Misunderstood
Every league has one player people have strong opinions about. In TFL, that player is Israel Schuman.
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I didn't want to make a film that defended him or buried him. I wanted to let him tell it, and let everyone else react.
The opening
We start with Israel alone, out in the open, where the elk and the coyotes don't recognize him. He says he doesn't like being recognized with bad press swirling around. Over that, a voice says he wasn't a fit in New Jersey, wasn't a fit in Honolulu, and sure wasn't a fit with the Renegades. Then he asks the question the whole film is built on: do I need to change? He says he thinks so. He talks about trying so hard, for so long, to win a championship, and how losing as a quarterback and as a receiver makes you a different person. He even admits he used to say he'd rather be a star on a losing team than a role player on a winning one. When I asked if he still stands by that, he sighed. That sigh is the film.
“Do I need to change? You know, I think so.”FROM THE FILM
The sports news voice
I wanted the league to feel bigger than it is, so we use the language of sports TV. An off-season training montage cuts to a reporter wondering about his contract, and then Israel finds out in real time that his key card doesn't work at the Hurricanes' facility. “Breaking news” tells us he's been dropped, not traded. The anchors are brutal, which was the point. It shows what the league thinks of him before we hear a word of his side.
The rise and the fall
The middle is his story in order. He goes number one overall back to back, and Braden traded up to get him. Then the arrest. He talks about it on camera in his own words, seeing his face on a billboard versus seeing it in a mug shot, and says that night showed him who he thought he was wasn't actually him. After that he falls in the draft, and several teams publicly say never again. I left the details to him. He doesn't make excuses, and I think that's why the audience stays with him.
“Seeing your face on a billboard, and seeing your face in a mug shot, very different feelings.”FROM THE FILM
New Jersey and the loss
The Hurricanes give him a second chance, and for a stretch it works. A beautiful apartment, a dynasty, Israel, Lukas and Grant being explosive together. We cover the semifinal where they were 17-point underdogs, the game people call the greatest on carpet. Then the championship, which Israel couldn't watch. He sat in the locker room and heard Callan celebrating. The off-season blames him, and he tells the room it wasn't on him.
The long way back
From there it's a tour of every place he tried to land. A showcase with Stetz, who he won two state titles with in high school. The Navy SEALs off-season, with the weights underwater that were never really attached to him. The Hi-Steppers, where Callan wanted to wear the cape. The Renegades, a super team that Israel compares to the 2013 Lakers, where it turned toxic by game three. Each stop gets a short chapter, and each ends with the same thing: Israel looking for a team to believe in him.
The ending
Grant drafts him again with the first pick of the second round. We don't give it a big moment. It's just Israel, Lukas and Grant together again, a little different this time, with Israel at receiver and Lukas throwing. They lose to a better team, and he says he had a good time anyway. I closed on his line about being different long enough until people accept you, then ran blooper-style moments and a last exchange with Stetz.
“If you be different long enough, eventually, they'll accept you.”FROM THE FILM
Stills
That a guy who's been the villain in everyone else's story might have a version where he's just a guy trying to find his place.
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