FLATBALL: A History of Ultimate
Directed by Dennis “Cribber” Warsen
Narrated by Alec Baldwin
A feature length documentary exploring the
origins and rise of one of the world’s fastest
growing sports, through the lens of one of the
sport’s greatest players.
Run time 88 minutes.
Official release October 2016
http://www.flatballfilm.com
Trailer
https://youtu.be/gSGSmik1gCE
Contact
Eric Kaye
917-687-0420
[email protected]
ULTIMATE IN AMERICA -
http://www.usaultimate.org
PARTICIPATION IN ULTIMATE HAS GROWN OVER 20% IN THE LAST 5 YEARS.
NATIONAL GROWTH STATISTICS
NATIONAL ULTIMATE DEMOGRAPHICS
USA
There are 4,868,000 ultimate participants in the U.S.
There are 1,476,000 core ultimate participants in the U.S.
69% of all participants and 75% of core participants are male.
25% of all participants have a household income
of $100,000 or more per year.
2007
2011
Percent Change
Participants under 13
13-17
18-24
25-34
35-44
55+
Core Participants
352,000
625,000
1,527,000
737,000
707,000
90,000
1,318,000
484,000
750,000
1,532,000
1,144,000
735,000
223,000
1,476,000
38%
20%
0.3%
55%
4%
148%
12%
Total Participants
4,038,000
4,868,000
21%
42% of all participants reside in a market size of 2,000,000+.
57% of all participants and 58% of core participants are under 25.
U.S. Total Participation
25% of all participants are under 18.
6,000,000
84% of participants 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Core Participants play ultimate 13+ times per year.
Total Participants include anyone that plays 1+ times per year.
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
Source: SFIA 2012 Single Sport Participation Report: Ultimate Frisbee
1,000,000
2008
2009
Casual Participants (1-12 times/yr)
2010
2011
2012
Core Participants (13+ times/yr)
SUMMARY
Flatball has the potential to do for ultimate Frisbee what Endless Summer did for surfing and
what Dogtown and Z-Boys did for skateboarding. In a sports world plagued by doping
scandals, match fixing, showboating, and violence, Flatball can finally highlight to
mainstream audiences the values and spirit that make ultimate one of the fastest growing
sports on the planet.
Flatball is the first allencompassing documentary
positioned to showcase the
sport to an audience that is
not yet familiar with it. We
want to inspire audiences
around the world to get
involved with ultimate.
The timing is ideal. Ultimate’s
reach
is
expanding
exponentially throughout the
world.
BACKGROUND
The film tells the story of ultimate through the lens of Dennis Warsen, from the earliest
days of a scrappy, do-it-yourself game, through the game-changing athleticism of the
1980's, all the way up to the professional leagues of the present day. First a player,
then an Emmy award-winning NFL videographer, USA Ultimate Hall of Famer Dennis
Warsen is perfectly equipped to head this project. He is an authority in a game that
initially never wanted one.
Warsen brings first-hand perspective and insight to the history and development of
today’s game. He has conducted player interviews all over the world and
digitized hundreds of hours of video (over 2 terabytes) spanning 50 years. This
important archive of the history of the sport is an essential source for the film. Dennis
has already dedicated two years of his life to the project.
SPIRIT OF THE GAME™
In the history of every sport, there is a moment of truth. Ultimate’s moment came on a plush green pitch in Colchester,
England, August 3, 1994. Thousands of fans from around the world were on hand to witness the final match of the World
Championships between the USA and Sweden. A dropped American pass left the Swedes just 30 yards away from
their goal of a title. It would be sweet revenge for a devastating 1988 semifinals loss to this same USA team. The stunned
Red, White and Blue sought a foul call on the throw – but none came. For in the game of ultimate Frisbee, then as now,
there were no referees to rely upon, only the Spirit of the Game.
What followed is ultimate’s moment of truth.
Written into the first section of the Official Rules of Ultimate, the concept of Spirit of the
Game is what differentiates ultimate from other competitive team sports, placing the
responsibility for fair play on the players themselves. For over 40 years ultimate has
flourished, reaching a highly competitive level without the use of referees.
Today, ultimate is in the midst of tremendous growth, but is this growth coming at the
expense of its founding tenets? In May of 2013, the World Flying Disc Federation was
granted provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee, paving the way for
ultimate as a future Olympic event. The IOC wrote:
"The Executive Board notes that the World Flying Disc Federation is a rapidly growing
Federation with tremendous youth appeal, a strong grounding in Olympic ideals, gender equality and good
governance, including WADA compliance. The EB welcomes the Federation into the Olympic family."
However, recent deals have been made with Nike, Puma, and ESPN, and in 2012, the first
professional ultimate league was launched in the United States, where referees are in, selfofficiation is out, and critics worry that the Spirit of the Game is disappearing.
The conflict between the sport's roots and its ambitions for a broader audience continues.
Flatball examines these issues while celebrating ultimate's rich history and culture.
Flatball's colorful cast of characters from legendary 1980s powerhouse team New York, New
York provide the backdrop for an entire generation of players responsible for spreading
ultimate around the world. With ultimate now being played by five million men, women and
children worldwide, Flatball sheds light on the evolution of the sport, as well as
giving viewers an inside look at the hot topics in the ultimate community today.
