HBO Snaps Ball on ‘BS Excessive,’ Doc On Soccer Crew From “Faux” Faculty – Deadline

Precisely one yr in the past at this time, the Bishop Sycamore highschool soccer crew took the sphere in a nationally televised recreation on ESPN, and proceeded to undergo a horrible 58-0 pounding by elite IMG Academy. That was only the start of this system’s issues. Investigations and dismissals adopted, amid allegations Bishop Sycamore wasn’t even a authentic highschool and, certainly, operated extra like a rip-off.

HBO introduced at this time it’s in manufacturing on BS High, a documentary in regards to the scandal-plagued college in Columbus, Ohio, with a premiere anticipated subsequent yr on the cable community and streamer HBO Max. Filmmakers Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe, who earned Academy Awards final yr for his or her dwell motion quick Two Distant Strangers, are directing.

Hyperobject Industries’ Adam McKay and NFL Corridor of Famer-turned GMA host Michael Strahan are among the many venture’s govt producers.

After the Centurions’ lopsided loss to IMG Academy, lots of people had egg on their face, together with the brass at ESPN, who had been fooled into believing they had been set to air an actual barn burner. Journalists after which officers in Ohio started to look into the matter, and whistleblowers got here ahead, together with former Bishop Sycamore gamers.

One ex-Centurion informed Complicated journal the varsity didn’t have any precise classroom amenities and the crew by no means practiced—it simply performed video games towards different excessive faculties, usually a number of occasions every week. He additionally claimed there have been 19- and 20-year-old males on the crew. The daddy of a former BS quarterback informed the Columbus Dispatch that gamers weren’t required to do any schoolwork.

“The blowout [loss],” HBO famous in a launch, “precipitated followers and audiences to query the legitimacy of the Bishop Sycamore program and the actions of now-fired head coach Roy Johnson.”

Coach Johnson reportedly has agreed to take part within the documentary venture. HBO didn’t disclose a roster of interviewees, however did share that BS Excessive is “[e]xecutive produced by Adam McKay and Todd Schulman for Hyperobject Industries, Michael Strahan and Constance Schwartz-Morini’s SMAC Leisure, Jay Peterson, Todd Lubin and Jack Turner for Boat Rocker’s Matador Content material, Alex Mather and Ankur Chawla for The Athletic, and Spencer Paysinger for Moore Avenue Productions.”

The documentary presents a chance to make clear the rising energy of a choose group of highschool soccer applications, and their potential to earn important tv income. ESPN simply concluded airing its Excessive Faculty Soccer Kickoff, a programming bonanza that includes “26 groups from 15 states and 5 groups within the ESPN 25 Energy Rankings… [playing] on ESPN’s household of networks from Aug. 24-26, starting with Joliet Catholic Academy (Joliet, Ailing.) taking part in at Windfall Catholic (New Lenox, Ailing.).”

Bishop Sycamore very a lot needed to enter that area of profitable highschool soccer groups, together with the likes of IMG Academy, primarily based in Bradenton, Florida. IMG Academy, by the way in which, is owned by William Morris Endeavor, the Hollywood leisure and sports activities powerhouse. The varsity attracts prime prospects who know that taking part in at such a distinguished college may grease the trail to a proposal from a significant Division 1 NCAA soccer program (as for WME, possession of IMG Academy could enable it to get in on the bottom ground with budding athletic stars who may at some point flip into marquee names within the NFL).

The BS scandal has attracted curiosity from extra than simply HBO. Deadline reported final yr that Kevin Hart’s HartBeat Productions was “teaming up with youth leisure firm Complicated Networks, Klutch Originals and Haven Leisure on what they are saying would be the definitive documentary sequence on one the wildest sports activities story of 2021: the story of Bishop Sycamore Excessive Faculty’s soccer crew.”

On the time, Hart mentioned, “As quickly as I began following this story, I used to be instantly drawn to it and knew it was one thing that myself and my crew at HartBeat needed to dive into… We perceive learn how to break down tales and seize essentially the most attention-grabbing and sincere moments in a story. We all know this con comes with a sturdy backstory and can’t wait to share it with the world.”