Two Days in April
Encyclopedia
Two Days in April is a 2007
documentary film
by director Don Argott
that follows four NFL prospects (Derek Hagan
, Clint Ingram
, DonTrell Moore
and Travis Wilson
) through the process of preparing for and participating in the 2006 NFL Draft
. The film received its name in reference to the NFL Draft Weekend
, and focuses on the intense training leading up to the NFL Draft and the emotional roller coaster of draft day. Three of the players were selected within six picks of each other in the third round.
Other individuals in the documentary include Bruce Allen
, Tom Condon
, Chuck Cook
, Jon Gruden
, Steve Hale, Michael Johnson
, Mel Kiper, Andy Reid
, Marty Schottenheimer
, Dick Selcer, Rob Stone
, Lionel Taylor
, Travis Wilson
, and Wendy Wilson
.
, learned of the Tom Condon
film concept where cameras would follow Condon's latest clients as they prepared for the 2006 NFL Draft
. Condon himself did not expect payment, but requested being listed as an executive producer
on the project. After studying the idea, Broome decided the concept would be better suited for a documentary than for a feature film, modifying the original Condon concept of simply following the subjects to include interviews and personal vignettes within the narrative. Upon Condon's agreeing, Broome arranged financing and distribution. When Red Envelope Entertainment
gave the go-ahead, Broome in 2005 hired Don Argott
to direct, and in winter 2006, Argott and Condon went to the IMG training academy in Bradenton, Florida
to meet the players and begin filming.
However, during production, Condon left IMG
to join Creative Artists Agency, taking his clients with him. One of the contractual conditions for filming IMG athletes at the IMG Academy, was that the film would be subject to IMG's artistic approval. With Condon leaving the project, Broome and Argott were worried that IMG would invoke this clause to shut down the project.
After completion of principal filming, Argott spent several months editing more than 150 hours of video to create the 92-minute film. Red Envelope Entertainment promoted the film to home video
and television distribution contacts, and even considered trimming the film to a 42-minute length for ESPN
to include as part of their 2007 NFL Draft
coverage. However, during the film's post-production
, Netflix learned that Condon refused to sign a release to appear on film.
According to his attorney, Condon was unhappy after seeing a screening of the film, believing that it did not reflect his clients or the draft processes properly, and asserting that the production company had verbally promised him the final right to artistic sign-off. Broome contended that Condon wished to sabotage the project because he did not do well in the draft and was worried other sports agents might use this as leverage against him. Broome further denied that he or any producer would ever verbally give away final approval to a subject in a documentary. In 2007, the NFL and NFL Properties expressed concerns about whether the filmmakers had obtained rights to certain used footage, and shortly thereafter ESPN broke off negotiations.
Broome felt this was because ESPN would rightly question why an executive producer would disavow a project and why the NFL would question rights to air footage. And when the 2007 NFL Draft
passed without the film being able to be aired, Broome's production company, First and Ten Productions, filed a lawsuit against Condon and NFL Productions. Included among their charges were "intentional interference with a contractual relationship," alleging that "Condon willfully and maliciously interfered ... by falsely representing to the National Football League that Plaintiff had not obtained all necessary rights to the combine footage or to the use of Condon's name, image and likeness." The suit against the NFL was settled for undsclosed terms and they were subsequently removed as defendents in the lawsuit, leaving Condon as sole defendent.
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by director Don Argott
Don Argott
Don Argott is an American documentary filmmaker and musician originally from Pequannock, New Jersey, and currently residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Argott has directed several documentary films and has also worked as a producer and cinematographer. He co-owns the production company 9.14...
that follows four NFL prospects (Derek Hagan
Derek Hagan
Derek Steven Hagan, Jr. is an American football wide receiver who is currently a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. Hagan most recently played for the Oakland Raiders of National Football League. He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the third round of the 2006...
, Clint Ingram
Clint Ingram
Clint Ingram is a professional American football linebacker who is currently a free agent of the National Football League He played college football for the University of Oklahoma Sooners, and was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft.-Early life:Ingram was...
, DonTrell Moore
DonTrell Moore
Dontrell Moore is an American football running back who is currently a free agent. He was originally signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at New Mexico...
and Travis Wilson
Travis Wilson
Travis Wilson is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft...
) through the process of preparing for and participating in the 2006 NFL Draft
2006 NFL Draft
The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offered by ESPNU and, for the first time, by...
. The film received its name in reference to the NFL Draft Weekend
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...
, and focuses on the intense training leading up to the NFL Draft and the emotional roller coaster of draft day. Three of the players were selected within six picks of each other in the third round.
Other individuals in the documentary include Bruce Allen
Bruce Allen
Bruce Allen is an American physicist and director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover Germany and leader of the Einstein@Home project for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration...
, Tom Condon
Tom Condon
Thomas Joseph Condon is an American football agent. He was named the most powerful agent in American football by Sporting News 2006, and heads the Football Division of Creative Artists Agency with fellow agent Ben Dogra....
, Chuck Cook
Chuck Cook
Charles Henry "Chuck" Cook was a broadcaster and politician in Canada.Cook was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. He became a CJOR radio talk show host in Vancouver, British Columbia in the 1970s. He served as Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament from 1979 to 1993 in the riding of North...
, Jon Gruden
Jon Gruden
Jon David Gruden is an American football analyst and former head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for seven seasons and prior to that the Oakland Raiders for four seasons. In his first year as the head coach of Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII, defeating the Raiders whom he had...
