7) #PonyUpFrisco - My road to SMU
Like most other high school students, the only place you’d find me on a Friday night is at the football game. I did have a difference, however, and that being I was on the sidelines every game, filming “hype videos” for YouTube and Twitter once the game is over. The fans loved them, the students loved them, the players loved them, and it was turning into a really lucrative option for me to do what I’m passionate about and make money off ads and charging clients for film work. My first videos were TERRIBLE, and throughout my highschool career I made one main video a year, with posting clips and snippets after each game. My @jackmayofilms Twitter account was basically the Frisco High School Football Recruiting account. Here is the first video I made of taking a film camera to a football game:
As I made these films, the fan support of Frisco grew on social media and in person, and my Twitter account blew up in the amount of followers and engagements from people all over the country excited to see high school football in a “cinematic” light, since no one was really doing this yet. In 2020, every school seems to have a few “Creatives” that all do highlights for the football team. My sophomore and junior year of high school we were really good, resulting in a deep playoff run and games at AT&T Stadium, and capturing that journey was an awesome experience.
Junior year I worked with Frisco ISD to coordinate a “Intro Video” that would be played at all of our home venues as our team runs out, and this was another first for a high school as no high school then had an intro video. Playing at The Star, World Headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys, gave us national attention and College Coaches were constantly at games watching our teams. Junior year I made a video by accident that ended up blowing up and getting picked up by SportsDayHS, the Dallas Morning News High School Football account, which was even more attention. I spent a lot of time editing this and filmed just one game that represented Frisco’s brand for the season. It was easy to make content blow up when the team was really good, however, that wasn’t always the case.
My senior year we had the most support yet heading into the season. We had received a budget from the booster club to create the intro video, a hype video, and a season recap film. We had a “media day” the Saturday before the season started that I left my SAT early to make it to. The first game though, all cameras were rolling, fans excited, student section loud, and we lost. Then we lost again, and again. It was clear our season wasn’t going to be the season we hoped it to be, as there was a lot of competitive talent in the Frisco area and we ended up going 0-10. Even with not winning a game that season, it forced me to get more creative than ever. How do I show a game and make us look good? How do I make it look like the fans are excited? How do I use this to keep school spirit up? The film we released on week 3 is the perfect example of how film really can be deceiving.
Potentially my best work yet, and we would go on to not even win a game. Twitter didn’t know that, however, and my video blew up getting thousands of views and the one video seemed to get everyones attention, including, some college coaches.
I’ll never forget where I was when my buddy Zack Helfey from OU Football reached out to me and said he recommended me to a coach at SMU, who was looking for a student to come onto the team and produce highlight and recruiting videos. I was sitting at Outback Steakhouse with my mom and my grandma, and I was trying to not be rude by being on my phone, but was incredibly invested in the opportunity that suddenly arose. Up until this point, in February, I hadn’t even wanted to go to college. I figured I would just keep working in film and doing what I loved, because I was making a great business out of it and honestly thought I didn’t need college. I had only applied to Baylor, because that is where my girlfriend attended, and I was interested in their live production and virtual reality program. I wasn’t ever “excited” to think about college or the process of applying.
The coach from SMU reached out to me and recommended I apply to the school, and said that they’d love to have me come on and join their team if SMU was a good fit for me. This is another major point: don’t pick a school because of a job, pick a school because it’s the right place for you! (I know a lot of high schoolers that were in my spot follow me and will read this.) I was blessed to be admitted into SMU and even earn a scholarship from the Meadows film department based on my portfolio, which included my football work. I truly didn’t believe in myself and doubted that I would be able to get a scholarship, much less get admitted to SMU.
One thing led to another, I visited campus, filmed a spring practice, and committed to SMU on May 1st, with my first day on the job June 1st at 4:30AM. I was so excited to begin this next adventure that wasn’t even on my radar a few months earlier, and God really opened the doors for me to have this opportunity. I want to thank Coach Dykes, Anthony Crespino, my boss Chris Rodriguez, and everyone else for believing in me and trusting me to be a part of your team. It is one of the greatest experiences I’ve had and I’m so ready to be back on campus again with everyone.