On the morning of October 1, Jordan Peele woke up from his bachelor apartment.
Get up, wash up, dress neatly, go downstairs and drive to Honey Training Camp in Southwest Los Angeles - the training center of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Opening the car window, the morning air was very fresh and the breeze was blowing on his face, but Pierre felt a little dazed.
It’s not because he just woke up in the morning and his mind is unclear, but he still can’t believe that he passed the interview and became the director, screenwriter, and planner of the Los Angeles Clippers documentary.
Peele was born in New York and went to college very mediocrely, majoring in computer science.
But he has no interest in computers. His hobbies are movies, comedies, and suspense dramas.
In order to realize his dream in film and television, he chose to drop out of school and formed a comedy duo with his good friend Rebecca to create comedy scripts. At the same time, he worked as an extra and participated in some small-production films and TV shows.
At first, they were looking for opportunities in Chicago. In 2003, they joined Madtv, a spoof TV show on Fox TV, and came to Los Angeles together, where Peele met his co-star Michael Key.
Last year, Peele and Key left the MadTV crew, hoping to be able to play on a broader stage. They have always hoped to make a comedy series of their own.
Rebecca already has relevant creative ideas and scripts, which are based on daily life and various film and television dramas, making secondary creations and deconstructions, and using exaggerated techniques to achieve satirical comedy effects.
But everything is still in the making, they need to find investors, and Fox TV station is not very interested in this kind of short films, thinking it is too old-fashioned and boring, and will not have any response.
Peele had to continue making guest appearances in soap operas and low-brow comedies, playing imitation shows, and waiting for a good opportunity to display his talents.
In September, he learned through a friend on the TV station that the Los Angeles Clippers were looking for a director to shoot a promotional documentary for the team. Peele had no interest in this as sports documentaries were not his field.
But then he learned that the requirements of the Clippers were very strange. First of all, they had very abundant funds, with enough US$10 million to deploy; secondly, they did not want an outstanding documentary director with a reputation; thirdly, although they were filming a documentary, the specific requirements were But you don't stick to a certain pattern, and you can give full play to your creativity and ideas.
Hearing this, Peele took action. As a black man who grew up in New York, basketball is an important part of black culture.
Regarding basketball, many interesting ideas and ideas came to me. Pierre thought maybe my partner and I could give it a try?
Since the Los Angeles Clippers picked up Stephen Curry in the draft, there seems to be nothing wrong with letting a comedian film a documentary!
If he succeeds in getting this job, Peele feels that he can save the country through curves. He will use this documentary to practice his skills, integrate his creativity and ideas into the shooting, and combine it into a unique propaganda documentary.
Of course, what's more important is that having a job that you can take the lead in is much better than being a part-timer, guest star, or doing imitation shows in different crews every day.
Peele's dream is to be a director and screenwriter, not just a comedy bit player. He has talent and ambition.
But the interview with the Clippers media director made Peel feel that there was no chance. The interview only lasted 5 minutes. The fat man didn't even take a look at his carefully written planning book, which contained many interesting script designs, tailor-made for NBA players. .
The few questions he asked made Pierre feel that he was useless, had no outstanding works, no documentary shooting experience, and did not have a deep understanding of the NBA and basketball...no chance, no chance.
At that time, he thought that he might as well just be a bit player and keep going, and one day he would get ahead.
A week after the interview, just when Peele had put the incident behind him and decided to participate in the Fox TV comedy The Station, a phone call pulled him from reality to the cloud.
The person who called him was none other than Smart Min, the new general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers. Peele had heard many stories about him in the past two months.
Smart Min is the darling of the Los Angeles sports media this summer. There are various rumors and rumors about him almost every day. He is about to become a "legend" in the Los Angeles sports world.
They gave up Griffin for Curry within five minutes of the draft, raised the team's salary by 20% on the first day after taking office, spent a lot of money to stay in luxury hotels in the summer league, and kept the cancerous Randolph, and did nothing in the free market and signed him on the last day. A short forward that no one wants, he plays 2K in the office every day, running the team with a 2K...
Peele, who doesn't pay much attention to basketball, knows Smart's name.
When Smart told him on the phone that the Clippers would invite him to be the producer of the team's documentary, Peele couldn't believe his ears.
"I...I became a documentary producer?"
"That's right, the decision is yours. You can come when the team starts training camp on October 1st, bring your camera crew, take some shots, and let the players cooperate... Anyway, you can take whatever you want. No matter how you shoot, I will give you enough freedom.”
"Then do you want to take a look at my plan..."
"No! I chose you because I absolutely believe in your talent. Use it to your fullest, Jordan. In the field of basketball, Jordan is the best symbol. Come on, man!"
After saying that, the other party hung up the phone. Pierre wondered if it was a prank by one of his friends.
He called Rob Richele to confirm that he had passed the interview, and then he realized that it was not a dream or a prank.
In this way, he became the chief planner, director, screenwriter and producer of the Los Angeles Clippers' new season promotional documentary.
With 10 million US dollars in funds at his disposal, plus additional salary, this is simply a piece of cake falling from the sky.
At 9:30 in the morning, Peele arrived at the Clippers' training center, along with his good partner, friend Michael Key, creative partner Rebecca, and a camera crew borrowed from Fox TV.
One of them is named Michael, the other is named Jordan, and together they are called Michael Jordan. Peele even wondered if the reason why the Clippers general manager chose them was because of their names?
Rob Racheli was still sweating when he received them. When he saw Pierre, he said: "We met again. By the way, what's your name? Let me see the memo..."
Peele said hurriedly: "Pierre, Jordan Peele, this is my partner Michael Key."
"Jordan Peele, Michael Key, together they are Michael Jordan. Your names are really good. It is because of your names that Mr. Smart chose you to be the planner and director of the documentary . Wow, our general manager is so imaginative and eclectic."
Jordan Peele and Michael Key looked at each other. Is this true or a joke? Is this Mr. Smart so bohemian and free-spirited?
"The players will train in the morning and the training will end at three in the afternoon. After the training, you can ask the players to cooperate with you to shoot some shots. However, you cannot shoot during the official training process. The tactics are confidential. By the way, Pierre, what did you say before? You need to shoot Into a short play? Is there a script?"
Jordan Peele hurriedly said: "Yes, of course, the players may need to cooperate in the performance. It won't be long and it doesn't require very professional acting skills, okay?"
"Of course! If you have any other requests, you can tell Mr. Smart at noon. He will come over for dinner at noon. What will the names of these basketball skits you want to film be called?"
"Well, because Michael will participate in all the short plays, the tentative name is - "Basketball and Gay"."
"Basketball and gay? Yes, it's a good name."
