In 2015, Paul Wilson (ESPN) and Paolo Grassini launched one of the most ambitious in-studio branded content projects at ESPN, the Heineken ESPN FC Boot Room. The project was the centerpiece of a multi-year partnership between Heineken and ESPN. 

While Paul and Paolo shared producing responsibilities, Paolo was the sole content creator for the Boot Room. Using Studio 4, a one-man-band production studio in ESPN LA, Paolo produced, shot and edited seventeen branded content segments a year. The project definitely presented its challenges, and required Paolo to be involved with all aspects of production.

The following is an overview of the Boot Room processes, and Paolo’s roles within them.
 
Pre-production
  • Paolo would collaborate with the talent booking department to identify potential guests and create content strategies for the calendar year.
  • Once a guest was booked, Paolo handled research and script writing for the segments.
Production
  • Paolo would handle all aspects of production in Studio 4. This included everything lighting and cameras to Tricaster operator. Simultaneously, Paolo would communicate with talent to live produce segments.
Post-production
  • Paolo handled all aspects of post-production, including: content ingest, editing, audio editing/mixing, and color correction.
  • Paolo collaboratde with Paul Wilson to identify editorial content for all the deliverables:
              • :40 for Sportscenter (TV)
              • 2-3 min for ESPN FC (TV)
              • 3+ Min for ESPN.COM (Digital)

The most challenging aspect of the Boot Room was crafting a topical :40 seconds segment that could air on Sportscenter, while being informative and relevant to the current sports news cycle. The first watershed moment came with  Landon Donovan. During the interview, Donovan provided a strong statement around the US Men’s National Team upcoming match against Mexico. The Boot Room interview aired on various ESPN platforms, and generated various discussions for ESPN shows. It cemented the Boot Room’s ability to both provide quality editorial content for ESPN and showcase the distribution value for its brand partner.

Anywhere else in the world, if this coach had those results, and they loose this game against Mexico, they would be fired. 

Landon Donovan for Heineken ESPN FC Boot Room

The Heineken ESPN FC Boot Room was a complete success. The program lasted four years and generated millions in ad revenue for ESPN. Till this day, it is used as a go-to template at ESPN for large-scale in-studio branded content. Throughout the entire process, Paul Wilson and Paolo were the sole producers attached to the project. The strategy allowed ESPN to keep our resources at a minimum in order to maximize our ad revenue.