Draft Day.

CINEMA | ONLINE VIDEO

3rd round, pick 71

To build awareness to the Yahoo! Sports brand, Yahoo! wanted to run a 2 min spot in cinema media buys across the country. With a prime placement like that, we wanted to create something emotional and cinematic to help elevate the Yahoo! Sports brand beyond just stats and scores.

Knowing the NFL draft was around the corner, timing was perfect to bring cinema audiences into the life of a college player anticipating his name being called by a professional team. We focused our story on 2 Time All American Center, Hroniss Grasu and shot the project in true documentary style to better capture the tension filled day. We found locations that were meaningful to him and his journey up to that day, and kept the cameras rolling as much as possible, looking to capture those true moments of emotion.

His college teammate and close friend Marcus Mariota, was drafted 2nd overall the day before. The scouts and his agent believed he’d be drafted somewhere in the third round but there were clearly no guarantees. Hroniss had never been to a professional football game before and dreamed of stepping out on to a pro filed for the first time as a player.

The day came to a peak early that evening in the backyard of his childhood home. After years and years of dreaming of that moment, Hroniss got the call from the Chicago Bears. He was drafted. The energy was electric. Being there to witness he and his family’s crazy raw joy is a production story I’m sure I’ll never forget.