Netflix Documentary - Distance Runners

Maybe a scriptwriter (non-union) from Edmonton could help you plan this out

A series following Galen would be worth it.

Tinman likely wont feature. Main focus is on Diamond Leagues and Worlds and no offence to TMElite but how many times a year do they have athletes at those calibre meets? Let alone competing for medals.

Bearing in mind World Athletics have been pushing this with Netflix for awhile now, I doubt they'd want BTC. Houlihan will be able to start training with the team (more than she already has) 6months before her ban ends. I imagine WA want to minimise doping chat RE the show so having a team whose biggest female name is banned/coming off a ban probably isn't the PR they're looking for.

Also can you imagine Jerry opening up the group to cameras like that or giving interviews?

Ingebrigsten series was already done by NRK and is available on YouTube. it’s well done and captures the important years. The only thing it’s missing is an inter-athlete/team component, but it’s still the high water mark and probably wouldn’t be replicated as well now that it would just be following the one brother maintaining the highest level. Could they add Jakob as the Mercedes/RedBull of a distance show, maybe, but he would (now) be similarly boring.

Similarly, Tinman Elite’s best story years are behind them. they were documented on YouTube, not nearly as well as the Ingebrigstens, but they gave it their best amateur shot, and the important thing was capturing the era as it happened.

The tough thing about picking the next doc subjects is the NOT pick only the obvious ones. F1 can limit it to members of its “league”, but track unfortunately has this ambiguous infinite field of maybes that never become anything. where do you invest your camera time.

I’ll throw a vote in for investing in characters over results. Cooper/Cole and the Very Nice Track Club all day long over a video of Sean Brosnan.

These shows aren't about following the "world's best" - they're typically about (made up) drama and stuffs. Focus on the personality, not the sport.

What would be interesting about a docuseries of distant runners? It'd essentially just be people with largely boring personalities going on runs, watching Netflix/"going to get coffee," talking about their race anxiety, and then getting injured. Plus, it's not like "running documentaries" don't exist already and they're all basically the same.

I'm not sure anyone cares this much about the On Running team. Frankly, Hanson's would be more interesting to see how this groups mixes running and working and life- stories more relatable to people (even elite and sub elite lets runners) and resulting in higher ratings.

Topic should be:

NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY - DISTANCE RUNNERS!!!

?

Distance running would be so boring. Just clips of them jogging in the mountains then naptime in between sessions. None of these distance guys have much personality. The speed and power events were destined for a show like this.

True, and the Hanson brothers are much more transparent with their training and plans. They'd be interesting on camera...interesting for distance stuff at least.

C'mon, man... within the last day:

BEST XC COURSES IN ILLINOIS (A_K)

SAM MCDONNELL TO OREGON (A_K)

OFFICIAL ILLINOIS THREAD (HS Cross Country) (A_K)

BEST COACHES IN ILLINOIS (A_K)

you could make the same argument regarding perceived personalities for Golf but Full Swing was a huge success. Relatively unknown golfers like Joel Dahmen are now crowd favorites after showing off an actual personality and some level of relatability on the show.

What’s “OnRunning Track Club”

Any show covering all of distance running would be tricky. The issue with distance running is that it’s far too individual. People argue that running isn’t exciting to watch, but cycling is just as boring, and is significantly longer. The issue is that there is almost no centralization. The only time there is centralization is world athletics/Olympics, and these events actually usually get pretty good viewership(IF they are available to watch). If running had something similar to the TDF, possibly a series of XC races in the fall, or a better organized DL, there would most likely be significantly stronger viewership. As it stands, the only model for a show I can see working is something similar to the Ingebrigtsen show. There’s simply too much happening, and none of it is connected. You could focus on OAC and Bowerman for a season, only for them to race each other twice(?) the whole year.

It would be a documentary so no scriptwriter or actors necessary. None for our Boston Documentary unless you count Matt Damon.

Here’s the pilot, sure to be binge-worthy.

If you're going to make a series of the world's best runners, you're not going to focus on unemployed American Hobbyists like Tiinman Elite. You're going to focus almost exclusively on East African training teams from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, possibly Tanzania and Eritrea, and perhaps a few other countries in the region. If you want some more geographic diversity with a focus on large, high-quality teams, throw in some Japanese teams. These are generally interesting people who really understand the nuances of this beautiful and elegant sport. Focusing on the current crop of American teams would be like focusing on lounge singers and pianists instead of the truly great musicians who have devoted theirs lives to music at the highest levels. You can learn so much more from the best.

I don't agree with this at all. Take a look at the documentary that Eamonn Coghlan did some years ago with Iten's Brother Colm O'Connell, who has coached massive numbers of great runners from his little school and associated programs. Take a look at what the other coaching giants of Kenya and Ethiopia have done. If you're willing to learn from the all-time greats (instead of the coaches who have one or two top distances runners today), look at guys like New Zealand's Arthur Lydiard (still, I believe, the most influential and important coach ever) or Japan's Kiyoshi Nakamura (most notable for his coaching of Tosh Seko, but also the coach of hundreds of others, including world champion Douglas Wakiihuri (who also won the silver in the 1988 Olympic marathon, along with victories in London, NYC, and the Commonwealth Games)). But don't focus on little groups of American runners with few loyalties, little knowledge of the sport, and an overwhelming desire to avoid actual adult responsibilities.