Gotham Chopra and Chris Uettwiller discuss Why We Fight Emmy

Gotham Chopra and Chris Uettwiller have been nominated for Sports Emmy award for Why We Fight.

Dirty Robber and Religion of Sports have been nominated for their first Sports Emmys for their Why We Fight docuseries. Nominees for “Outstanding Serialized Sports Documentary” are:

A Season With Navy Football
Hard Knocks: Training Camp With The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Last Chance U
Us Against the World
Why We Fight

As you can see this is serious competition. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) will host the nominees for the Even though it is not a live event the award show has been in existence for 39-years now. According to Chuck Dages, Chairman, NATAS:

"“The 39th Sports Emmy Awards encompassed a record-setting number of entries across multiple categories and the level of quality continues to show the growth and seemingly, unlimited potential of what is available for the sports viewing audience.”"

Gotham Chopra

Hidden Remote: Religion of Sports/Dirty Robber just received it’s first-ever Sports Emmy nomination for Why We Fight. How did you hear the news?

Gotham Chopra: I was actually sitting with our senior producer of the series Adam Feinstein when I started to see some alerts on Twitter. Then a barrage of congratulatory text messages. And then a phone call from one of the co-creators. It’s the age of constant communication so it really came from all sides!

Hidden Remote: Where did the concept of Why We Fight come from?

GC: One of our co-creators, Matt Ogens, had worked with Zac Wohlman on a short film called “Kid Yamaka” several years ago. They had done some of the finishing for that film with my colleague Chris Uettwiller (another co-creator on the series). Chris showed me ‘Kid Yamaka’ and said “I think there’s something really cool and primordial here. Should we meet Matt and Zac and explore more?” I had to look up what “primordial” meant, but once I did I agreed with Chris and that’s how it all started!

Originally I think we were looking to see how we could spin out the short film into a series, but gradually once we dove in deeper and really talked to Matt and Zac more – who is an active fighter and understood more of his psychology – a new iteration of the series started to emerge.

Courtesy: Aaron Marion PR /

Hidden Remote: Why do you feel it is special?

GC: Fighting is primordial. It’s instinctive and probably the oldest sport we have as humans. And no matter where in the world you go, there is some form of it that has been institutionalized into a sport or competition. It’s also brutal and violent, which begs the question of why we do it. And in Zac, we have an active fighter that is genuinely on a journey to figure that out for himself. So there’s something real, authentic and visceral about the show. It’s honest and true and gritty and raw – like the sport and the host. I think that really comes through in the filmmaking.

Hidden Remote: If you were to pick one word to describe this docuseries, what would it be?

GC: Honest.

Hidden Remote: What parts of the docuseries best describes that word?

GC: I think that honesty stems from Zac. He’s not a host in the traditional sense of the word. He’d never done this before and we didn’t cast him or pick him out from a group of other potential hosts. He’s a real deal fighter dealing with adversaries in the ring, and addictions outside of it. He’s honest about that and all of that became a part of the series because he was willing to be candid. He’s got a lot of bravery wrapped up in that honesty and that’s special.

Hidden Remote: Not sure if the Sports Emmys are a live event, if so, when/if you win, will it be a written speech or off-the-cuff?

GC: It’s an “unscripted series” so any victory speech would have to be unscripted as well!

Hidden Remote: If not live, who would you like to thank?

GC: Shows like this take a village. Aside from our EP partner Ronda Rousey and Zac obviously and his willingness to share his story and journey, there are countless creators who came aboard to make the series – starting with our partners at Complex Justin Killion and Melanie Moreau, and then our series showrunner Adam Feinstein, my EP partners Matt Ogens, Chris Uettwiller, Martin Desmond Roe, and our head of production Victor Buhler.

But that’s really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the directors, producers, editors, and more that were a part of this series. I’ll tell you that one of the things that was unique about the series is that when we got the Sports Emmy nomination and people started posting the announcement on social media, the level of engagement from the crew was overwhelming. The passion around this series from the creative team that made it was really incredible and thrilling. It’s a dream to work with people that are both that talented and passionate. I’m super lucky.

And oh – go90, our network partner was amazing too. These shows are always a risk. You pitch an idea, but it never quite turns out like you planned it. So the level of trust and creative empowerment is always appreciated. It’s how we’re able to make things great.

Hidden Remote: What is next for Religion of Sports?

GC: We’ve got a bunch of stuff in the hopper – including (hopefully) a new season of our series The Religion of Sports on the Audience Network, a 3-part series on Showtime with LeBron James and his partner Maverick Carter, and then some new and exciting stuff with Facebook following up on our Tom Brady series “Tom vs. Time.” There’s so much more to do and we can’t wait!

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Chris Uettwiller

Hidden Remote: Please describe what it’s like being part of the Why We Fight team?

Chris Uettwiller: I love the “Why We Fight” team. Some of them have been fans of global fight culture for years; some knew very little and really had a blast diving into these worlds. From kickboxing in the Netherlands to wrestling (Bökh) in Mongolia, our directors and producers are gifted storytellers who really wanted to immerse our audience in the rituals, discipline and challenges shared among fighters all around the world. Part of the fun was figuring out where to go for each episode. There’s no shortage of incredible fighting stories on every continent.

Hidden Remote: Being a co-creator, why take on a project like Why We Fight?

CU: Dirty Robber collaborates with many talented filmmakers; one is Matt Ogens who directed “Kid Yamaka,” a Vice short about pro boxer Zachary Wohlman. Matt wanted to develop a documentary series with Zac and the idea of him traveling the world to meet fellow fighters really resonated with us. Zac is naturally curious and has a deep understanding of what it takes to be a fighter. We knew he’d be a great “guide” through this series. For Dirty Robber, this series was very appealing because it involved many of our strengths: international shoots, cinematic storytelling and character-driven stories in every episode.

Hidden Remote: Being nominated for a Sports Emmy is special, what were you doing when you heard the news and explain your thoughts?

CU: I got texts with an emoji or two… And there were congratulatory calls and lots of Facebook posts! Everyone works so hard to get these projects off the ground; it’s an immense honor when the hard work is acknowledged by such a prestigious organization. I also thought about Zac who really put himself out there during the shoot. Being a fighter, he had never hosted a show or done anything like this. On top of that, he decided to get sober days before we started to shoot the series. It was incredibly brave of him. So while the Emmy nomination was thrilling news for Dirty Robber, I might’ve felt even more joy for Zac.

Next: Gotham Chopra Interview

Hidden Remote: Any social media you would like to add?

CU: You can follow us at @DirtyRobber and you can find Zac at @ZacharyWohlman (Twitter) and @kidyamaka (Instagram).

Note:

You can find Gotham Chopra here on Twitter

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