1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,480
Speaker 1: Good morning, Gary. How are you doing today, Hey, Errol.

2
00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:06,160
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, wonderful day here in the Southeast. I

3
00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:07,280
hear you're in Charlotte.

4
00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:09,160
Speaker 1: I am in Charlotte. How many times you've been here?

5
00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:12,880
Speaker 2: Well, I've been in Charlotte. Oh gosh. I live in Atlanta,

6
00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,199
North Atlanta, so Charlotte is a is a regular place

7
00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:18,359
to either pass through or go to visit.

8
00:00:19,519 --> 00:00:21,320
Speaker 1: What is it with you dirty birds down there in

9
00:00:21,359 --> 00:00:24,000
Atlanta with those Falcons? Because we've always had this big

10
00:00:24,039 --> 00:00:25,440
battle with you guys down there.

11
00:00:26,359 --> 00:00:29,120
Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, the Falcons have been so bad for

12
00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,719
so long that to call anything a rivalry, they get

13
00:00:32,759 --> 00:00:35,560
beat so often. And I hate to say that about

14
00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:39,640
the Falcons, but it's true. It's hard to call anything

15
00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:41,799
a rivalry because does it once team need to win

16
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,439
every now and again for it to be a rivalry.

17
00:00:45,759 --> 00:00:48,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, but can you imagine if your book, the Playbook,

18
00:00:49,119 --> 00:00:51,520
really was about let's say, the Atlanta Falcons or even

19
00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,719
the Carolina Panthers having a female coach. I just think

20
00:00:54,759 --> 00:00:56,759
that would change the game in such a positive way.

21
00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,439
Speaker 2: Well, you know that's sort of as I look at that.

22
00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,880
And I started writing this couple of years and I

23
00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,239
wanted to reflect something different, you know, because football stories

24
00:01:07,239 --> 00:01:10,719
can be cliches pretty quickly. Yeah, and and and there

25
00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:12,840
are a lot of great football stories. But I didn't

26
00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:15,920
want a football story that came out as tried or cliche.

27
00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,159
And I thought, well, what's the what's the easiest way

28
00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:22,400
for it not to be? And at that time we

29
00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,599
had in the culture there was you know, the female

30
00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:28,680
kicker at Vanderbilt and pick an extra point? And I thought, well,

31
00:01:28,719 --> 00:01:31,200
what if there was someone who played football attleve they

32
00:01:31,239 --> 00:01:34,200
become a coach. And that's how that idea kind of concept.

33
00:01:33,799 --> 00:01:36,319
Speaker 1: Came along as a writer. Don't you love those moments

34
00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:38,480
when concepts like that come into your into your heart.

35
00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, they just it's like a burst of sunrise into

36
00:01:43,799 --> 00:01:46,239
and you and you look at it and go, okay, wow,

37
00:01:46,359 --> 00:01:48,599
I can I can do something nobody else has done,

38
00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,280
tell the story from a different angle and from a

39
00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,000
different emotional point. And that's that's what I wanted to do.

40
00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,560
Speaker 1: What's so fascinating about this is that this is a

41
00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,799
book for all people. It's not just a y a book,

42
00:01:58,799 --> 00:02:00,560
it's not just for women. I mean, there's so many

43
00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:02,920
different things that happened inside this story that everybody will

44
00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:03,519
be entertained.

45
00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:08,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a story that I describe it as you know,

46
00:02:08,319 --> 00:02:12,479
football is the canvas on which the story is written.

47
00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,319
But the characters and the color and the paint of

48
00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,319
the characters and the emotions and the events or what

49
00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,280
bring it to life. So football is the backdrop, it's

50
00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,919
the canvas. It's like you think of The blind Side,

51
00:02:25,439 --> 00:02:29,439
and that's a football story in one way. But millions

52
00:02:29,439 --> 00:02:31,479
and millions and millions of people saw it as a

53
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,280
movie and it was a book, and so it's a

54
00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,919
football story, but it's really more a story about people

55
00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:39,840
and how they deal with adversity and how they deal

56
00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:40,840
with struggle.

57
00:02:40,879 --> 00:02:43,240
Speaker 1: Dealing with those struggles and the changes that are always

58
00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:45,599
on the campuses of these schools. I mean, one of

59
00:02:45,599 --> 00:02:47,439
the things that you weren't afraid of was to bring

60
00:02:47,479 --> 00:02:49,400
social changes inside the storyline.

