So... a conversation in another thread led to me wanting to try a little experiment here. I've always wondered what could be achieved with the TexAgs hive mind in terms of working together to brainstorm a film or television series idea. There are so many incredibly smart people here, with such a vast knowledge of history, and this is one of the rare, more popular boards/communities that isn't full of the toxicity or mom's basement dwellers of a reddit or 4chan. Yes, we have our fair share of arguments from time to time, but for the most part, this board makes for some of the best discussion and insight I've ever had on the internet.
That, and I own a production company here in Los Angeles, founded with three other industry friends, and our speciality is optioning the rights to books and magazine articles (really, basically any IP - podcasts and life rights as well) and turning them into films or television series. Our company is still relatively new to the game, but we have a lot of exciting projects in development with some big names and notable companies attached. In other words, what I'm laying out below is right up our alley, and if there is, indeed, something to this, I have the means to potentially get it made.
I also worked for the A&M athletic department - in the video lab (now 12th Man Productions) - back in the 00's, and one summer a co-worker and I were given the exploratory task of potentially producing a history of A&M football documentary, which was ultimately scrapped due to time and cost. However, we ended up doing quite a bit of research that summer and eventually/randomly connected the dots between a series of events no one in the department had ever really pieced together before.
Now, I'm sure a good number of you know a great deal about aspects of these events, and might have even previously been aware of the entire picture here, but over the years, in telling this story to friends, family, and colleagues, I haven't met many Aggies who knew the story in this exact context; a story I think might have the potential to be a sweeping film, though whether or not that turns out to be the case is left to be seen...
THE PREMISE
- 1917 was Dana X. Bible's first full year as head football coach at Texas A&M. Coach Bible led A&M to an 8-0 record that season. But not only did they go unbeaten, they went went un-scored upon in those eight games as well, and were crowned Southwest Conference Champions. In other words, the 1917 Aggie football team was, in effect, perfect...
- 1917, however, also saw the United States' entry into World War I, with many Aggies joining the efforts by the end of the year. I'll let this excerpt from Texas Aggies Go to War: In Service of Their Country provide the pertinent details
- In 1918, with Bible and the varsity team members off to war, D.V. Graves took over in the interim and the junior varsity team filled in that season (going 6-1, and was scored on in three of those games).
- However, in 1919, Bible, along with the soldiers/A&M football players who hadn't yet graduated, returned from the war, and returned for the 1919 football season. Not only did they go 10-0 that season... they went un-scored upon yet again.
In short, Dana X. Bible went unbeaten and un-scored upon in 1917. In 1918, he literally went and won a war. Then, in 1919, he returned to A&M and went unbeaten and un-scored upon again.
Tell me that's not an amazing backdrop for a film.
Yet, films aren't about characters succeeding over and over and over again. They're about characters faced with obstacle after obstacle, who, more often than not, fail over and over again, until they finally succeed in the end. It's just that the story of a college football coach, along with a handful of his players, who dominate college football - go win a war - and then return to dominate college football once more, seems too good not to at least explore. There has to be something there worthy of a cinematic treatment; some kind of grander, deeper inner conflict; some kind of sacrifice or mission or loss underneath all that "perfection" that can be brought to the screen against such an incredible backdrop.
TITLE AND THEME
J.V. "Pinky" Wilson wrote the lyrics to the Aggie War Hymn in 1918 on the back of a letter from home while holed up in a trench during a battle in France. He later put the words to music before returning to the United States. Upon returning to Texas A&M in 1919, the song was frequently performed by a quartet that Wilson organized, called the "Cast-Iron Quartet." I don't yet know how, exactly, Wilson would tie into the events, but I'm sure there's a natural way to do it. Either way, that's the film's title...
"THE WAR HYMN"
A "hymn," obviously, is "a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer." It is written in praise or celebration of something. War, of course, is the opposite of celebration; it is chaos, the opposite of perfection. While I would never argue that war itself is "necessary," I feel like there's something worth exploring, thematically, in terms of "celebrating" the challenges and hardships in life; realizing that true perfection isn't about succeeding; rather, "perfection" is whatever series of experiences lead you to a greater understanding of self. In that sense, the title would ultimately have somewhat of double meaning. Not that the writing of the Aggie War Hymn would be any kind of major plot point - no one outside of A&M really cares about that - but it could be woven into a poignant thread or moment in the film.
THE PLOT
Ultimately, what I need to know is if there's a film-worthy war story buried somewhere in these events. These guys didn't need to have gone on a grand, Saving Private Ryan-esque mission, but there does need to have been some kind of tangible, cinema-worthy goal or mission or battle. It could even be multiple battles/missions that we cut back and forth between via our characters. Simply having a film where a football coach and football players go to war isn't enough. It's a nice hook, but there needs to be a lot more meat on the bone for this to ever have a chance.
