The Association: Brooklyn Nets Conference Call
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
NBA TV’s The Association will spotlight the inaugural season of the Brooklyn Nets with the integrated and multiplatform behind-the-scenes series featuring new episodes on both NBA TV and NBA.com. The first-ever series to go behind the scenes with a major American professional sports team throughout the regular season will tip off its fourth season on NBA TV on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 10 p.m. ET. The cross-platform series will include multiple shows on NBA TV and original webisodes on NBA.com throughout the upcoming NBA season. Previously, The Association spotlighted the Los Angeles Lakers (2009-10), Boston Celtics (2010-11), and Denver Nuggets (2011-12).
Participants:
Brook Lopez, Center, Brooklyn Nets
Billy King, General Manager, Brooklyn Nets
Christina Miller, SVP and GM of NBA Digital
Dion Cocoros, VP of Original Production, NBA Entertainment
Miller’s opening remarks: “We’re very excited about The Association this season. We are thrilled to have the Nets involved during this historic period for their franchise. We look forward to following their journey through their inaugural season with this one-of-kind series that follows the team all season long through multiple platforms.”
Cocoros’ opening remarks: “The entire NBA TV production team is very excited to be doing this year’s Association with the Brooklyn Nets. Brooklyn is the perfect place to tell the story of this year’s team in light of their historic move to the city of Brooklyn – a major character in the series. A lot of our shows use the city as a central storyline and what better place than Brooklyn and the flavorful people that make up its constituency.”
King’s opening remarks on the opportunity to participate in the show: “It’s a great opportunity for the city and organization as we move into Brooklyn. It will be a great chance for our players and organization to really display what it takes to try and build a winner. To me, it will be a great time for the organization as well as the people of Brooklyn to be able to unveil Brooklyn to the world.”
King on whether he had any concerns about the access: “There really wasn’t any concerns on my part. If this was a young team, I probably would not have wanted to do that. I’m not worried about anything where our players or organization will come out looking bad.”
King on whether he discussed the show with the players: “I didn’t really talk to the players when we first discussed it. The NBA has done a great job of producing the show so the players all get to see it. In regards to the publicity, it’s gone above and beyond what any of us thought. It’s been a great launch.”
King on whether or not there were restrictions placed on the camera and crews: “No. They’ll be in the locker rooms. They get to travel with us. They’ve sort of blended in. The cameras have not distracted them one bit.”
Cocoros on what makes Brooklyn a “character” in the show: “We’ve always made the cities a part of the show. Brooklyn is the perfect melting pot of a lot of diverse cultures and personalities. Everyone is so excited about having a professional team again. To me, that separates it from the other shows we’ve done because of the fact that it has a sports tradition and they’ve been waiting for a team for so long. It’s a big part of the culture of New York.”
King on how much Jay-Z will be part of the show: “If Jay is around, he’ll be a part of it. He’s going to be at games, talking to guys. He’ll be at practice. The great part about this show is it is not scripted.”
Cocoros on how much Jay-Z will be part of the show: “At some point, we expect we’ll cross paths with Jay-Z as well as Mikhail Prokhorov. There’s no question they are characters in this whole drama…but you have to let the series and season unfold to find the right spots to bring them in.”
King on participating and having final say on the production: “We’re here to try and show behind-the-scenes. We’re not here to break news. They’re going to be behind-the-scenes. I can’t wait until [Oct. 16] to see it.”
Lopez on participating and having cameras around: “I’ve never really been a part of something quite like this before. It’s a bit of a change….they [production crew] handle themselves very well.”
Miller on the importance of the show to NBA TV programming: “The show becomes more and more important every year. The Association was the first series to go behind-the-scenes of a professional sports organization for an entire season. Every season we’ve gone a little deeper and done a little more. This year it will be multiplatform. It continues to evolve and it is key programming to us. Original programming is something that is important to the network, and the growth of the network. We’re coming off a year in which we’ve had double-digit growth in all platforms. We believe programming like this gives the viewers and fans rich, deep storylines that they are committed to and can follow.”
Lopez on his perception of the change in energy and the mood of the team since relocating to Brooklyn: “It’s only mere miles but the mentality is completely different. We are in the city now and have to deal with a lot more media, but the people in Brooklyn have been so welcoming. The city has a huge sports fan base and is excited to have us. It has really been noticeable in practice, just the level of competition every day. I am getting beat up daily by guys like Reggie [Evans] and Andray [Blatche].”
Cocoros on Brooklyn’s rich sports history and the inclusion of that history throughout in The Association: “In the first episode we not only introduce you to why Brooklyn is the perfect spot to do the series but we also get into Brooklyn’s historic sports past and the Dodgers. We did a shoot with Ralph Branca and Joe Pignatano [former Brooklyn Dodgers] reminiscing about how great it was back in the day and how supportive the city was and how Brooklyn fans will embrace the team. There’s a nostalgic feel to the first show. Although the city has a new team, they have a sports past and we were able to combine the two – the new generation with the old generation.”
Miller on how and where the content will be used: “On the content side, there will be original full-length episodes that will run on NBA TV in addition to exclusive content delivered to NBA.com. Some of it [on NBA.com] may be behind-the-scenes footage that didn’t make the episode and some of it will be fully-produced webisodes that will be on NBA.com on a regular basis. It’s really content made specifically for all platforms.”
Cocoros discusses the production side of The Association regarding the quantity of cameras for filming and the editing process: “We are a fly-on-the-wall mentality and we go with two or three cameras and wireless mics during practices. The key to doing this is it’s better to be at the right spot with fewer cameras. We sit down with the Nets and we map out the best places to be. Our goal is to do this [edit] show in real time. We turn it around and make these stories fresh and current.”
Cocoros on the rivalry between the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets and if that dynamic will be revealed in the show: “The season kicks off with the [New York] Knicks at the [Brooklyn] Nets. It’s a huge game for everyone…it’s on TNT that night and we plan to be there gathering footage for an episode. The rivalry between the Knicks and the Nets will be popped in and out throughout the series. It’s a great storyline.”
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