Most Valuable Players is a 2010 documentary film directed/produced by Matthew D. Kallis and written/produced by Christopher Lockhart, about The Freddy Awards

The Freddy Awards

The Freddy Awards, also known as the Freddys, are an annual recognition of outstanding high school musical theatre in the Lehigh Valley area, including the Northampton County and Lehigh County in Pennsylvania, and Warren County in New Jersey...

, an annual awards ceremony recognizing outstanding high school musical theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 in the Lehigh Valley

Lehigh Valley

The Lehigh Valley, known officially by the United States Census Bureau as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area and referred to locally as The Valley and A-B-E, is a metropolitan region consisting of Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, and Carbon counties in eastern Pennsylvania and...

 region of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 and New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. Lockhart was inspired to make the film after watching clips of a Freddy Awards production on YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

.

The film appeared in the International Documentary Association

International Documentary Association

International Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...

's DocuWeeks showcase in August 2010, as well as the Mill Valley Film Festival

Mill Valley Film Festival

The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual, non-competitive film festival presented by the California Film Institute. Known as a filmmakers’ festival, the annual Mill Valley Film Festival offers a non-competitive environment for exhibiting independent and world cinema.Founded in 1978 by MVFF...

 in California. The Oprah Winfrey Network has acquired the broadcast and video rights to the film.

Background

The film documents the 2008 ceremony for the annual award program, which is held every year at the State Theatre, Easton, Pennsylvania

Easton, Pennsylvania

Easton is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 26,800 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Northampton County....

.

Production

Most Valuable Players, a Canyonback Films production, is directed/produced by Matthew D. Kallis and written/produced by Christopher Lockhart. It was Lockhart's first documentary and, although Kallis had directed documentaries in the past, he had never done one to this scale. The film was conceived when Lockhart found a clip of the 2006 ceremony on YouTube while searching for something unrelated. Lockhart was impressed with the production values and performance caliber, and took the idea to Kallis, who agreed to partner with him for a documentary.
Kallis and Lockhart acquired over 300 hours of source material over four months, starting with 2008 high school rehearsals all the way up to the State Theatre ceremony on May 22, 2008. In addition to the event itself, the footage includes filming behind-the-scenes at production meetings, interviews with students and teachers, rehearsals at participating high schools, and the announcement of Freddy Award nominations. Cinematographer Curt Apduhan

Curt Apduhan

Curt Apduhan is an Emmy Award winning director of photography known for his work in feature documentaries. Apduhan's contributions to director Todd Robinson's documentary film Amargosa, a study of artist Marta Becket earned the cinematographer the NATAS 2002 News/Documentary Emmy for outstanding...

, who won an Emmy for the 2003 documentary "Amargosa", served as Director of Photography. Ken King, winner of two Emmy Awards and nominated for a BAFTA for his work on the film Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction (film)

Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...

, served as production sound mixer. 40 minutes of an original score was composed by Randy Miller.

Most Valuable Players runs 95 minutes long. The original working title was Freddy Fever but was abandoned. Lockhart said the new title demonstrates an analogy between sports and arts, adding, "In a way this plays like a sports documentary." The film focuses primarily on three schools: Emmaus High School

Emmaus High School

Emmaus High School is a public high school located in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The school serves grades 9 through 12 in Pennsylvania's East Penn School District in the Lehigh Valley region of the state....

 in Emmaus, Pennsylvania

Emmaus, Pennsylvania

Emmaus is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is located five miles southwest of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.The population of Emmaus was 11,313 at the 2000 census...

, Parkland High School

Parkland High School (Allentown, Pennsylvania)

Parkland High School, located near Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States, is a public high school serving students in grades 9 to 12. It is the only high school for the Parkland School District....

 in Allentown

Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...

, and Freedom High School

Freedom High School (Pennsylvania)

Freedom High School is a public high school, located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, in the United States. Freedom is one of two public high schools in the Bethlehem Area School District. It is located at 3149 Chester Avenue, Bethlehem Township.The total...

 in Bethlehem

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...

. By coincidence, both Emmaus and Parkland were presenting the musical Les Misérables

Les Misérables (musical)

Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

the year Most Valuable Players was filmed, and the competition that arose made for one of the film's main conflicts.

The documentary originally included a ghosthunting sequence dealing with the urban legend of J. "Fred" Osterstock, for whom the Freddy Awards are named. Osterstock died in 1957, and the legend claims he still haunts the theater.

Cast

• Ali Mosser
• Jennifer Wescoe
• Katie Wexler
• Zachary Gibson
• Frank Anonia
• Amanda Kostalis
• John Andreadis
• Jill Kuebler
• Rita Cortez
• Vic Kumma
• Shelley Brown
• Mark Stutz

Release

The first public exhibition of the film was on April 16, 2010, at the State Theatre in Easton. The film made its theatrical debut in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 at the IFC Center

IFC Center

IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, New York City in the United States of America. It is located at 323 Sixth Avenue, on the former site of the Waverly Theater, which was itself a well known art house movie theater...

 and in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 at the ArcLight Hollywood

ArcLight Hollywood

The ArcLight Hollywood is a 14-screen multiplex located at 6360 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, in the United States of America. All 14 screens feature stadium seating, and carry a THX certification for optimal sound and picture presentation. The building is located adjacent to the...

, running from August 6, 2010 through August 19, 2010 as part of the DocuWeeks showcase sponsored by the International Documentary Association

International Documentary Association

International Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...

. Most Valuable Players made its festival debut at the Mill Valley Film Festival

Mill Valley Film Festival

The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual, non-competitive film festival presented by the California Film Institute. Known as a filmmakers’ festival, the annual Mill Valley Film Festival offers a non-competitive environment for exhibiting independent and world cinema.Founded in 1978 by MVFF...

 in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in October 2010. Other festivals in 2011 included the St. Louis International Film Festival, Chicago International Children's Film Festival

Chicago International Children's Film Festival

Founded in 1975, Facets Multi-Media, located at 1517 W. Fullerton Avenue, Chicago, 60614 Facets Multi-Media is the largest conservator dedicated to the exhibition, distribution & education of foreign, independent & classic cinema...

, Dallas International Film Festival

Dallas International Film Festival

The DALLAS International Film Festival, presented by DALLAS Film Society, is a film festival that takes place annually in the state of Texas, in the United States. It takes place in April of every year. The 2011 DALLAS International Film Festival will be held March 31-April 10, 2011...

, Sprockets: Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

, and the Nashville Film Festival

Nashville Film Festival

The Nashville Film Festival , held annually in Nashville, Tennessee, is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. In 2009, Nashville Film Festival received close to 2000 submissions from 86 countries, programmed nearly 260 films and had an attendance...

, where it won the "Documentary Channel Audience Award."

In November 2010, the Oprah Winfrey Network announced it had acquired the rights for Most Valuable Players and planned to screen it as part of a monthly "documentary club" on the new cable network helmed by talk show host and billionaire Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

. The network, which is expected to have a viewership of about 80 million viewers, premiered the film on September 8th, 2011. The screening will include interactive components and additional online material, including footage cut from the original film. Winfrey's name and her company will be added to the film's credits, and Winfrey's company will also handle DVD distribution of Most Valuable Players.