61
00:02:50,719 --> 00:02:54,199
Speaker 2: Yeah, because not only do you have a female head

62
00:02:54,199 --> 00:02:57,719
coach in a small town, her starting quarterback is an

63
00:02:57,759 --> 00:03:00,400
African American who finds out he's got bone answer in

64
00:03:00,439 --> 00:03:03,280
the first week he gets the job, and the backup

65
00:03:03,319 --> 00:03:05,840
quarterback is a white kid new in town with a

66
00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,759
mom in rehab with a learning disability. He loves music,

67
00:03:08,759 --> 00:03:12,000
more than football. So you've got, Yeah, you've got a

68
00:03:12,039 --> 00:03:16,319
female coach, an African American starter who's got cancer, and

69
00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:18,840
a white kid with all kinds of problems off the field,

70
00:03:18,879 --> 00:03:22,120
and the three of them come together trying to do

71
00:03:22,199 --> 00:03:25,280
something good and they grow out of that, the town

72
00:03:25,319 --> 00:03:26,919
grows out of that, and of course they get a

73
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,719
chance to maybe play for a championship working together that way.

74
00:03:30,879 --> 00:03:33,280
Speaker 1: See. I love small town stories like this because I'm

75
00:03:33,319 --> 00:03:35,960
originally from Montana, where we are surrounded by these small towns.

76
00:03:36,039 --> 00:03:38,520
But when it comes to high school football, oh my god,

77
00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:39,960
they play like the big leagues.

78
00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:47,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's the old saying in small towns? It's god,

79
00:03:47,919 --> 00:03:51,560
family and football. Yes, and sometimes you can get the

80
00:03:51,639 --> 00:03:53,719
argument that football should be listed first.

81
00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,000
Speaker 1: Chelsea Deal is very innovative, and the one thing about

82
00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:01,520
what I love about it is the fact that she

83
00:04:01,639 --> 00:04:03,840
has that passion not just for the game, but for

84
00:04:03,879 --> 00:04:05,879
the people around her.

85
00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's a character who she loves football for a

86
00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,560
lot of reasons, and her backstory is really powerful and

87
00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:16,560
I think readers will really really be touched by that.

88
00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,879
But she also she cares about the players, and she

89
00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:24,079
makes that clear at the very beginning, and she takes

90
00:04:24,079 --> 00:04:27,439
the job that she wants them to know that as

91
00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,560
important as football is, they are equally, if not more,

92
00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,040
important to her, and she shows it all through the book.

93
00:04:34,079 --> 00:04:36,360
And that's one of the kind of the running things

94
00:04:36,399 --> 00:04:39,480
of the story is how she proves what she said

95
00:04:39,639 --> 00:04:41,920
was true, that the players are as important to her

96
00:04:41,959 --> 00:04:42,879
as the football is.

97
00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:44,800
Speaker 1: How are you able to make each one of these

98
00:04:44,879 --> 00:04:47,120
characters so real? Did you set up chop at a

99
00:04:47,319 --> 00:04:49,240
like a Starbucks and just sit there and people watch

100
00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:49,720
for a while.

101
00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:55,879
Speaker 2: Well, you know, that's always a great question, But well, Chelsea,

102
00:04:55,959 --> 00:04:58,399
I think I've made her very real because I have

103
00:04:58,439 --> 00:05:02,639
a strong wife, intelligence Sharma. I have two daughters who

104
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:08,360
played sports, soccer and basketball, and so I pulled from

105
00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,639
that dynamic of knowing strong willed women and highly capable women,

106
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,240
and then the other guys. I played football myself a

107
00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,920
long time ago, and I've known people like them, I

108
00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,519
played with people like them, and so I think it

109
00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:24,920
all comes as a composite of the people and the

110
00:05:24,959 --> 00:05:27,879
experiences that you've had, and then that gets put on

111
00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:28,439
the page.

