimately be about sports, but about winning. And, if you get that part down, you don’t even have to write a sports movie!

    Hannes

  5. Enjoyed the piece about writing Sports movies. Just wrote a couple of screenplays- Intentional Grounding and Alabama Gumbo about fictional characters pursuing dreams.
    Your words also offer encouragement….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *