Since its creation by Dr. James Naismith on December 21, 1891, basketball has evolved into a global phenomenon. However, what began as an indoor sport quickly evolved into an outdoor game with its own unique rules, rhythms, and languages. Hardwood floors and nylon nets gave way to blacktop courts and chain link nets. The ultimate indoor game became the ultimate outdoor game. While the traditional history of the indoor game has been preserved through various books, the outdoor game’s chronicles have largely been passed down to each generation by word of mouth. Enter Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau.
Garcia and Couliau have teamed up to give us an up-close and personal look at the history of New York City playground basketball in their documentary, Doin’ It In The Park. The co-directors spent a summer cycling to 180 different playground courts throughout New York City, carrying their gear in their backpacks, and filming at each location. I was able to catch up with Bobbito and Kevin to get their takes on everything from how the film came to fruition to who was crossed up during the filming.
Jam The Hype (JTH): The concept for Doin’ It In The Park is very distinct and unique. How did you guys come up with the idea to do the film?
Bobbito Garcia: No one had ever done a film about pick-up basketball in NYC! And pick-up is the common denominator of the sport. Everyone plays, from President Obama to Lebron to the biggest scrub at your local court. We wanted to create a love letter, on film.
Kevin Couliau: Growing up in France, our access to America’s basketball culture was limited. It could be through the NBA, or epic documentaries such as Soul in The Hole, Hoop Dreams, or movies like Above The Rim, or Rebound. This world of New York playground basketball has always been part of our imagination and kids around the world are eager to know more about this sub-culture. This was our answer and love letter to our favorite sport.
JTH: What were the biggest challenges you faced during filming and finishing the film?
Bobbito: Too many! Editing process was tedious. We self-funded the film production, but then came short on resources to self-distribute. We had a successful Kickstarter campaign (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doinitinthepark/doin-it-in-the-park-pick-up-basketball-nyc) which helped us raise what we needed to have a theatrical release, DVD, Blu-ray, On Demand, Soundtrack, merchandise, TV premiere, on and on. 539 emotionally invested backers really cared about seeing this film available to the world, and we were humbled and thankful!
Kevin: Shooting the film was exhausting because we’re riding bikes all day long, playing basketball, and shooting stills and videos for me. However, it was nothing compared to the post-production process, the countless hours of interview scripting (60 interviews), narrative structure build up, editing nights, and brainstorming. The biggest challenge to me was to finish the film and creating a master. Once we got it, we felt good; sales and promotion are also challenging but luckily, we’re not alone in this process even though we spent our days taking care of our baby.
