Bringing Pro Players’ Candid Stories to Life with Animation

Having worked together over several years, The Players’ Tribune has frequently turned to the STUDIO NYC to deliver work, turning dialogue from pro athletes into captivating animations that bring their stories to life.

In this interview, the STUDIO NYC chief creative officer Mary Nittolo and The Players’ Tribune EP Matt Mastrantuono discuss their most recent collaboration as well as the power of their long-standing relationship using animation as a guiding compass. They also discuss a previous collaboration, when following the tragic death of George Floyd, they released a series of animated shorts, sparked by conversations of racial justice from top athletes in the US.

LBB> You’ve collaborated on quite a few projects over the years. First up, tell us about your relationship and the work that you do together.

Mary> The Players' Tribune is an amazing and rather unique platform for athletes in that the athlete crafts the content. TPT will provide the prompt and guide the story, but the resulting conversations are authentic communications from the athlete directly to their fans. 

The producers at TPT engage fully with the athletes; executive producer Matt Mastrantuono is an accomplished filmmaker. His approach is complete collaboration. He and other members of the TPT team – Kate Comelli, and Matt Celentano – extend that spirit to their production partners. There is a huge amount of respect and trust. 

TPT uses animation when the athlete is talking about something so complex that a visual metaphor helps communicate the intent – when the story is about memory or the athlete’s future – something that needs to be visualised to enhance the story.

Our first project for them was branded content for ‘The Long Game’ where young athletes imagined their own futures. Subsequent projects have touched on mental health, racial injustice, and the emotions that come with high-pressure sport events.

Matt> the STUDIO has been a key animation partner for TPT for many years now. We love adding animation elements to our athlete’s stories because it allows us to create worlds that we can’t achieve with live action. My relationship with them started in 2020 when the pandemic hit and we completely pivoted our production model to remote story capture. Specifically, we were looking to respond to the murder of George Floyd and pivot a project to centre around racial justice. Since we couldn’t be in person with our athletes and their stories were quite expansive, we knew animation was the best option to visually communicate these stories. 

the STUDIO, Mary and Eric in particular, were phenomenal collaborators and helped us realise our vision. Personally speaking, I was new to this extensive amount of animation and they helped coach me through every step of the process. The series was lengthy, so by video three or four, we started to hit a groove together. Ultimately, our final piece in the series, a six-minute short film with Caron Butler, became one of my all-time favourite pieces I’ve ever worked on. Our relationship grew into something less vendor/client and more storytelling and post-production partners.

LBB> You worked on an animated series featuring athletes speaking out on racial injustice. Tell us about how you approached this work.

Mary> We did a series of seven videos which were originally intended to be athletes reflecting about the disruption to their career due to covid-19. As events unfolded in 2020, the subject matter turned to conversations about racial equity.

Our approach to each remained the same – find inspiration in the athlete’s message, and use art and animation to add depth or illuminate details within that message. 

Matt> The project was originally about something different but was athlete-led and it was clear every other story was secondary to the conversations about race happening in our culture at that time. We followed our athletes’ lead and found the stories that resonated the most to them, trying to bring voice and visuals to their emotions and message. The approach was simple: listen and learn. 

The more space we gave our athletes to explore these topics, the more compelling and heartfelt the stories became. They aren’t often asked about these topics with no reservation or repercussions. They have to be wary about how they say something because the words might get twisted. On our platform, they collaborate with us through every step of the process, which creates a sense of trust and authenticity that is very unique to The Players’ Tribune.

the STUDIO was a fantastic partner as we navigated this unprecedented time in the US. Their emotional and cultural intelligence allowed us to learn together and help bring these important stories to life. 

LBB> What was your creative process like on this project and where did you look for inspiration?

Mary> Our inspiration is the production brief and the athlete’s own words. I think we have a special skill of listening carefully and researching. What other public statements has the player made? What were their career or life challenges? We worked closely with TPT to develop an art and animation style that fits each athlete’s tone of storytelling and to identify key moments that would lend well to dramatisation. 

