My guest today is Marissa Hill. Now, she was an NCAA volleyball player who built a career in fashion, film, and media at Shade Studios in New York City. She is the host and executive producer of Shade TV, a destination for film reviews, sneaker, and hype culture coverage, pop culture commentary. It It's incredible. And I believe I I think the stat was the largest female sneaker creator on planet Earth. I'm really excited.
Marissa, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me, Nate. This is uh I mean I will say I went on and checked I think we uh we got introduced and I was like, "Oh my gosh, from a YouTube perspective, you have half a million YouTube subscribers or over half a million YouTube subscribers." Absolutely incredible. Did I get the stat right? Are you the largest female female sneaker YouTuber?
And I guess you could say Snapchat, too. I have over a million followers on Snapchat. Wow. you. See, you're trendy like getting into I haven't dipped into Snapchat yet. I'm like still I guess I'm unk according to the young guns.
It's the it's the younger audience. Yeah, I got my my babies over there on on Snap that follow me. I love that. Well, the reason we're talking not even I mean if you're watching the show, you see all the different sneakers that you have. Uh, obviously you have built an incredible following when it comes to sneakers, but we're not just talking sneakers when we talk about what's coming to Southbend, Indiana this weekend. Talk to me about what we can expect from the Dynasty Sports Film Festival.
Yeah. So, I'll start with before what you were kind of insinuating, why Southbend, uh, and how I came up with the concept and the idea for the film festival. So, fast forward back to last year. I was actually in Southbend for a conference called Idea Week that I was keynote speaking at. Have you been to Idea Week? I was I was a panelist last year on one of their days.
We were panelists and we missed each other, Nate. How crazy is that? Okay. What did you think of Idea Week? I loved it. I mean, clearly I loved it so much that I got this amazing idea to host a sports film festival there, which Chris Premiere, right?
I was like, "Chris, this this is your your biggest story that you have right now." Like, this concept stemmed from him giving me a tour of downtown Southbend. So, I have a media outlet with film critics. We travel. We go to all the major film festivals all over the world. And when I was just getting this tour of Southbend, I realized I'm like, "Oh my gosh, the venues here are incredible.
Everything is in walking distance." And that's when I just kind of spilled it out. I was like, "I need I need to do a film festival here." I'm signed with Octagon as well, which is one of the top three sports agencies. I was kind of like rumaging through what I've seen at film festivals, what they're lacking. And one of the things I recognize is that sports type of content gets kind of pushed to the bottom.
They don't get amplified as much as they should be. It kind of gets lost in the mix. And so that's where I brought this to the table where I'm like, we need to put together a sports centric film festival. there's a huge audience for it that hasn't been tapped into. I feel like we definitely see a lot of great films at these indie film festivals, but I do think because there's so much content to choose from, the sports niche is so small and the audiences kind of just don't really gravitate as much towards that type of content when they have so much other stuff to choose from. So, that's where I really wanted to bring this focus to sports driven content because there's so much of it.
You've got LeBron James, Steph Curry, Sue Bird, all of these athletes who now have their production hubs. It's like, who wants to be a sports broadcaster now? I want to have my own production company. I want to create my own content. And they really have no place to get amplified and to be rewarded for that content. So, that's where the idea came from.
But Southbend specifically, what I love about it, it has a small town kind of charm. Reminds me a bit of Sundance, actually, when it first started with Robert Redford. And also just the sports richness in Indiana. I mean, you've got Rudy, you've got Hooers, Notre Dame is just like the most impeccable backdrop to have in South Bed, you know, for a festival like this. It has such a huge like athletic driven audience that eats, sleeps, and breathes sports. So, it's like this this is where it has to be.
Yeah. Okay. Wait, where are you from originally? So, I was originally born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I grew up after I was 10 in Washington State. Then I moved to um all over the world essentially, but Okay.
I I dabbled everywhere. Was last year at week your first time in Indiana? So, that not my first time in Indiana. So, I actually have family in Indiana. I grew up going to Indiana for summers. My grandfather was uh born in Ohio, but his family basically relocated to Indiana.
So, we would actually drive from New Mexico. I remember this drive because it was so long, but we would drive from New Mexico every single summer to Indiana. And I remember it's where I learned how to fish. Uh I built my first tent out there. That's where I first actually started playing volleyball and I fell in love with the game of volleyball before I decided to play in college. But I mean, Indiana definitely has a spot and a place in my heart because that's where a huge portion of my family lives.
Yeah. Well, one I feel like that is such a common thread. Like I think everyone has a cousin that's from Indiana. Like it's just like the closet thing. Yeah. Right.
I have I've met Yeah. Yeah. But but going back to I guess your other question is what can people expect right at the film festival? So, like you stated earlier, it's from October 22nd to the 25th. We've got programming throughout each of those days. The first day we're opening up with an incredible Lou Holtz documentary called 60 Minutes to Play in a Lifetime to Remember.
