Episode of 4ballUSA™

A character calls a meeting with his colleagues. Everyone at the meeting sets up their cell phone, or some other camera, to video-record themselves. Later all this material will be edited and digested down into an episode, or episodes.

The main character asks questions such as:

"Do you like basketball?"
"What you like most about basketball?"
"What style of basketball do you like the most?"
"How many billions of dollars does the NBA make every year?"
"Why is the NBA a monopoly?"
"How many players want to play in the NBA but are good enough to play in the NBA?"
"Why is it that almost no players have any ownership at all in the NBA?"
"What is the most popular sport on social media?"
"Do you remember the American basketball Association?"
"Do you remember Julius Irving, known as Dr. J?"
"Do you remember how they used to play basketball in the ABA?"
"Do you remember how many points they used to score per game in the ABA?"
"Do you remember Phi Slama Jama?"
"Do you know that Phi Slama Jama is now trademarked by the University of Houston?"
"Do you remember Magic Time basketball? The kind of basketball inspired by Magic Johnson?"
"Do you remember Showtime basketball?"
"Can any of you dunk a basketball?"
"Do any of you know any players that can dunk a basketball?"
"Do any of you know any great basketball players?"
"Do you know any great shooters?"

This show can use transitions between scenes that are made up of basketball plays. The show can use a shot of a basketball being passed into the camera as a transition. Players dunking can form the transitions. Players blocking shots can form the transitions. Players sinking three-pointers can make the transitions. A ball spinning on a finger can be used as the transition to begin, or between scenes. A player blocking a shot by pinning it to the backboard can be used as a transition. An alley-oop can be used as a transition. Pretty much any player can be used to create these transitions. Slow-motion shots of a basketball being dribbled can be used. All kinds of amazing camera work can be used to create transitions. The more talented the player the more creative these transitions can become.

A character needs to start asking people:
"Would you play 4-on-4, full-court basketball?"
It will be great to get reactions both positive, and, especially the negative ones! It will be very revealing what this character finds out. People are so brainwashed about playing 5-on-5 that 4-on-4, full-court will seem very strange at first. Some of the stuff people say will be TV gold.

The reality TV show could start off as a web video TV series. It's interesting that the most popular YouTube videos go in length from less than a minute to about 9 minutes. A 30 minute television show is usually about 22 minutes. A 60 minute television show is about 44 minutes. This means that if the scenes are edited to the proper length they can be perfect for a web TV series, a 30 minute television show, or a 60 minute television show.

A character calls a meeting and talks about Sabermetrics. The history of Sabermetrics is fascinating. It would be great to film the original inventor of Sabermetrics. It would be great to follow Sabermetrics from baseball, to the book about Sabermetrics, to the movie about Sabermetrics starring Brad Pitt.

Sabermetrics should also be followed to Darrell Morey. Darrell Morey graduated from Northwestern University. Darrell Morey is also now in charge of the Houston Rockets. He is using analytics to build basketball teams for the Houston Rockets. One of the characters should explore all of this and get it recorded.

The main character should drive the point home over and over again that there is an oversupply of great players today! There are all kinds of fantastic players that cannot play in the NBA. All of these players could play in a 4-on-4, full-court basketball league. This league could have far more highlights than the NBA. The 4-on-4, full-court basketball league could employ all kinds of basketball players that cannot find employment today!

One or more characters should go after sponsors:
They can go after a shoe company that can afford to be sponsored by the NBA.
They can go after clothing companies.
They can go after rich retired NBA players!
They can go after NBA players who want to be entrepreneurs.

One character creates a great scene, or scenes, by going to a basketball court. The court has players playing pickup basketball. Or perhaps players getting ready to play pickup basketball. He starts talking about playing 4-on-4, full-court basketball. There is all kinds of blowback! People think the character is crazy. People give all kinds of reasons why it can't be done. These become obstacles that become part of the story of 4-on-4, full-court basketball.

A character tries to pursue getting ABA highlights. He records the entire process. The same character tries to get NBA highlights, college basketball highlights, and high school basketball highlights. The process of pursuing these highlights all is recorded and becomes part of the show. If nothing else, this character should be able to achieve getting "street ball" highlights.

This essay is part of the continuing treatment for 4-on-4, full-court basketball as a web series, reality TV show, regular TV show, movie, or book, or any other form of entertainment in any media.

Copyright© 2016 Bradley R. Hennenfent, M.D. all rights reserved.

4ballUSA™ and 4ball™ and FourBall™ and FourBall™