Soccer <\/p>\n
\u200b\u200bHe\u2019s become known for finding the most compelling stories about Formula 1, tennis, golf and more, but Paul Martin\u2019s first love is soccer.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
A Southampton FC supporter, Martin played for decades and still follows the sport closely, even while serving as executive producer for documentary series like \u201cFormula 1: Drive to Survive,\u201d \u201cBreak Point\u201d and \u201cFull Swing.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Martin also worked on documentaries about some of the game’s great figures, including Diego Maradona and Steven Gerrard, he hadn\u2019t yet tackled a project that looked at an entire soccer league until getting approached about \u201cOnside: Major League Soccer\u201d<\/a>, the documentary series Martin executive produced alongside James Gay-Rees and Hillary Olsen that launched Feb. 21 on Apple TV+.<\/p>\n \u201cMLS was able to facilitate a level of access into the world\u2019s most popular sport that I just don\u2019t think you would get with some other leagues,\u201d Martin said of Box to Box Films\u2019 unique opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cFor what we do, that was incredibly exciting and enticing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Box to Box looked to isolate compelling narratives and storylines that shaped the 2024 MLS season, then went deep to provide perspective and insights that offer both hardcore fans a perspective they haven\u2019t yet seen and novice fans context that draws them in.<\/p>\n Having become known for profiling athletes in individual sports, Martin said he and his team looked for characters and big personalities as storytelling vehicles \u2013 and found MLS was full of them.<\/p>\n Martin was particularly interested in the yin and yang of managers on either side of the Hell is Real Derby. FC Cincinnati<\/a> head coach Pat Noonan\u2019s \u201cold-school, let\u2019s f—ing go get it\u201d spirit, as Martin put it, balanced against Columbus Crew<\/a> boss Wilfried Nancy\u2019s \u201cholistic view\u201d honed from his roots in France and Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to find those individual stories that operate on different levels and have that subtext where people can say, \u2018OK this is a story about Wilfried and Pat, but I can see it\u2019s representative of something bigger going on within those clubs, within those cities and within those leagues,’\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about finding stories that can operate on those levels.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \n In focus<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n