ESPN hands ball to filmmakers, and they run with it, with good returns for ‘30 for 30′ series

ESPN hands off to filmmakers, and they run with it

NEW YORK — ESPN’s “30 for 30″ sports documentary series is approaching halftime with an upbeat spirit and momentum on its side.

The sports network launched “30 for 30″ last October as a celebration of ESPN’s 30th anniversary and as a bid to more deeply explore memorable sports moments in the last 30 years. With a dozen films aired so far, it’s also a clear foray into territory historically owned by HBO.

The most notable difference is the freedom ESPN has given its filmmakers. The results may be a mixed bag, but they have all had the stamp of personal passion.

The series was spawned from a 2 a.m. e-mail sent to network higher-ups by ESPN.com’s pop culture and sports columnist Bill Simmons, also known as “the Sportsguy.” It’s since grown into a multimillion dollar operation and the films have played at the country’s top festivals. Several “30 for 30″ docs premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, which concludes Sunday.

“My biggest contribution with this series was probably convincing ESPN to let the people that we hired explore their vision,” says Simmons. “ESPN, in the past, has tried to control that process to some degree. It’s a lot of counting stuff down and stuff like that, which is a producer-controlled sort of thing. This was a lot more creative.”

The series has attracted top documentary filmmakers like Steve James (”Hoop Dreams”), Alex Gibney (”Taxi to the Dark Side”), and Albert Maysles (”Gimme Shelter”), as well as Hollywood directors like Peter Berg and Barry Levinson.

The topics covered have ranged from the serious (the implications of race in Allen Iverson’s journey) to the idiosyncratic (Reggie Miller’s rivalry with the New York Knicks).

Filmmakers involved say they appreciate the rope given to them.

“They’ve found a format for difference,” says Gibney, whose documentary about scapegoats — Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman and former Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner — will air later this year.

“HBO has their format on the sports films where they’re all about different subjects but they’re rigorously produced with exactly the same style,” Gibney says. “So you go into a zone — you feel, ‘OK, this is the HBO sports film zone.’ ‘30 for 30′ is doing just the opposite. They’re saying, ‘Each one of these is going to be wildly different.’”

Simmons, who co-created the series with Connor Schell, said one of the “major battles behind the scenes” was persuading ESPN, which is owned by Walt Disney Co., to relinquish its control. That outsider perspective isn’t always common on a network with on-air talent populated by former players and general managers, and which has broadcasting deals with many of the leagues it covers.

Keith Clinkscales, senior vice president of ESPN content development, which oversees ESPN Films, says the network has “learned along the way” how to handle the films.

“This series has shown us that the documentary film does work for our audience,” says Clinkscales. “We will continue to innovate after ‘30 for 30.’”

Ratings for the films have ranged from the 2.35 million that watched Billy Corben’s “The U” (about the University of Miami’s ’80s football team) to 355,000 viewers for the fantasy sports documentary “Silly Little Game.”

Some films are garnering considerable critical acclaim, particularly “Two Escobars” by Jeff and Michael Zimbalist. It not only screened at Tribeca, but will play at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Simmons calls the film — about the intersection of soccer and the drug trade for Colombians Andres Escobar and Pablo Escobar — one of the best sports documentaries every made.

“30 for 30″ was always positioned as an antidote to HBO’s sports documentaries, and a rivalry has developed between the networks. Last year, Simmons said he wanted to “destroy them.”

On Wednesday, Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, told USA Today that he felt like Time Warner’s HBO would “always own this category.” He also compared HBO’s sports documentaries to Michelangelo’s David and ESPN’s to “something I chipped out when I was 10.”

Simmons calls those remarks “really arrogant.”

“We’ve done nothing but shown respect for HBO stuff,” says Simmons. “We felt like there was some territory there because their docs tend to skew older, but we always had respect for those guys. It’s just weird to me that somebody would be that threatened.”

Ice Cube, whose “Straight Outta L.A.” (airing May 11) looks at the connection between hip-hop and the NFL’s Raiders, believes “letting us tell the stories that we want to tell, to me, that’s what’s making them so good.”

“They should keep doing it,” he says. “I would hate for the 30th one to play and that’s it.”

On the Net:

30for30.espn.com/