Matt> Our creative collaboration is great because my/our expertise is around storytelling and the STUDIO brings a deep knowledge of visual direction and how to bring the story to life. They are obviously excellent storytellers as well, but their strong experience in animation is a guiding compass for the style that evolves from the story. They send over thorough pitch decks with different illustration and animation styles. We workshop options over the phone and they develop style frames to show us what they are thinking. It’s always exciting and never daunting because we know we’re in good hands. 

LBB> What were your personal highlights?

Matt> Some of my all time favourite projects are in partnership with the STUDIO. I’m lucky to use their skills to bring some out-of-the-box ideas to life. One of the best conversations of my life came during the interview for Caron Butler’s animated piece. What a gift. I love working with a team on a longitudinal basis and finding deeper, less ephemeral relationships that are so common in our industry. We were able to accomplish a huge goal together and that felt very meaningful. 

Mary> The TPT team is really amazing. They are focused and wildly creative. It’s just fun and rewarding work. 

LBB> What was your reaction to the finished films - any personal favourites?

Mary> Honestly hard to pick, but of the seven films, I think my favourite is Caron Butler. He was such a warrior in terms of his journey to the NBA. He speaks poignantly about deriving his identity from his broader community growing up in Racine, Wisconsin and the role of his past in understanding his present and future. He has a profound sense of where he finds himself in time and space.

To quote from the video: “…racism will not be corrected in the calendar year. Racism… may not be corrected in our lifetime. But we have to understand that the history of it is over 400 years strong. But if we are engaged as collectives, and we decide that this is a ‘we’ thing, it will get corrected. I will have my fingerprints all over the social change in America."  

Matt> Co-sign what Mary said!

LBB> What else have you been working on together recently?

Matt> We have a partnership with Goodyear going into the college football season called ‘Road Tested’, which is about historic wins and difficult road environments. When we decided to work with Robert Griffin IIl and tell his story as part of this series, we knew that game footage could be difficult to acquire and our story was more expansive than just those 60 minutes of football. So we turned to the STUDIO and asked them to help us bring RGIII’s story to life. 

Mary> RGIII recalls a specific game during his college play at Baylor where his team pulled off an impossible win against heavily favoured University of Texas. Animation is used to dramatise game highlights and recount his emotional and mental state throughout the game. 

He tells a really beautiful underdog story, but his manner is almost matter-of-fact- as if excellence was his only option. Although the game was very dramatic, the style of animation is more subdued. It gives occasion to study some of the play.

LBB> What was the biggest challenge on the RGIII project and what solutions did you come up with?

Matt> This one had a lightning fast time frame, and I’m always blown away by how quickly the STUDIO can deliver. It’s not lost on me the evenings and weekends their team puts in to deliver the product as I know it’s not normal for them to turn out such a high quality product in such a short amount of time. 

The rigours of our industry and nature of the production schedules can put us in a pressure cooker sometimes, but we always try to remember that we’re telling stories, not doing heart surgery. Our goal is to treat our team well during the chaos and move together as a cohesive unit to the finish line. the STUDIO makes it easy to integrate our teams and hit those goals. 

Mary> The biggest challenge was the schedule. The client wanted something to release quickly, but animation is a time-intensive process. Through collaborating with TPT, we were able to identify sequences based on pre-interviews with RGIII that could be started on right away which enabled us to fulfil the client’s request.

Aside from that, working with RGIII and TPT has been remarkably free of challenges. They are great collaborators and communicators. Our lead artist John Holmes was also a huge fan and RG’s delivery is just perfect. He talks about the upset with minimal swagger, and a lingering bit of disbelief. It's been awesome to depict not only the gameplay but also his triumph. 

LBB> Any other creative insights you’d like to share?

Mary> We love making art where we get the privilege of expressing someone’s inner world - their deepest thoughts, their triumphs, and deep pain. There is no better collaboration.