, Steve Hale, Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson
-Musicians:*Michael Johnson , American pop, country and folk singer-songwriter and guitarist*Mike Johnson , American experimental rock guitarist and composer...
, Mel Kiper, Andy Reid
Andy Reid
Andrew Walter "Andy" Reid is the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL, a post he has held since 1999. Since 2001, he has also been the team's executive vice president of football operations...
, Marty Schottenheimer
Marty Schottenheimer
Martin Edward "Marty" Schottenheimer is the current head coach of the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League. Over his career, he has served as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, and San Diego Chargers. He has the most wins of any NFL coach...
, Dick Selcer, Rob Stone
Rob Stone
Rob Stone is a sports commentator for ESPN. He has covered various sports including Major League Soccer, NCAA and NFL football, and is now the play-by-play announcer for PBA Tournament Bowling alongside color commentator and 13-time PBA titleist Randy Pedersen.-Early life and career:A native of...
, Lionel Taylor
Lionel Taylor
Lionel Thomas Taylor is a former American football wide receiver who led the American Football League in receptions each year for the first six years of the league's existence.-College football:...
, Travis Wilson
Travis Wilson
Travis Wilson is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft...
, and Wendy Wilson
Wendy Wilson
Wendy Wilson is an American singer and member of the pop singing trio Wilson Phillips. She is the daughter of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson and his first wife Marilyn, who was a member of girl group The Honeys; and she is the younger sister of Carnie Wilson.Wilson was born in Los Angeles,...
.
Background
In the fall of 2005, Dave Broome, executive producer of The Biggest LoserThe Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....
, learned of the Tom Condon
Tom Condon
Thomas Joseph Condon is an American football agent. He was named the most powerful agent in American football by Sporting News 2006, and heads the Football Division of Creative Artists Agency with fellow agent Ben Dogra....
film concept where cameras would follow Condon's latest clients as they prepared for the 2006 NFL Draft
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...
. Condon himself did not expect payment, but requested being listed as an executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
on the project. After studying the idea, Broome decided the concept would be better suited for a documentary than for a feature film, modifying the original Condon concept of simply following the subjects to include interviews and personal vignettes within the narrative. Upon Condon's agreeing, Broome arranged financing and distribution. When Red Envelope Entertainment
Red Envelope Entertainment
Red Envelope Entertainment was a film production and distribution arm of Netflix, designed to generate content for Netflix's DVD-by-mail service...
gave the go-ahead, Broome in 2005 hired Don Argott
Don Argott
Don Argott is an American documentary filmmaker and musician originally from Pequannock, New Jersey, and currently residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Argott has directed several documentary films and has also worked as a producer and cinematographer. He co-owns the production company 9.14...
to direct, and in winter 2006, Argott and Condon went to the IMG training academy in Bradenton, Florida
Bradenton, Florida
Bradenton is a city in Manatee County, Florida, United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's 2007 population to be 53,471. Bradenton is the largest Principal City of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2007 estimated population of 682,833...
to meet the players and begin filming.
However, during production, Condon left IMG
IMG
The abbreviation IMG has several different meanings:* IMG, abbreviation for image* IMG , global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group", with divisions including:** IMG Academies, an...
to join Creative Artists Agency, taking his clients with him. One of the contractual conditions for filming IMG athletes at the IMG Academy, was that the film would be subject to IMG's artistic approval. With Condon leaving the project, Broome and Argott were worried that IMG would invoke this clause to shut down the project.
After completion of principal filming, Argott spent several months editing more than 150 hours of video to create the 92-minute film. Red Envelope Entertainment promoted the film to home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
and television distribution contacts, and even considered trimming the film to a 42-minute length for ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
to include as part of their 2007 NFL Draft
2007 NFL Draft
The 2007 National Football League Draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draft was televised for the 28th consecutive year on ESPN and ESPN2. The NFL Network also broadcast coverage of the event, its second year doing so...
coverage. However, during the film's post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
, Netflix learned that Condon refused to sign a release to appear on film.
According to his attorney, Condon was unhappy after seeing a screening of the film, believing that it did not reflect his clients or the draft processes properly, and asserting that the production company had verbally promised him the final right to artistic sign-off. Broome contended that Condon wished to sabotage the project because he did not do well in the draft and was worried other sports agents might use this as leverage against him. Broome further denied that he or any producer would ever verbally give away final approval to a subject in a documentary. In 2007, the NFL and NFL Properties expressed concerns about whether the filmmakers had obtained rights to certain used footage, and shortly thereafter ESPN broke off negotiations.
Broome felt this was because ESPN would rightly question why an executive producer would disavow a project and why the NFL would question rights to air footage. And when the 2007 NFL Draft
2007 NFL Draft
The 2007 National Football League Draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draft was televised for the 28th consecutive year on ESPN and ESPN2. The NFL Network also broadcast coverage of the event, its second year doing so...
passed without the film being able to be aired, Broome's production company, First and Ten Productions, filed a lawsuit against Condon and NFL Productions. Included among their charges were "intentional interference with a contractual relationship," alleging that "Condon willfully and maliciously interfered ... by falsely representing to the National Football League that Plaintiff had not obtained all necessary rights to the combine footage or to the use of Condon's name, image and likeness." The suit against the NFL was settled for undsclosed terms and they were subsequently removed as defendents in the lawsuit, leaving Condon as sole defendent.