‘30 for 30’ directors visit IU

All it took was a Facebook message to get the ball rolling to have two ESPN “30 for 30” directors visit IU.

On Friday, Thaddeus Matula, director of “Pony Excess,” and Billy Corben, director of “The U,” were on campus for screenings of their movies and a Q-and-A session.

It began when Matula received a Facebook message from Southern Methodist University alumna and current IU graduate student Catherine Campbell.

“Facebook — it’s an amazing thing,” Matula said.

“Catherine Campbell — she was a women’s basketball player at SMU — reached out to me because she loved my film and was excited that they were teaching it and using it in a course she’s in here at IU.”

Once Matula was on board to come to Bloomington, he got Corben, a friend and fellow “30 for 30” director, on board.

“Billy and I became really good friends, and when they decided to bring me up here ... I then invited Billy, as well, and was sure he would come,” Matula said.

Matula’s film was about the rise, fall and rebirth of the Southern Methodist University football program after it received the “death penalty” for major infractions.

“A big thing that I wanted to do with this was to win fans and bring fans into the program,” he said. “SMU used to be great. They have a storied tradition, a national championship, and they have a Heisman trophy.”

He spent almost two years putting the film together, and said he felt his work paid off.

“There is not a metric that you can use to track the difference of the trajectory of my career from before and after,” Matula said.

“I was the only completely unknown director of the ‘30 for 30’ series. There are times when I’m walking through Dallas, and I’m kind of a celebrity.”

Students asked the directors about their films and advice for breaking into the film industry during the Q-and-A session.

“Both gave perspective on how they got to where they are today and discussed current sports issues, like the Penn State scandal,” senior Ben Baroff said.

Baroff said he appreciated Matula’s advice to be persistent and do what you love, even if you hear “no.”

“I thought that applied to anybody,” he said. “That was one of the most valuable things they spoke about.”

The audience then watched “The U,” directed by Corben.

Unlike Matula, Corben was a well-established director, which helped him land one of the “30 for 30” film spots.

ESPN gave Corben a deal to make a film before the network announced the series.

“The U” chronicles the dominance of the University of Miami football program from the 1980s to the early 1990s.

The Hurricanes won four national championships in nine years.

Matula spoke highly of Corben’s film, explaining that it was one of the best, if not the best, films of the “30 for 30” film series.

“‘The U’ was our gold standard,” he said. “I said to my team, that’s the one we need to top.”

School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation professor Galen Clavio said he thought the event went smoothly.

“We had good crowds for all three events, and I was pleased with how engaged the students were with the content,” he said.

“We were very excited about bringing Thaddeus and Billy in, both because of their excellent work and because of their abilities to connect with audiences of college-age people.”

He said he wants to bring the two directors back to IU.

“Hopefully we can convince them to come back when they’re promoting their next great sport film projects,” Clavio said.