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A perennial whipping boy, in recent decades Manassas had gone so far as to sell their home games to the highest bidder, but that all changed in the spring of 2004 when Bill Courtney, a former high school football coach turned lumber salesman, volunteered to lend a hand.
When he arrived, the team consisted of 17 players, some timeworn equipment and a patch of grass masquerading as a practice field.
Focusing more on winning young men than football games, the football program nevertheless began resurrecting itself and, in 2009, features the most talented team Manassas has ever fielded; a team that seems poised to end the playoff jinx that has plagued the school since time immemorial.
A coming-of-age documentary film, UNDEFEATED provides audiences an intimate view of an underprivileged group of teens and their inspirational coach, as they attempt to make history.
Bill Courtney
Coach
A former college football player turned successful entrepreneur, Bill began volunteering at Manassas High School in 2004 after purchasing a piece of property near the school.
Chavis
Player
An intimidating presence on and off the field, Chavis returned to Manassas for his junior year after spending 15 months in a youth penitentiary. Raised by a single mother and blessed with incredible athletic ability, Chavis also wrestles with personal demons that threaten to undermine both the team and his prospects for a brighter future.
Montrail “MONEY”
Player
An undersized offensive lineman and classic overachiever, Money excels between the chalk lines and in the classroom through sheer determination. He lives with his grandmother in N. Memphis and knows his lone hope for escaping the neighborhood is to receive an academic scholarship to college.
O.C.
Player
The star player on the Manassas Tigers, left tackle O.C. skipped a grade in middle school because of his size. He’s struggled to keep up academically and enters his senior year under great pressure to raise his test scores in order to qualify for the college athletic scholarships that have begun pouring in.
Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin
Directors/Editors/Directors of Photography
Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin met while working on the feature-length documentary film LAST CUP: ROAD TO THE WORLD SERIES OF BEER PONG, which Lindsay directed and Martin edited. The film was distributed under the “Morgan Spurlock Presents” banner of Virgil Films and is currently awaiting its broadcast premiere on Spike TV. UNDEFEATED marks their first feature-length directorial collaboration.
Dan Lindsay was born in Rockford, Illinois and graduated from the University of Missouri in 2001. He began his career by directing WHY US?, a short documentary film exploring the roots of the 9/11 attack on America.
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, T.J. Martin graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in American Cultural Studies. His first film, A DAY OF HYPE IN AMERICA, won the Best Documentary award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.
Rich Middlemas
Producer
Producer Rich Middlemas began his film career working for Michael Nathanson, the President and COO of Metro Goldwyn Mayer. In 2005, Middlemas launched Five Smooth Stones Productions to develop narrative and nonfiction projects. UNDEFEATED is the company's first theatrical release.
Seth Gordon
Producer
With his candid approach and ability to find humor in life’s everyday situations, Seth Gordon has become a favorite of many moviegoers with his compelling and true-to-life storytelling. A multi- hyphenate - writer, director, producer - Gordon creates intelligent and humorous fare that go far beyond the obvious.
Gordon recently directed HORRIBLE BOSSES for New Line Cinema. Starring Kevin Spacey, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, and Jamie Foxx, HORRIBLE BOSSES has to date earned over $157 million worldwide. Up next, Gordon is set to direct THE ONLY LIVING BOY IN NEW YORK, and the reboot of the 1983 thriller WAR GAMES.
In addition to UNDEFEATED, Gordon recently executive produced J. Clay Tweel’s documentary, MAKE BELIEVE, which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and most recently on Showtime. The documentary follows six adolescent outsiders who all share an extraordinary passion for the art of magic.
In television, Gordon co-created and serves as executive producer on “Breaking In,” a half hour comedy starring Christian Slater, which premiered to great ratings and reviews on FOX this April. Other television credits include directing episodes of “The Office,” “Modern Family,” and “Parks and Recreation.” Gordon made his feature narrative film debut with the comedy FOUR CHRISTMASES, starring Vince Vaughn and Oscar®- winner Reese Witherspoon.
Most notably, Gordon directed the critically acclaimed documentary feature THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS, which chronicled the intense rivalry between two Donkey Kong aficionados in the quest to obtain the highest-ever recorded score in the game. The film won Best Documentary awards at a number of festivals, including Online Film Critics Society Awards, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards and Central Ohio Film Critics Association. Gordon is currently in development on the narrative remake of THE KING OF KONG.
Gordon was also one of the directors and executive producers on the documentary, FREAKONOMICS, and helmed the section of the film about the best selling book’s authors, Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubnar. Gordon directed several short films—SQUIRT, FEARS OF A CLOWN and THE PROBLEM WITH PERCIVAL—that have won awards at the Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals. He produced and edited the acclaimed Sundance documentary NEW YORK DOLL, theatrically released in 2005. He was a contributing producer and cinematographer on the Oscar®-nominated documentary about the Dixie Chicks, SHUT UP AND SING, released in 2006.
