"Friday Night Lights" Follow Up

Ace correspondent and "Friday Night Lights" cast extra Teresa McMahan has logged in with another report and commentary. As a Permian High School alumnae, she has a thorough knowledge of the real world of the West Texas high school football that was supposed to have been depicted in a book on which the movie is based. Ms. McMahan makes some very telling observations about the Hollywood reality likely to appear in the movie vs. real reality. Check it out:

"Friday Night Lights", The Early Aftermath
By: TMcMahan

Well, the film crews are finished and now the wait begins. I am sure the question on many Odessans' minds is "what will we be portrayed like"? Since I was only active in the Odessa filming, I honestly don't have a clue. However, I have identified a few things that made me a bit nervous.

For example, in one scene, an angry Mr. Billingsley (the father of a player) leaps out of the stands, runs onto the field and knocks his son to the ground during a game! I have never seen anything remotely like that happen, and I have been watching Permian games since I was 5 years old. That parent would probably be barred from the game at that point.

Also, there was a scene where an opposing team member is injured and those of us in the stands were supposed to cheer for that. That is not what would happen in a real Permian game. Even the most ardent, die-hard fans in west Texas would be concerned about the downed player regardless of what team the player was on and would only cheer and applaud as a show of support and relief when the player was deemed okay.

Another thing that has bothered me somewhat is the fact that they had people in the stands supposedly drinking beer during a high school football game. Granted, that might appeal to some of the fans, but as we all know, that does not LEGALLY happen in Odessa, Texas (with the exception of those who "bootleg" their favorite beverage in illegally).

It follows the book roughly which means the racial aspects will most likely be included. We have grown a great deal in that area, so I hope our residents and all those who watch the movie realize that we are not nearly as racist at this point in time. Nonetheless, I hope they don't over-do that aspect.

On the other hand, I have heard report that the movie will have a "Hollywood" ending. Much of the turmoil ends up being laid to rest in the end and everyone lives happily ever after.

As far as the "hero worship" aspects of the movie, I hope they portray us as a people who sincerely appreciate all the hard work these kids put into their chosen sport. They should be admired and respected. After all, there is no way I could survive their grueling two-a-day practices. Furthermore, most of these kids have been working towards their goals since they were young boys. The schools demand good grades from the players now, and I have not seen any preferential treatment there. My son played, and he was expected to do the same amount of work as the other kids or risk not being able to play. By no means am I saying that everything is perfect in the football program, but we have come a long way.

My son lived a PHS Football horror story, but I don't hold that against the entire program. Fortunately, the coach that caused that debacle has been gone for a while now. I hope they show our good points, because, really, west Texans are pretty great folks. Furthermore, our football is great fun for those who don't exist for it, but merely enjoy it as a sport.

Since filming has ceased, I have received emails from extras from Austin, Houston, and Odessa, and from interested parties who weren't thrilled with my observations. Since a couple of them are still active in the industry, I won't use their names. Their observations were interesting so, I thought I would share them with the readers.

From a Houston Extra:

"I found the hire-ups in the crew to be very professional and friendly However, I did find some P.A.'s to be a little irritable, but that is going to happen when working 15 or 16 hour days for months at a time. They were also in charge of the extras......Some extras DID NOT FOLLOW THE RULES and those people who broke the rules (and irritated the crew) made it 10x harder for those of us who did follow the rules I do know that the crew was very angry about the trash on the set in Odessa. I heard it was out of control and the crew was constantly having to monitor and pick up after the trash. The trash in the Houston Astrodome was bad, but I heard that Odessa's worse.

"Yes some of the crew and cast had been to your site. Particularly some of the doubles and the assistant coaches..........then there was buzz about your site and the negative comments made about the crew......that's how I found out about the trash in Odessa (from the crew).

"I had some probs with some people, particularly some of the P.A.'s BUT not the ones mentioned.

"In Houston, the 2nd unit team was really cranky and took it out on the extras the 3rd week. I was ready to quit. Basically, their nastiness was because they caught people leaving and returning around the time of "wrap up", they caught people taking very long lunches, and they caught some people doing some hanky panky in the stands.

"Anyway, I agree with a lot that you have to say. I must say that I found Billy Bob Thorton to be tremendously friendly and wonderful to his fans. Most of the other "stars" were very nice also. The only one that I didn't like very much was Jay Hernandez..... but other than that.... Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Lucas Black, "The Famous Jett Jackson" , Connie Britton, the new breakout star from Austin, Ken Farmer and the list goes on..... they were very nice to me and I was able to have nice solid conversations with them.

"I'm not going to comment on Peter Berg because my thoughts of him are better left unsaid, but I thought very highly of 2nd team director Alan Graf.

"Oh, and I met most of the producers.....nice, but of course kept their professionalism.
Tim McGraw seemed okay, but I only spoke with him a second and never even saw Faith Hill.

"Actually, as an extra, I probably shouldn't have been chatting with any of these people....".

From a professional extra/stuntman:

"I was puzzled that they only paid non union extras $7/HR the rate is $10/HR non and $14 union so I'm glad I don't work extra work. It's fun, but not any thing you can live off of. I haven't seen that low a pay since the 80's when non was $5 - 7 and union was $10 – 12.

Well enjoy those pictures you never know when they will be back around your area again to shoot."