In a perfect world, I'm envisioning something along these lines as the basic structure...
Act 1 = The 1917 season. We're dropped into the middle or toward the end of the season, we meet Coach Bible, we meet the notable players, characters, etc., and see their utterly perfect season come to a rousing end.
Act 2 = World War I comes calling. Coach Bible & crew accept their calling, go through their respective training, then off to fight the war. Their personal/tactical missions take us all the way through Act Three. During this time, we're also cutting back home every so often and seeing what efforts and sacrifices are being made in College Station, be they school wide or personal plights - that in some way are tied to the characters fighting the war (potential girlfriends, wives, parents, teachers, etc.).
Act 3 = Our characters win the war (i.e. their respective missions) and return to College Station as changed men. For those who have seen Braveheart, if you recall the final scene of that film, after Wallace's death, all the Scots are there on the battlefield, waiting to pay homage to England. Except Robert the Bruce convinces the Scots to fight the English instead. We don't see the fight - just the Scots charging at the camera in slow motion - as Wallace's voice over tells us they won their freedom. I would do something similar here. We don't actually need to see the 1919 season. We simply see them strapping in and gearing up, then, via some kind of voice over or post script - as they charge field - we're told that they went undefeated and un-scored upon yet again. Only this time, because of their journey in the war, it's clear that being "perfect" now has some kind of newer, deeper meaning for them.
QUESTIONS / RESEARCH
All of that said, NONE of this works if the war aspects these specific characters went through were relatively uneventful, or were without their larger challenges. If that does happen to be the case - if their respective war efforts don't stand out in some notable way (and by "notable," I'm speaking cinematically as, of course, all of these men were more than "notable" in their efforts) - the question then becomes, should a composite football player/soldier character be created, and should he be placed in a more "important" tactical mission/battle, as long as it honors the "spirit" of what these guys generally did? At this point, my honest answer is I don't know. From a creative standpoint, I certainly see the advantages. But from an accuracy standpoint, I can already hear the outcry.
Other questions worth considering...
- Is Dana X. Bible the main character? Is it a player/solider instead? Is it a combination; a group of men?
(Ultimately, I feel like this will be decided naturally should additional info be found.)
- I know there were plenty of non-football-player Aggies in the war as well. Would they factor in? If so, how?
(Films like this need a fairly narrow focus - it can't just be "Aggies in World War I: The Movie," so it would take something monumental or truly organic to be woven in, if not football team related.)
- What was going on in College Station during this time?
- Could the horrific flu pandemic of 1918 factor into the drama back home somehow?
(For the record, the book I linked to above, Texas Aggies Go to War: In Service of Their Country, goes into some detail about a lot of this. Again, I just haven't yet fully submerged myself in all that.)
Right now, I simply don't have the time to go tracking down any additional details. But if certain threads were to start presenting themselves, and this story truly does begin to show itself as one that just has to be told, I can eventually start making the time. Right now it's just in this weird limbo stage where, frankly, it's going to take an effort like this to potentially point me in the right direction.
That said, I'm NOT asking anyone to go spend hours at the library or anything like that. I'm simply saying, if any of you guys already happen to know any details about this time period as it pertains to these events - or want to do some online research/digging to see if there's anything out there that might give us an idea of what, exactly, any of these people did during the war (where they were stationed, the battles they fought, etc.) that kind of info could very well end up unlocking this whole thing. That, and any character, plot, structure ideas are of course welcome as well. Who knows, I might have the structure all wrong, or there's some gaping opportunity or idea I'm completely missing. In other words, let's just play this by ear and see where it takes us, if anywhere.
IN CONCLUSION
There simply may not be enough info out there to truly figure any of this out in a meaningful way. Some bits and pieces might be unearthed, but not enough to really move forward in any tangible way, and this whole thing falls by the wayside. Conversely, a treasure trove of information could be unearthed, but then this ends up having the makings of the most expensive film ever made, and the whole thing is simply untenable. All I know is that it could still be fun to arrive at either of those conclusions, if not the perfect middle ground that sees an actual script from this someday in the relatively near future.
Again, I'm fairly busy right now, wrapping up writing another project, and might only be able to chime in here and there over the next few days, but I'll do my best. Also, we're on no kind of timetable here. I've had this story in my back pocket for 15 years. So what's another few months, or even years?
That said, have it, and let me know what you guys think.
Thanks!
