This last episode of the Hard Knocks podcast had an interview with Emily Leitner Cameron, one of the show runners for this season of Hard Knocks.
It was an overall unremarkable podcast, not a lot of new information not already discussed or deduced, but here you have it from the authority.
A few things I found interesting, assuming this is honest and straight up stuff. Though I will caveat that Emily was not always unequivocal in things she said - by using examples, "sort of", "like" and so forth.
So therefore, it sounded as if:
They weren't quite sure how unfiltered the Giants were going to be on camera, nor how they would be framing the Giants' story, until they started reviewing the raw footage:
| "then when we started getting the footage back and seeing this access the Giants granted us and the conversations that were going on...(we) were saying things like 'I've never seen a conversation like this...that's awesome, credit to the Giants for trusting us and giving us that access'" |
From the discussion, it sounds like the story and framing came organically out the footage captured, not that they selected footage specifically to tell a pre-determined story.
On the subject of the accuracy, transparency (as opposed to forcing a narrative) and the Giants' editorial control:
| "it's definitely not like (the Giants have) an editorial control. We present what our editorial idea of the show is...to make sure we don't let anything out that is proprietary or puts the Giants at a disadvantage". |
Emily seemed to say that there was potentially interesting footage they left out (obviously), such as I think she mentioned there was a detailed review of every single free agent. But I honestly don't get the impression that the footage selection was intended to create an artificial story.
On the subject of some phone conversations being fully overheard (remote party) and some not- was that edited for drama?
| "It was, to be honest, a little less planned than that. It had more (to do with when) Joe Schoen had everyone (on or) off of speaker phone. And I don't think he chose when or not to put people on speakerphone, I think it was just like maybe he was on his office phone more, then his cell phone (more)". |
I don't remember though, which phone calls were on cell vs office, which were on speaker vs not, so I am not sure about this answer, except that it appears to be natural, not something where they edited out the other end of the call.
Emily confirmed that of the driving factors of this series was to provide sports content during a natural lull in the sporting world (post NBA, pre-olympics). Unstated, but this naturally would suggest an NFL offseason as the source of that content.
Emily describes the Giants front office as being proud of their process, proud of their hard work and team collaborative effort where multiple opinions and ideas are welcomed, and the various options are thought through and discussed.
The previous episode of this podcast had John Mara saying that one of his motivations in doing offseason Hard Knocks was to show how hard and diligently the scouts and front office work, to spotlight and reward their efforts, their passion and commitment to the team.
Emily felt that seeing the Giants' collaborative approach, their decision making process, and the level of transparency and access, is what resonates with the audience.
One last thing, they discussed a bit how the Giants were selected, and that it was a good combination of a high draft pick, draft drama, big time free agent decision, a team at a crossroads.
I thought that was really a polite way to say we chose the most interesting train wreck.
I saw that both showrunners were on with Patty on Locked On, a few weeks ago, but I did not listen to that one.
than I thought, which wasn't much to begin with