Last Chance U boss talks filming parents and lessons he's learned from five seasons of junior college football

Indiewire

Director Greg Whiteley says exploring off-the-field stories, including players' upbringing, has helped differentiate Last Chance U. "There would be no show if we simply edited out every uncomfortable, offensive thing that was said or done," says Whiteley. "By that same token, the show is made better if we do everything we can as storytellers to try and give proper context to why a father may be behaving in a certain way why a player may be behaving a certain way, why a coach might have said something. The story becomes more interesting, not less, when you don’t treat those people like villains and antagonists in your movie script, but instead as real human beings whose stories are complicated and nuanced. If you honor that, I think the show becomes better, not worse." ALSO: How Oakland's Laney College is handling its newfound Netflix fame.