A lot of us have a story, an idea, a movie to be told. But a few of us have no choice but to let the story free and just hope it will be favorably received.
Bradley Jackson had the idea for a film that helped a group of University of Texas students bridge the gap between college and the cold unknown world beyond graduation, marriage, career and debt.
The answer was the independent 98-minute, crowd-funded sports comedy, “Intramural” that has been racking up awards, accolades and satisfied crowds since it was first shown early this year.
Written by Jackson, directed by Andrew Disney, and produced by Russell W. Groves, Bradley Jackson, Andrew S. Lee and Red Sanders Intramural had its world premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
That would be satisfying recognition for most of us but it was just the beginning for the crew and cast. At Tribeca, the hilarious game was:
- Treated to a red carpet event/after party something done for less than a quarter of the feature films
- Selected by ESPN as part of their Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival
- Enjoyed by sold out crowds for all four screenings and had long standby lines
Sports Illustrated wrote that “Intramural” was, “100 minutes of sidesplitting sport-movie bliss.”
Producer Andrew Disney explained that a lot of the bliss was due to the creative dedication of the cast and crew and because equipment costs today are so affordable.
Bradley added that he was surprised at how quickly 5K RAW (uncompressed) ate up storage. All of the film work – RAW, post, final cut – consumed more than 20TB of OWC storage.
Disney said they were using nothing but OWC storage devices because of the quality and reliability of the company’s products, and as every filmmaker knows, you create copies of copies of the work just in case something happens. And you have them located around the country…just in case.
That could be even more important for “Intramural”because “Film School Rejects” wrote, “Intramural is probably destined to become something of a cult classic, thanks to both its charming cast and a series of highly quotable lines.”
Following Tribeca, more than eight articles were written about the film, including items in Huffington Post and Sports Illustrated.
Since then the film has won the Best Film Award, Hill Country Film Festival, Best Guilty Pleasure Audience Award at the Seattle International Film Festival, and sits at 80 percent on the Rottentomatoes.com chart meaning it’s certified “fresh” by the critics.
Movies.com, who contributes to that “fresh” rating, writes that there are “Deep, hearty, tear-soaked laughs to be found in Intramural.”
“Movie Buzzers” went even further, saying the movie is “A hilarious, clever and self-aware sports spoof that’s officially on its way to the cult comedy status it deserves”
Determined to strike while the iron is hot, Jackson and Disney said that they are presently in discussions to broaden the exposure of “Intramural” this year and see whether they can keep the cult enthusiasm going.
It just might happen, as “Film Annex” wrote, “Every other line had me laughing my ass off.”
Jackson, Disney and the rest of the cast/crew aren’t saying whether there is a sequel in the offing, whether they’ll collaborate on another project or move their careers in separate directions.
But whatever they do, the young team turned their ideas into a great fun movie that continues to receive a lot of attention.
