Today we’d like to introduce you to Spencer Paysinger.
Spencer, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in South Central – Not “South LA”. I make that clarification known because outside influences are attempting to shed the South Central monicker for its historically negative connotations. Yet there are many people from the neighborhood doing good work to uplift the community that come from the very same South Central others are trying to rebrand.
So, I am from South Central, Los Angeles. I had the opportunity to attend Beverly Hills High School through a multi-cultural permit program. There I excelled at football which led me to accept a scholarship to the University of Oregon. During my time at Univ. of Oregon, I majored in Economics with a minor in Business Administration. On the field, I captained my team to our first undefeated season in school history but lost the 2011 BCS National Championship to Cam Newton’s Auburn Tigers.
The following year after going undrafted in the 2011 NFL Draft, I made the 53-man roster for the New York Giants and was part of the SuperBowl XLVI winning team my rookie year. I spent seven years playing in the NFL for the New York Giants, Miami Dolphins, and Carolina Panthers.
Every off day for those seven seasons I would see a movie each week to the point where I decided I wanted to learn the structure of writing films. Screenwriting became my hobby outside the rigors of football. I met my now producing partner, Dane Morck, through our mutual friend Schuylar Oordt on by bye week in 2016. I had been writing for 2-3 years now still learning the process. That first time meeting Dane, we started circling the idea of a high school story centered around my life living in South Central yet attending Beverly Hills High.
We took a few meetings during my last year and a half playing and after working with April Blair on the pilot of All American, I got home from the season on December 30th, 2017, and decided to retire to pursue my new dream of writing and directing films.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Yes and no. I still find myself in the throes of wanting to enjoy retiring from the NFL but that is often pushed aside to service my aspirations in the tv/film industry. The challenge I faced early on in my transition was the perception of an NFL player genuinely wanting to do the work in learning this new industry. Three months after retiring we were filming the pilot for All American, many believed I was attempting to have one foot in both worlds.
Today athletes like Lebron and Steph Curry have their own production companies but I knew as a fringe player in the NFL, there’s no attempting to manage two careers. I had accomplished and outgrew my dream of playing in the NFL so committing to something I wasn’t passionate about anymore was out of the question. I had seen the highs and low of the NFL and loved the overall experience but there was simply no way I could have gone back to playing after experiencing the making of All American.
Please tell us about Moore Street Productions.
Moore Street Productions is named after the street Dane lived on where we thought of the initial idea for All American. For two years, we would meet there to brainstorm, develop, and write various tv and film concepts . We specialize in using our collective experience in sports to tell unique stories. We’re less than a year old but have a few ideas currently in development.
Although our slate goes beyond sports, we believe being immersed in that culture for so many years, we have the access and ability to mine a wide range of new stories the industry has yet to see.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memories repeated every summer. My uncle Lynn would get me and my brother season passes to both Six Flags and Disneyland. Almost every weekend we would venture to one of the parks; sometimes splitting a day between both. Those days were spent standing in 2-3 hour lines, getting drenched by Tidal Wave at Six Flags and eating as many Disneyland churros as possible. I still believe there are few people that have rode the rides at Six Flags and Disneyland as much as me.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pysngr/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/pysngr
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/welcometomoorest/
Image Credit:
Photography collectively by Jelani Jenkins and Mikes Wallz
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