VOD
Former WNBAer Sue Bird is the main focus of a brand new documentary, “Sue Bird: In the Clutch,” specializing in her “historic profession,” in accordance with Chase Hutchinson of the SEATTLE TIMES. Director Sarah Dowland’s documentary, which is now available on VOD, additionally covers how Bird’s legacy “doesn’t stop at herself or the Seattle Storm.” The path she took “impacted the WNBA writ giant” as she did “everything from advocating for a better labor deal for players to coming out as gay and speaking up about police brutality, elements Bird felt had to be explored in detail in the documentary.” Bird stated that “In the Clutch” is about showcasing as soon as once more that “sports activities tales about girls athletes are simply as entertaining and attention-grabbing as these about males.” However, the documentary is “not just about her well-known achievements on the court” — it additionally takes us into components of her life that “required her to be vulnerable.” Bird stated, “That was really the challenging part. This was, ‘Oh, I’m going to tell not just the story of my career, but the story of me.’ Trying to remember to always leave my armor at the door, that wasn’t always easy. When you’re a public figure, you just figure out the dance between showing your public side and, every now and then, letting other parts leak in” (SEATTLE TIMES, 4/2).
IMPACTFUL STORY: In L.A., Tracy Brown wrote “understanding of the power of storytelling” was one of many causes Bird agreed to open up her life to a documentary crew. Actor Jay Ellis, who was an Exec Producer on “In the Clutch” stated, “Women’s sports, in general, don’t get the platform to tell their own stories very often.” He added, “Sue, I think, has really stepped up to this responsibility of understanding that her story means so much not only to basketball, but to young women and to [the] LGBTQ [community] and to reproductive rights and civil rights.” Even the story of getting “In the Clutch” financed and offered for distribution mirrored what girls’s athletes have lengthy needed to endure from the media. Ellis stated when pitching the movie, “a lot of people said no.” Ellis: “We were often told that nobody cared about women’s sports or nobody cared about women’s basketball and nobody cared about the WNBA. And it was crazy, because at the same time, you have Sue on the cover of major magazines” (L.A. TIMES, 3/28).
