There are a couple of scenes where you hear a play-by -play announcer, is that just in-arena or is there some type of television broadcast for this?
So the WFTDA, often they have two sets of announcers, one that’s in the arena that the audience can hear, and then there’s another set of announcers that are for the live stream, because they live stream most every major game that they have.
So I believe we had the live stream announcers in our ears. And I didn’t realize what a big role that was going to play, but it really helped contextualize the gameplay quickly.
Yeah, I remember there was something called RollerGames, like when I was a kid. It was kind of a pro wrestling version of roller derby, was more like, you know, theatrical with a lot of, funny costumes and characters.
And then I went to see, I was visiting my sister in San Francisco, probably 10 or 15 years ago, and we went to a roller derby. They had just I guess whatever the local roller derby is in San Francisco and I remember like, I recognized a couple people from the old TV show so I guess that world, is pretty small.
Yeah, well, it’s actually, you know, like in the ’70s and early ’80s, it was kind of WWF. It was, you know, and there was in that there was some theatricality that was staged.
But it came back in the early aughts. I think it originated in Austin, Texas, and then Minnesota was one of the first teams to start again. And this was purely an athletic endeavor. So yeah, it’s… and there’s over 400 teams now worldwide, It’s a major and growing sport.
Is the Minnesota one only women or is there a men’s division as well?
You know, there are men’s teams, but they just don’t get the audiences that the women’s teams do. So yeah, if you’re a guy who’s interested in playing derby, I would look for the, you know, look out for your local team, they may exist, particularly in larger cities. But yeah, it seems to still be a very female, nonbinary kind of sport.
So, the people on the team, the women talk a lot about how they’re almost done with it or they’re thinking about retiring. So if you were to go to it now, is it all different people or is it some of the same people doing it?
It is interesting. Yeah, a bunch of that team has retired, but there are still players playing. Hertrude Stein is back in. She actually was out for a year for an ACL injury and had two kids.
You know, so there are a few players that are back from that team in the film, but that actually was a very special and specific season for Minnesota because all of those players have been playing together for 10 years or so, and so they were all looking at retirement. So they’ve been rebuilding since that time. They also have a youth derby league. And so there are a number of, particularly in the larger cities, youth leagues. Actually, I think Philly has a pretty solid youth Junior League.
I know there’s something called Philly Roller Girls. I’ve never gone to it, but I know that’s a thing you hear about a lot.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure Philly’s junior roller derby is one of the best. So, you know, there’s a feeder, you know, much like hockey and all these other sports, right, that they benefit from the high school programs that Derby is starting to get to that place.
Right, right. So you mentioned your director of photography [Jim Tittle]. I believe he passed away. Is that correct?
He did.
