Work record / Brand / Drive for the Dream / Questions answered
Drive for the Dream: questions answered
What people ask me about Drive for the Dream, and my answers. The project itself has its own page.
How did you pick the golfers for Jasper Sports Management?
Signing them was never the hard part. We could have had a hundred under contract within a month, since mini-tour players are scraping to keep the dream going and will agree to nearly anything that keeps them playing. Choosing was the hard part. Better players are harder to contract, and we were betting on unranked grinders with a very low success rate while spending real money on gear, time and sponsorships. So we looked for golfers with good stories who came across well on camera and would do the work: film themselves and record a lot of self-interviews after each tournament. A few golfers did not want that.
What did the golfers' progress and the footage give the venture?
Credibility. The PGA Tour told us concepts like ours had been pitched to them many times, and they never went past concept. We bought the vans, signed the golfers, filmed them, and proved the story worked. When we sat down with the Tour we were ready, and we negotiated with them for months.
What was the hardest part of the PGA Tour negotiations?
The Tour was not taking on anything new and had no appetite to hand us anything. The timing was bad. The Tour was busy with the Saudi-backed golf league and was in turmoil. They were afraid to move because nobody knew what came next.
When the Tour would not move, how did the venture keep going?
We believed the Tour was a question of timing, so we kept pushing on sponsors, production companies and the hunt for an executive producer. Bigger names attached meant more credibility for the project, and once the show was ready the Tour could sign off on it.