![]() “What if this guy doesn’t want to play? What if he doesn’t want to ever start?” they asked themselves. They agreed they wanted a backup quarterback, a guy entering the program as a freshman who has to work his way up. They loved shows like “Friday Night Lights,” and in those kinds of shows or movies, the trope is the backup quarterback steps in to play the hero. “We had a lot of people pitching us stuff that we were like, ‘Wow, we could never put that on TV.’”Īnd when it came time to come up with the main character, they decided on an unseen aspect of the sports world. “Honestly, most of the stories we got from other college football players were too wild for the show,” Falconer said. There were stories of partying, pranks and encounters with women. They often tried to get Marinaro liquored up to spill some of his tales, and later when players such as Bill Romanowski and Brian Bosworth made appearances, Falconer and Romano would listen to their unbelievable stories and take notes. ![]() They got on the phone with former players. ![]() Some of the show’s inspiration came from Falconer’s high school football days, but they also started talking to college football players to hear their stories. Suddenly, these two New Englanders from Emerson College who were primarily Boston professional sports fans not too ingrained in college sports had to build a world. Producer Brian Robbins pushed them to make it a powerhouse, which, Falconer said, “took the show to kind of another level.” The next question was whether the mythical Blue Mountain State should be a powerhouse program or a “Bad News Bears”-style disaster. Falconer and Romano (who also starred in the show as Sammy, the Mountain Goats’ mascot) helped them figure it out. Spike TV wanted a college football comedy, but network execs didn’t quite know what that would look like. “The show is meant to be watched on a very surface level,” Falconer said. No matter what you think of “Blue Mountain State,” it has over the past decade evolved into a kind of success. “We were like a caricature of a big-time, corrupt football factory,” Marinaro said, “but I know there were coaches around the country who watched the show and were cringing. The man who played Blue Mountain State head coach Marty Daniels, Ed Marinaro, was a Heisman runner-up and NFL running back who contends not all of it is far off. They constantly hear that every program has a Thad Castle, the jerk linebacker who’s become the most famous character. Much as presidential aides often say the absurd comedy “Veep” is closer to reality than dramas such as “The West Wing” or “House of Cards,” people involved with “Blue Mountain State” keep hearing their nonsensical look at college football culture hits some of the nuances dead on. “Blue Mountain State” - a show originally pitched as “‘Animal House’ set in Division I college football” - somehow lives on after being canceled in 2012, and its stars and creators can’t help but think of the potential opportunities left on the table in its dormancy. Studio executives in their late 20s and 30s sought out co-creators Falconer and Chris Romano to say they loved the show in college. Its stars became pseudo-celebrities on college campuses. WIlmington Regional Film Commission director Johnny Griffin said Tuesday afternoon there was nothing to announce about the film's possible production in Wilmington.But then it became a hit, a cult classic redeemed by the rejuvenator that is Netflix. It originally was slated to begin production in Charleston in November. It is unclear when or where "Blue Mountain State: The Movie" will start filming. The movie will be directed by Lev Spiro, who directed episodes of "Dawson's Creek" and "One Tree Hill" locally. Ritchson and Brooks are featured in the Kickstarter promotions. The effort raised $1,911,827 in donations from 23,999 backers, exceeding the $1.5 million goal.Īlan Ritchson, Sam Jones III, Darin Brooks and Denise Richards starred in the series. In August, the creators of the film, Eric Falconer and Chris Romano, launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the film. "Blue Mountain State: The Movie" posted a call for crew member applications this week through the Wilmington Regional Film Commission website (The bawdy series followed the Mountain Goats football team at the titular fictional university and its hard-partying college life. And Wilmington could help bring it back to life. "Blue Mountain State," a canceled comedy series that ran on Spike TV for three seasons, will head to the big screen in 2015, thanks to a successful crowd-funding campaign by its fans.
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