That, and I own a production company here in Los Angeles, founded with three other industry friends, and our speciality is optioning the rights to books and magazine articles (really, basically any IP - podcasts and life rights as well) and turning them into films or television series. Our company is still relatively new to the game, but we have a lot of exciting projects in development with some big names and notable companies attached. In other words, what I'm laying out below is right up our alley, and if there is, indeed, something to this, I have the means to potentially get it made.
I also worked for the A&M athletic department - in the video lab (now 12th Man Productions) - back in the 00's, and one summer a co-worker and I were given the exploratory task of potentially producing a history of A&M football documentary, which was ultimately scrapped due to time and cost. However, we ended up doing quite a bit of research that summer and eventually/randomly connected the dots between a series of events no one in the department had ever really pieced together before.
Now, I'm sure a good number of you know a great deal about aspects of these events, and might have even previously been aware of the entire picture here, but over the years, in telling this story to friends, family, and colleagues, I haven't met many Aggies who knew the story in this exact context; a story I think might have the potential to be a sweeping film, though whether or not that turns out to be the case is left to be seen...
THE PREMISE
- 1917 was Dana X. Bible's first full year as head football coach at Texas A&M. Coach Bible led A&M to an 8-0 record that season. But not only did they go unbeaten, they went went un-scored upon in those eight games as well, and were crowned Southwest Conference Champions. In other words, the 1917 Aggie football team was, in effect, perfect...
- 1917, however, also saw the United States' entry into World War I, with many Aggies joining the efforts by the end of the year. I'll let this excerpt from Texas Aggies Go to War: In Service of Their Country provide the pertinent details
Quote:
In addition to the commissioning of the class of 1917 at Leon Springs in June, former students, undergraduates, and some faculty now entered service in large numbers. Among those who left the campus to go to war in 1917 were Isaac S. "Ike" Ashburn, secretary to the board of directors, who left his duties at the college to serve as a major with the AEF. Dana X. Bible, who had come to A&M as head football coach in 1917, resigned after the close of one of A&M's most successful seasons to become a fighter pilot. By Christmas of 1917, virtually all of the members of that championship team were in the army. Coach Bible completed aviation ground school in Austin, earned his wings at Love Field in Dallas, and became a U.S. Air Service pursuit pilot in the 22nd Aero Squadron of the First French Army. Team members who entered the service included Jack Mahan, Roswell "Little Hig" Higginbotham, Tim Grisenbeck, Scotty Alexander, and Kyle "Slippery" Elam.
- In 1918, with Bible and the varsity team members off to war, D.V. Graves took over in the interim and the junior varsity team filled in that season (going 6-1, and was scored on in three of those games).
- However, in 1919, Bible, along with the soldiers/A&M football players who hadn't yet graduated, returned from the war, and returned for the 1919 football season. Not only did they go 10-0 that season... they went un-scored upon yet again.
In short, Dana X. Bible went unbeaten and un-scored upon in 1917. In 1918, he literally went and won a war. Then, in 1919, he returned to A&M and went unbeaten and un-scored upon again.
Tell me that's not an amazing backdrop for a film.
Yet, films aren't about characters succeeding over and over and over again. They're about characters faced with obstacle after obstacle, who, more often than not, fail over and over again, until they finally succeed in the end. It's just that the story of a college football coach, along with a handful of his players, who dominate college football - go win a war - and then return to dominate college football once more, seems too good not to at least explore. There has to be something there worthy of a cinematic treatment; some kind of grander, deeper inner conflict; some kind of sacrifice or mission or loss underneath all that "perfection" that can be brought to the screen against such an incredible backdrop.
TITLE AND THEME
J.V. "Pinky" Wilson wrote the lyrics to the Aggie War Hymn in 1918 on the back of a letter from home while holed up in a trench during a battle in France. He later put the words to music before returning to the United States. Upon returning to Texas A&M in 1919, the song was frequently performed by a quartet that Wilson organized, called the "Cast-Iron Quartet." I don't yet know how, exactly, Wilson would tie into the events, but I'm sure there's a natural way to do it. Either way, that's the film's title...
"THE WAR HYMN"
A "hymn," obviously, is "a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer." It is written in praise or celebration of something. War, of course, is the opposite of celebration; it is chaos, the opposite of perfection. While I would never argue that war itself is "necessary," I feel like there's something worth exploring, thematically, in terms of "celebrating" the challenges and hardships in life; realizing that true perfection isn't about succeeding; rather, "perfection" is whatever series of experiences lead you to a greater understanding of self. In that sense, the title would ultimately have somewhat of double meaning. Not that the writing of the Aggie War Hymn would be any kind of major plot point - no one outside of A&M really cares about that - but it could be woven into a poignant thread or moment in the film.
