Filmmaking / Directing : 30 for 30 by Trent Peek

Hi Trent, would you please clarify what your role would be in the project you're pitching? For example, are you pitching yourself as a researcher who would be "digging deeper" for them, or are you a documentary director, etc.? This will allow me to better craft a reply. Let me warn you that I won't have a great response for you because my colleagues have had a hard time breaking through the ESPN wall.

Thanks Regina for the reply. I am researching the backgrounds right now, possibly start interviewing / filming certain people, and grabbing news footage for editing. I want to do a Oliver Stone vs. August 1994 (oj chase 30 for 30) like version.

Please take my reply with a grain of salt. I've never worked with ESPN Films, and I'm a few degrees of separation away. I'm basing my response chiefly on what an ESPY Award-winning producer told me about his experiences with ESPN. (I'm working with them on a non-ESPN pilot at another cable network.) If I were you, I'd get a little further along with your preparations. Then I'd go to IMDB and cross-reference producers/filmmakers who have produced "30 for 30" installments. Then I would contact those producers who have a foot in the door with ESPN Films and query them. "I'm Trent Peek... [quickly list your qualifications]. I applaud you on "XXX," which was an incredible episode of 30 for 30. I'm writing you to respectfully ask if you might take a look at my XXX project. [Briefly describe it.] I've compiled X hours of edited footage already. I would be delighted to share more information with you if you're interested in the project." Then if they're interested, hopefully they will use their established connection to ESPN Films to work you guys in. Again, take this all with a grain of salt. I've heard from multiple sources that it is often hard to access ESPN from the outside.

Which is why I'm recommending that you get further along and then try to partner with a producer who ESPN already knows.

That said, if you are friendly with any Disney/ABC folks, maybe they could make an into for you through the corporate family. Break a leg!!

Thanks Regina! You have given me a wealth of information to build off it.

Google "query letters." Most advice will be about querying as a novelist or screenwriter, but you should be able to apply general query letter advice to your situation.

I think (not 100% sure) that relatively speaking, ESPN operates more internally than other networks, so it is relatively harder to break into their circle from the outside.

best way to do 30 for 30 is to have access to the story or people involved. for example, if U know Tiger Woods personally and he wanted to explain what happened on Thanksgiving when he got his ass beat by his exWife, ESPN will listen. most everyone on 30 for 30 have an inside connection or a track record.

Thanks for the advice. Now I wish I knew tiger woods.