Brandon Miree

Taking On 'The Anthem'

I had talked to Kelly Mehrtens, the Trust’s Executive Director — and what she wanted was a former player that had been through the experiences — and who was a part of The Trust — to be able to do a video that encompassed the vision of the organization.

When we were on the phone, she emailed me the actual Anthem. But before she emailed it to me, she actually has started to read it out to me, and I said, ‘Oh my God.’ I fell in love with it soon as I heard it. And how my brain works sometimes, is when I hear things, those images start to pop up in my head.

So I had pitched her on an idea that combined the sights and sounds of football, and a story arc that showed that ‘once a player, once an athlete, always an athlete’ mentality and how we're just dealing in a different arena.

Casting Former Players

When I started thinking about doing it, I knew a couple of former players out here already, that are actually actors. So, it's one thing to find players, and it's another thing to find actors. But players and actors — that's a beautiful thing. So it was very fortuitous that we were able to get Nic Harris and the guys on the board.

So we got Harris and, oh my gosh. I knew Nic before this, and I knew that he'd been acting and some of the people that I had done projects with have worked with Nic. I had met him at an NFLPA event maybe about three years ago now, and we kept in touch via social media.

So yeah, I knew Nic could embody it. When you're dealing with storytelling, you want to have a beginning, middle and end, right? That's just one of the basics — it sounds so simple, but that is basic element storytelling. So you want to have an arc — I initially I had another arc that included acting, and I ended up getting rid of that one.

We talked about utilizing some of The Trust's programs and pointing to some of them, like Physical Wellness. And so that's when Qiana (Thomas) got me in touch with Miles Burris, and Miles is jacked, man. Like huge. It looks like I'm big, but he makes me look tiny. We took a picture next to each other — and he's got me looking like a little boy.

It was fortunate because Miles is an actor's actor too. He has been getting it in. And we we had this whole physical fitness element, so he embodied it so incredibly well — it was just so simple, man. We shot at the Rose Bowl, and it was just a fun time — he's a great guy. It was wonderful. We were able to put that together and really tell a story.

On Filming In Los Angeles

In 2015, I got to Southern California. And in storytelling, one trick as a producer/director/writer, is that location is key, because whatever's in the frame is what counts.

And so even though we were in the height of COVID you know, you have to be careful and mindful of, you know, shooting. So so we basically, I had to scout some locations and just be able to have an idea of not only shooting, but also housing and storing a crew and equipment and things like that. So that's kind of where I got that from.

On Finding His Passion

Football was my first passion — but I very quickly realized (my passion for film). Even when I was playing, I was taking my writing classes online. I took a customized filmmaking program in New York City, and started shooting shorts. I even executive produced a movie when I was playing.

When I stopped playing, it kind of it took me a while to really kind of get back into this thing. I didn't necessarily immediately dive into it. So I spent another 7 years in Ohio, but for the first three or two or three of them I just did other stuff.