Saturday Night Lights.

PSA.

SNL: “Saturday Night Lights” is a youth development program funded by the City of New York. Using city funds, the program opens gyms throughout the 5 boroughs to ALL teens 11-18, supplying them with high level coaching in sports from Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, Dance, Volleyball and more. From the programs inception in five gyms just a few years ago, it now opens over 130 gyms across NYC, every Saturday night.

Its an amazing initiative, across departments, including the NYPD, the Department of Youth, and others.

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NYPD Deputy Commissioner Chauncey Parker reached out to my good friend Matthew Ross (Frank and Lola, Siberia) and myself to help promote the Saturday Night Lights program. Scouting the facilities, we met the coaches, the officers and most importantly the kids in the program. Hearing their stories and understanding what the program meant to them, and how it had changed their lives was not only inspiring but humbling.

Sports can change a kids life. It can teach them how to work hard, how to cooperate, how to be gracious in victory and proud in defeat. It can give them something to live for. But even more importantly, the program connects teens with all the other things the city has to offer: programs to teach coding, or entreneurship, or so much more. Sport is the thin end of the wedge.

What SNL offers changes kids lives. It does genuine good for the next generation, and especially for those who need it most.

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With a crew of incredibly talented collaborators who donated their time and talent, we met the kids, filmed them, heard them and recorded their stories.

The goal for what we are doing is both to connect with potential teens who would be interested in SNL: in connection with this launch, the city is launching an app that allows kids to find the SNL program nearest to them or that offers the sport they are interested in, so this will be on social channels and video billboards across the city, but also to raise awareness of the program and figure out how it can scale: ideally to other cities and markets, so needs to talk to more corporate audiences. It isn’t a PSA and done. this is a continuing project and, as an adopted New Yorker and a father raising a child here, one I am blessed to be involved in. Thank You.

Its an incredible program: find out more at the Dept. of Youth and Community Development

And thank you to our amazing collaborators. You do good.

My co-director: @lolafilm

DP: @johnshafto

AC: @sammy.august

Location Sound: @shortwave

Edit/Online: @mattelias_edit

Music/Sound Design/Mix: @soundslikemat

Design and Animation: Gary Breslin at ODD

Color: @littlesmith216

Post House: @bigskyedit

And thank you most of all to all the coaches, officers, officials… and the kids.