THE PLOT
Ultimately, what I need to know is if there's a film-worthy war story buried somewhere in these events. These guys didn't need to have gone on a grand, Saving Private Ryan-esque mission, but there does need to have been some kind of tangible, cinema-worthy goal or mission or battle. It could even be multiple battles/missions that we cut back and forth between via our characters. Simply having a film where a football coach and football players go to war isn't enough. It's a nice hook, but there needs to be a lot more meat on the bone for this to ever have a chance.
In a perfect world, I'm envisioning something along these lines as the basic structure...
Act 1 = The 1917 season. We're dropped into the middle or toward the end of the season, we meet Coach Bible, we meet the notable players, characters, etc., and see their utterly perfect season come to a rousing end.
Act 2 = World War I comes calling. Coach Bible & crew accept their calling, go through their respective training, then off to fight the war. Their personal/tactical missions take us all the way through Act Three. During this time, we're also cutting back home every so often and seeing what efforts and sacrifices are being made in College Station, be they school wide or personal plights - that in some way are tied to the characters fighting the war (potential girlfriends, wives, parents, teachers, etc.).
Act 3 = Our characters win the war (i.e. their respective missions) and return to College Station as changed men. For those who have seen Braveheart, if you recall the final scene of that film, after Wallace's death, all the Scots are there on the battlefield, waiting to pay homage to England. Except Robert the Bruce convinces the Scots to fight the English instead. We don't see the fight - just the Scots charging at the camera in slow motion - as Wallace's voice over tells us they won their freedom. I would do something similar here. We don't actually need to see the 1919 season. We simply see them strapping in and gearing up, then, via some kind of voice over or post script - as they charge field - we're told that they went undefeated and un-scored upon yet again. Only this time, because of their journey in the war, it's clear that being "perfect" now has some kind of newer, deeper meaning for them.
QUESTIONS / RESEARCH
All of that said, NONE of this works if the war aspects these specific characters went through were relatively uneventful, or were without their larger challenges. If that does happen to be the case - if their respective war efforts don't stand out in some notable way (and by "notable," I'm speaking cinematically as, of course, all of these men were more than "notable" in their efforts) - the question then becomes, should a composite football player/soldier character be created, and should he be placed in a more "important" tactical mission/battle, as long as it honors the "spirit" of what these guys generally did? At this point, my honest answer is I don't know. From a creative standpoint, I certainly see the advantages. But from an accuracy standpoint, I can already hear the outcry.
Other questions worth considering...
- Is Dana X. Bible the main character? Is it a player/solider instead? Is it a combination; a group of men?
(Ultimately, I feel like this will be decided naturally should additional info be found.)
- I know there were plenty of non-football-player Aggies in the war as well. Would they factor in? If so, how?
(Films like this need a fairly narrow focus - it can't just be "Aggies in World War I: The Movie," so it would take something monumental or truly organic to be woven in, if not football team related.)
- What was going on in College Station during this time?
- Could the horrific flu pandemic of 1918 factor into the drama back home somehow?
(For the record, the book I linked to above, Texas Aggies Go to War: In Service of Their Country, goes into some detail about a lot of this. Again, I just haven't yet fully submerged myself in all that.)
Right now, I simply don't have the time to go tracking down any additional details. But if certain threads were to start presenting themselves, and this story truly does begin to show itself as one that just has to be told, I can eventually start making the time. Right now it's just in this weird limbo stage where, frankly, it's going to take an effort like this to potentially point me in the right direction.
That said, I'm NOT asking anyone to go spend hours at the library or anything like that. I'm simply saying, if any of you guys already happen to know any details about this time period as it pertains to these events - or want to do some online research/digging to see if there's anything out there that might give us an idea of what, exactly, any of these people did during the war (where they were stationed, the battles they fought, etc.) that kind of info could very well end up unlocking this whole thing. That, and any character, plot, structure ideas are of course welcome as well. Who knows, I might have the structure all wrong, or there's some gaping opportunity or idea I'm completely missing. In other words, let's just play this by ear and see where it takes us, if anywhere.
IN CONCLUSION
There simply may not be enough info out there to truly figure any of this out in a meaningful way. Some bits and pieces might be unearthed, but not enough to really move forward in any tangible way, and this whole thing falls by the wayside. Conversely, a treasure trove of information could be unearthed, but then this ends up having the makings of the most expensive film ever made, and the whole thing is simply untenable. All I know is that it could still be fun to arrive at either of those conclusions, if not the perfect middle ground that sees an actual script from this someday in the relatively near future.
Again, I'm fairly busy right now, wrapping up writing another project, and might only be able to chime in here and there over the next few days, but I'll do my best. Also, we're on no kind of timetable here. I've had this story in my back pocket for 15 years. So what's another few months, or even years?
That said, have it, and let me know what you guys think.
Thanks!