On the other hand, not everyone was so appreciative:

"Well to start out Teresa your pictures are nice, but you should count your blessings. The main reason for no cameras or recording devices is because the production company doesn't want anything to be out before the movie is out. Also a lot of stars don't like for you to just pop a shot of them just any old time. The other trouble is that some idiot will take a shot during the shooting which can cost alot of money when it messes up the camera shot, and they have to repeat the shot again. The other thing is $$$$ too many people know that if they can get a picture of a big star that it might bring big $$$ if sold to the right media. Also I know you may have not like what the AD said as far as the trash issue goes, but hey your an adult right which means you should know to pick up after yourself, but trust me there is alot of so called adults who don't and the AD didn't want to have to do something that he thought was going to be his. Another thing until you have really seen what AD's have to go through & do don't say anything. They have alot of things that they have to do. I do stunts, but started out as an extra, and I have been in the industry for awhile so I have alot more experience then you do about what happens on sets and what to do and what not to do. Like I said earlier you got some nice shots, but the next time you may not, so think about it. Is it worth getting sent home no pay and no camera for just a few pictures ????? NO it's not. You wanted to work for them so you have to follow the rules that apply. Oh another thing professional extras know that SAG says the same thing "NO CAMERA ON THE SET". Enjoy what you got, but for those who want to follow your steps I would say "DON"T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT". Like I said they can send you off the set and take your camera, if they want to. Extra work can be fun & exciting, but do it with the proper mind set, and enjoy it don't abuse it."

From Houston:

"The acting community is trying very hard to bring feature films here. We are trying very hard to get film directors, casting directors, producers, etc to use TEXAS ACTORS as PRINCIPAL characters And yes, word does get around.....I know for a fact that some of the cast and crew have read your message board/articles

"Bottom line: People at the Houston Film Commission and the Texas Film Commission work very hard to try to bring films here. Actors work hard to bring films here. Feature films bring great work and more work to Texas, great publicity to Texas, etc, etc, etc.

If we are pleasant, positive, and professional then maybe more production companies will choose Texas for their filming location."

From a reader not affiliated with the filming:

"This is in response to the person that made the comments about Tim McGraw. Tim McGraw who I've met before more than once is probably one of the most humble, sincere people out there. Disrespectful to women he is DEFINTLEY not. As for signing autographs that is one thing Tim is great about have you ever been to one of his concerts and seen how many he signs for his fans. Also Tim performed at a benefit dinner/show last night in his hometown that benefit the Boys and Club of Nashville. Go to his site and see the pictures of Tim with the kids that speaks volumes. Sorry but you are defintley 100% wrong when you say Tim is not friendly are disrespectful."

Another extra wrote:

"and last but not least, I took exception with your depiction of the 2nd AD David as "rude and condesending." I am sorry if he offended you out there but after 2 months of 14 hr days you too might lose some of your sunnyness! A thick skin helps out in this business!"

In conclusion, I would like to say that I never meant to say or do anything that was unduly offensive. I have responded to each concern mentioned above. I sincerely wanted to report to the reader exactly what I saw and heard. I also took great care to be fair to all involved. I would encourage readers to continue to express their opinions-both good and bad. I think it makes for some very interesting dialogue. Thanks all and enjoy the movie! Hopefully, we will see further reports in the near future.

Thanks Teresa. Your reports are always full of honest and interesting observations, and they are a joy to read. And it helps us all to make some sense of this crazy thing. I'm especially looking forward to your review of the movie once it hits the big screen.

Comments

[Nick]

Teresa, The "game" where Billingsly comes out of the stands to yell at Don was a PRACTICE!
Get it right.

[teresa]

Ouch!! Did I hit a nerve with Nick? Guess so. Anyway, I was told it was during a game and since it was hard to figure out during filming if it was being shot as a practice or a game, I assume that the person that passed this along to me got it confused. You see in real life, practices are held at Permian, not at Ratliff, so it was a bit confusing to know exactly what they were filming since it was all filmed at Ratliff. Incidentally, Nick, that wouldn't happen at practice either. Maybe after practice, but parents certainly didn't act like that when my son played and I went to almost every practice during that time. I have spent much of my life around, or involved as a parent, with the football program and I never observed anyone behaving like that. So, you see, it doesn't really matter if it was a practice or a game; therefore, I did get it right--that type of behavior doesn't happen. My point was that it concerned me that we might be totally misrepresented by scenes like this one.

[Corkey]

at the end of Fri Night Lights, flashed on the screen was what the real life players are doing now. I missed some of it and thought you might have the information about their jobs and families

Thanks alot,

Corkey

[teresa]

Hi Corky,
I might not get this exactly right since I am writing strictly from my memory, but I am sure someone will correct any errors.
James "Boobie" Miles lives in Monahans with his twin boy and girl. He has done odd jobs around the area for several years, and as you may have seen in the movie, was given a part as an assistant coach. During filming, he was very nice and really was great with his kids.
Brian Chavez graduated from Permian as Validictorian, went to Harvard undergraduate and graduated with honors from Harvard. He then went to Texas Tech to finish Law School. I believe he did a year stint at UT Austin, but his law school degree is from Texas Tech. He is now a criminal lawyer here in Odessa. He was on the set some, but not a great deal. Seemed like a nice enough guy though...
Don Billingsly ended up getting a Master's in Counselling and, I think, is working somewhere in Oklahoma. Also, I think he is married with 2 kids. The movie fictionalized his dad's relationship with him, and my understanding is that they really have a good relationship.
Mike Winchell went to several different colleges, but ended up with a Bachellor's in Marketing and works as a surveyor in the Dallas area somewhere.
I don't have any information about Ivory Christian except that he did not end up going into the ministry.
Gary Gaines was the coach at San Angelo for several years (and may still be), but I am not sure of much more.I have heard from his past players and from Odessa residents that he was really a great guy and a very strong family man. Hope this helps and if anyone knows more, please feel free to add your knowledge. teresa

[jack c]

If anyone wonders what is true and what is fiction in the movie FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, I would suggest tat yuo read the actual book. I know for a fact that Charles Billingsley was not an abusive father as the movie portrays, and there was hardly a storyline in the book about him. The producers changed several aspects of the story to make for a big Hollywood ending.