112
00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:30,279
Speaker 1: I love that kind of a feeling where you're taking

113
00:05:30,319 --> 00:05:32,680
something that happened in your life, maybe ten fifteen twenty

114
00:05:32,759 --> 00:05:34,120
years ago, and all of a sudden, it is in

115
00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,399
your presence of now, and it's almost like, well, that's

116
00:05:36,439 --> 00:05:39,639
the reason why I went through that storm.

117
00:05:40,079 --> 00:05:43,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, if you have. It's not that you have

118
00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,439
to have felt every emotion someone else has felt, because

119
00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,759
obviously I'm male trying to write a female story, so

120
00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,240
I haven't felt every emotion that this woman might have felt.

121
00:05:53,639 --> 00:05:57,319
But you've felt something close to it, whether that's loss,

122
00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,560
or whether that's fear, or whether that's and you just

123
00:06:01,639 --> 00:06:04,920
take those emotions and put them in the situation of

124
00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,399
that character and that's when it comes alive.

125
00:06:07,879 --> 00:06:09,759
Speaker 1: Did you ever have one of those moments while writing

126
00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:11,360
a story where you just kind of sit back from

127
00:06:11,399 --> 00:06:13,959
the computer and go, whoa, WHOA. Hold on, I'm really

128
00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,759
emotional into this story right now.

129
00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:18,959
Speaker 2: There is a scene near the end of the story

130
00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,519
where you find out Chelsea's backstory. Why does she love

131
00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,319
football like she does? Why is she in a small

132
00:06:26,399 --> 00:06:29,399
town coaching football? She was at one time a big

133
00:06:29,439 --> 00:06:32,399
city lawyer, and that plays through the story, and her

134
00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,240
antagonist starts digging around in the past to say, why

135
00:06:36,319 --> 00:06:38,879
is she here? Why does she still let that law

136
00:06:38,959 --> 00:06:41,759
firm making big bucks? Now she's in a small town

137
00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:44,560
making little or nothing as a high school coach. And

138
00:06:44,639 --> 00:06:48,839
so the moment when she tells the team why she's

139
00:06:48,959 --> 00:06:52,600
there and what motivates her as a coach, that is

140
00:06:52,639 --> 00:06:59,199
the moment where I felt, you know, yeah, if I

141
00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,959
could have I'll just say it. You know, it's very

142
00:07:03,319 --> 00:07:05,199
It's a strong, strong scene, and it's kind of the

143
00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:07,920
high point of the movie is when she finally reveals

144
00:07:07,959 --> 00:07:08,879
while she's there.

145
00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,480
Speaker 1: Wow. So would you like this to be turned in

146
00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:13,600
into a binge watch on Netflix or Hulu? Because I mean,

147
00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:15,639
this is the kind of stuff that people really get

148
00:07:15,639 --> 00:07:16,240
addicted to.

149
00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:22,240
Speaker 2: Well. I actually wrote this as a feature film first

150
00:07:22,399 --> 00:07:24,920
Wow during COVID, and then I wrote it as a

151
00:07:24,959 --> 00:07:28,839
sixth episode limited series with the idea that this could

152
00:07:28,879 --> 00:07:31,120
be more like a Friday night life. Yep. So I

153
00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:35,360
have that available, and I have an agent that I'm

154
00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:40,319
working in LA and but you put me in contact

155
00:07:40,399 --> 00:07:41,959
with the right person and we'll cut you in on

156
00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:42,759
the deal. How's that?

157
00:07:44,519 --> 00:07:46,439
Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you?

158
00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:53,480
Speaker 2: My website is Gary E. Parker dot com, just my

159
00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,879
name with dot com Gary Parker dot com, and of

160
00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,240
course the books available Amazon all the normal places, Bunch

161
00:08:00,279 --> 00:08:02,879
and Noble, normal places where you would go to get

162
00:08:02,879 --> 00:08:03,360
your books.

163
00:08:03,639 --> 00:08:05,399
Speaker 1: Wow, if you ever make it up here to Charlotte,

164
00:08:05,399 --> 00:08:06,600
we got to have a face to face man.

165
00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would love to grab coffee and sit down

166
00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:11,439
and have a chit chat. That's great. I love people

167
00:08:11,439 --> 00:08:14,600
who are who love writing and write and I'm always

168
00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:15,639
ready for that conversation.

169
00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:17,639
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Will you be brilliant today?

170
00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,079
Speaker 2: Okay, you met you take care of