From Maplewood, New Jersey, where the sport was invented at Columbia High School in
1968, Flatball journeys to Sweden, Japan and England, where international ultimate was
born. The film also visits places like Israel, where ultimate’s spirit is alive and well and the
non-profit Ultimate Peace unites Muslim and Jewish players in sport-focused camps. The
modern era is highlighted with footage from the USA Ultimate College and Club National
Championships, the World Ultimate Championships in Japan, the professional American
Ultimate Disc League with its star player and you-tube sensation Brodie Smith.
The 90-minute film is packed with exciting archival and contemporary footage interspersed with classic
and modern interviews from the biggest names in ultimate:
• Dan "Stork" Roddick (Wham-O)
• Tom Kennedy (Condors)
• Kenny Dobyns and Pat King (New York, New York)
• Steve Mooney (Boston)
• Beau Kittredge and Bart Watson (Revolver)
• Claire Desmond and Dominique Fontenette (Fury)
• Kevin Minderhout and Dylan Freechild (NexGen Tour)
• David Barkan and Josh Wiseman (Ultimate Peace)
• Charlie Langdon-Mead (Great Britain)
• Paul and Danny Eriksson (Sweden)
• Masa Honda (Japan)
...and more!
TEAM
Dennis “Cribber” Warsen – Director
Cribber discovered ultimate by chance while walking home from basketball practice on the SUNY-Purchase campus in the Spring of 1986. This
fateful event started his lifelong journey through the ultimate world, commencing with his play on the storied New York, New York team, with whom
he won an unprecedented six national and five world championships, culminating in a 2012 induction into the USA Ultimate Hall of Fame.
Warsen retired from competitive ultimate in 2002 and began to focus on a career in sports photojournalism, stepping into a role as Director of
Photography for the San Francisco 49ers Total Access show, for which he won an Emmy in 2009. Sensing that the time had come for a feature
length film that would bring ultimate's fascinating story to the masses, he left his job in 2012 and began to assemble footage for what has now
become Flatball: A History of Ultimate.
Alec Baldwin – Narrator
Since 1980, Alec Baldwin has appeared on stage, in films and on television and has received a Tony nomination (A Streetcar Named Desire, 1992)
an Oscar nomination (The Cooler, 2004) and has won two Emmy awards, three Golden Globes and seven consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards
as Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on NBC-TV's 30 Rock. His films include THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, GLENGARRY GLEN
ROSS, MALICE, THE EDGE, IT'S COMPLICATED, BLUE JASMINE, among many others. Baldwin is a 1994 BFA graduate of Tisch and received
an honorary doctorate in 2010. He is also the radio announcer for the New York Philharmonic.
David Blau, Eric Kaye – Producers
David Blau is the Founding Partner of Consolidated Technologies, Inc. (CTI), a converged telecommunications solutions provider. A leader in the
telecommunications industry, Blau is the former Chairman of Avaya’s SMB council and former President of the National Association of Telecom
Dealers. He is a founding member of the Cloud Communications Alliance and served on the Channel Partners and Phone Plus Magazine advisory
board. Blau, a graduate of Cornell University, has won 8 national ultimate championships, as well as 3 world championships.
Eric Kaye, a 20 year veteran of the film and TV industry, has worked on numerous documentary films with HBO, National Geographic, Nova, and
The Discovery Channel. Kaye is also partner in The Station, an integrated content production company with over 600 completed production
projects, including the recent Clio winning documentary "For the Love of Music: The Story of Nashville." Kaye played college ultimate at Williams,
winning exactly zero national championships.
Gavin Coleman – Editor
Dublin born and New York based, editor Gavin Coleman has over 10 years experience as a documentary editor. Past projects include the Morgan
Spurlock films “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?” and “What Would Jesus Buy?” and Joe Cross’ “Fat Sick & Nearly Dead 2”
Stephen Nemeth – Executive Producer
Stephen Nemeth formed and heads up Rhino Films, the independent film company that originated as a division of iconoclastic record label Rhino
Records. He has produced and executive produced dozens of films. His producer credits include THE SESSIONS (Sundance 2012 Audience
Award, 2013 Academy Award nomination for Helen Hunt), C.O.G., the first David Sedaris adaptation (Sundance 2013), FEAR AND LOATHING IN
LAS VEGAS, WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE, RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH (the last Philip K. Dick novel) and the recently released Bill Lee biopic,
SPACEMAN. He is in pre-production on the New York Time’s bestselling book CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN and Hunter S.
Thompson’s THE CURSE OF LONO. Nemeth's documentary credits include DOGTOWN AND Z BOYS (Sundance 2001 Audience Award),
WARDANCE (2008 Academy Award nomination), FUEL (Sundance 2008 Audience Award), PUMP, FLOW (Sundance 2008), PICK UP THE MIC
(Toronto 2005), CLIMATE REFUGEES (Sundance 2010), ROBERT WILLIAMS MR. BITCHIN’, RIDE WITH LARRY, UNDER THE BOARDWALK:
THE MONOPOLY STORY and PATRIOCRACY. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and on the board of
numerous non-profit organizations including Friends of the Earth, Children Uniting Nations and the International Documentary Association and is on
the dean's board of the UC Santa Cruz's School for the Arts.