Gordon is a graduate of Yale University, where he specialized in architecture and documentary film. As a director, Gordon is entirely self-taught, as his alma mater had no film program. Gordon spent his first years out of school as a public high school teacher, and first picked up the camera while living and teaching in Kenya, to capture the stories that unfolded in his village.
Ed Cunningham
Producer
Producer Ed Cunningham’s credits include NEW YORK DOLL, a 2005 Sundance selection; THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS, Sports Illustrated's 2007 Sports Movie of the Year; and MAKE BELIEVE, winner of the LA Film Festival's Best Doc in 2010. He is currently producing the narrative remake of KONG at New Line Cinema and has several projects in development.
An Academic All-American on the University of Washington’s ’91 National Championship team, Cunningham went on to play give years in the NFL. Fall 2011 will mark his 15th season of covering college football as a color commentator, first with CBS, and now with ESPN/ABC.
Glen Zipper
Producer
Glen Zipper is the Head of Documentary Features for Exclusive Media Group's Spitfire Pictures. In addition to serving as producer on UNDEFEATED, Zipper recently served as executive producer on THE LAST PLAY AT SHEA and FOO FIGHTERS BACK AND FORTH.
Prior to joining Spitfire Pictures in 2007, Zipper served as a prosecutor for the Hudson County Prosecutors Office in Jersey City, New Jersey and subsequently as the Project Director of the nationally recognized non-profit organization k9 connection in Santa Monica, California. He holds a B.A. in political science from he University of Wisconsin and a Juris Doctorate from Brooklyn Law School.
Michael Brook
Music
In a career spanning over twenty-five years, Michael Brook has forged his own path, fueled in equal parts by scientific curiosity, the thrill of playing guitar, technical prowess and a fervent interest in music from all over the world. He was won acclaim as a solo artist possessed of a unique sensibility; a record producer; a soundtrack composer; an inspired collaborator and player; and an instrument builder and creator of the “infinite guitar.”
Brook was born and raised in Toronto and studied electronic music at York University. In the early 1980s he worked as an engineer at Daniel Lanois' studio, where he met Brian Eno and pianist Harold Budd. His first solo album, Hybrid, with contributions from both Eno and Lanois, was released in 1985 on EG Records to great critical acclaim. Cobalt Blue and Live at the Aquarium followed shortly after. His most recent albums are RockPaperScissors, Bell Curve, and Penumbra.
Brook lived in the U.K. for ten years, where he produced many albums for Peter Gabriel's label, Real World. He began working in film music in 1992, when he composed and performed the score of the Academy Award nominated documentary, THE FIRES OF KUWAIT. His recent film scores include David O. Russell’s THE FIGHTER; Shana Feste’s COUNTRY STRONG; and Luis Estrada’s EL INFIERNO. Other feature credits Sean Penn’s INTO THE WILD, which garnered Brook a Golden Globe nomination for Best Score; Paul Schrader’s AFFLICTION; Kevin Spacey’s ALBINO ALLIGATOR; and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s SUGAR. His documentary credits include Davis Guggenheim’s AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH; WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? and ECO-PIRATE. As a guest artist, Brook’s unique guitar sound can be heard in many films, including Ridley Scott’s BLACK HAWK DOWN, John Woo’s MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2, Sean Penn’s THE PLEDGE and Ben Affleck’s THE TOWN.
Along with UNDEFEATED, Brook’s recent scores are for Michael Sucsy’s THE VOW, co- composed with Rachel Portman, and Davis Guggenheim’s new U2 documentary, FROM THE SKY DOWN, which will be screened at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival.
Brook has collaborated as record producer and guest player with many influential and admired recording artists, including such international superstars as the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn, the great Armenian duduk master Djivan Gasparyan, Youssou N'Dour, and U. Trinivas; as well as Mary Margaret O'Hara, The Pogues, Bryan Ferry, and Lisa Gerrard.
Sandy Wilson
Music Supervisor
Seattle native Sandy Wilson is the head of licensing at the boutique reissue label Light In The Attic Records. He began music supervising in 2006 with the indie feature TRUE ADOLESCENTS, followed by the award-winning short FUNKY PRAIRIE BOY and the critically acclaimed music doc WHEEDLE’S GROOVE.
In addition to UNDEFEATED, his recent projects include Lynn Shelton’s YOUR SISTER’S SISTER (Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Duplass), Matthew Lillard’s directorial debut FAT KID RULES THE WORLD (Jacob Wysocki, Matthew O’Leary).
