‘American Vandal’ creators on its future and esports show ‘Players’

nypost.com:

Paramount+), “Players” is a mockumentary similar to thier Netflix hit “American Vandal” (2017-2018). But where that series was a parody of the true-crime genre, “Players” pokes fun at sports documentaries.

It follows a fictional pro “League of Legends” esports team as they pursue their first championship — after years of just missing out — with star players “Creamcheese” (Misha Brooks), 27, and 17-year-old rookie “Organizm” (Da’Jour Jones).“Tony and I have always been fascinated with documentary and mockumentary filmmaking, but specifically sub genres of documentary like the sports doc,” Perrault told The Post. “We were coming off of ‘American Vandal’ and true crime, and we thought, ‘Is there a version we can do with our favorite documentary sub genre?'” Yacenda said that neither of them were entrenched in the world of esports, but as they learned more about it, they became interested in building a series around it.“Truthfully, there was just curiosity, like ‘I can’t believe they’re selling out the Staples Center with kids watching other kids play video games.’ That seems insane to us,” he said. “And we started doing some research.

And it clicked for me as a series when we were talking to these former pros … I’m like, ‘It’s not this super-technical video game show, it’s a show about the aging vet and the young hotshot rookie.’ It’s a classic story, but in this fresh new world, and in this mockumentary format.

I don’t think the story has been told quite like this.”Perrault said that as the two looked into this fast-growing world, they got ideas for “Players” — especially when they saw how young many of the stars are.  “There’s no character on the show that’s specifically based on one real life person.