Uh we really wanted to open the festival, his first inaugural year with something special and with the passing of Lou Holtz, we really wanted to give a nice tribute to him and the great coach that he was and he had such a huge impact in the area, specifically Southbend. So I mean it was just a no-brainer to bring this film on board, but to also have it be the opening uh film. We have Reggie Brooks coming who is a part of Holtz's Heroes. He's gonna be on the panel. He's a huge part of Notre Dame as well. I mean, all American, one of the best running backs and uh he definitely is super excited to just bring that community and the alumni to really just take in this film.
And it's it's a great film. I mean, Lou is absolutely hilarious. I just had such a a fun time when I screened this. And we're also bringing in Ted Mandel who is a professor at Notre Dame uh for film and uh he's going to be on the panel as well. But just super talented Ted and I just am so uh amazed at the the film that he's produced. And then for Friday, we've got lots of shorts, category films that we're showcasing, feature films, documentary films.
Um we're really excited to be bringing the first five. So, for those uh Bob Knight fans, this is like an incredible story on him and his first team at IU. We're really excited also to have um Angelo out to moderate. So, Angelo Pizza is um definitely going to have a great time moderating. John Lcowski and a couple other just really great players um that uh played under him. So, that's going to be a great panel.
And then we are actually the uh first in Southbend to be premiering I Play Rocky. Uh one of the best films that I actually saw while I was um at TIFF and uh I was just like this is this is something I have to bring to Southbend. Like we need to premiere this early. So you're going to get what is I Play Rocky? So, I play Rocky is about the story of Sylvester Stallone and how he was able to create, write, and put together the film itself. So, it's his whole background story.
It's like a film about a film. Well done. It's a film about a film, but it's it's very entertaining. If you're a Rocky fan, like I highly recommend checking it out. It it was like one of the best films I screened at TIFF this year. Uh, and then, you know, Saturday is going to be a great fun-filled day as well.
We are going to be screening the director's cut of Hooers and uh it's the 40th anniversary if you can believe. I'm just like I don't know where time's gone. Don't want to age myself but it is the 40th anniversary of Hooers and uh we are going to have some amazing just people out for that specifically the writer and director. So Angela will be back again with us uh with the director David Onspa. So um not a lot of people have seen the director's cut yet. So this is technically kind of like the biggest premiere for it.
I feel like when I had Angelo on, he said it was like the original movie was like 216 or something like that and they had to get it below two hours. So there's going to be a decent chunk of like extra half an hour extra. But it's it's always fun to see the director's cut of how they want the story going and if it kind of changes like your thought process on the film itself. I have yet to see it. Uh I'm saving to watch the director's cuts uh there live, but I'm so excited to have both Angelo and David with us to, you know, really talk about the film. Uh we're hoping to also have an actor player uh who was in Hooers be on the panel as well.
Yeah. So that could be a nice little surprise. But again, it's Do you know what's cool about that? I believe again there were obviously Gene Hackman and a few other like real actors, but a lot if not all of the players were like Indiana's best high school basketball players at the time. Yeah. So like I remember there were kids from like Warsaw and like other schools from around I mean I don't remember this cuz I was not porn but like I remember hearing about this in my mom's tummy.
Yes. Right. But they talk about how like the best high school basketball players from around the state of Indiana were like cast into this movie which is so cool and which I love too because I feel like it makes it so much more realistic sometimes when you're not necessarily a seasoned actor. And of course if you already know how to play the game of basketball like it's going to look way more natural than having to train an actor to be, you know, this iconic high skill level player. Yeah. when it's just like I love it because there's probably like high school basketball players who were really good then that are now like a doctor or a lawyer or a dentist or whatever and are like get a check for like 27 cents every like two weeks when Hallmark plays it, you know?
Like I love that. That's so funny. That's such a great conversation starter, right? It's like you're a doctor and you're meeting somebody for the first time. Did you know I was in Hooers? Yeah.
Right now, this is what I think at first for people from Indiana, if they look at this, they're like, "Huh, a film festival about sport in the state of Indiana, like that's super interesting." But if you really look back through some of the most iconic sports movies from Right, Hooers, Rudy, Breaking Away, like there are a lot of very significant a deep cut one, I like to say. Yeah. Right. uh we don't ball over here, but when you think about it, it's like Indiana is a pretty significant uh player when it comes to sports film as well as just sports in general. Now, today you think about, you know, the Pacers obviously make a run to the NBA finals.
Caitlin Clark is like the large like the biggest thing when it comes to all things, you know, female sports. It's incredible. Also, I don't know if this is a poll for me, but like the Indianapolis 500 is the largest single day sporting event in the world. It's like the most iconic sports thing I would say there is on the planet. So, when you were putting this together, like why did it just make sense to host it in South Bend and what are all the venues and places you're going to be activating across that region, getting people uh plugged into the festival? Okay.
So, you're already hitting like all the specific points for our beer garden, which we'll be hosting on the grid iron downtown. That's going to actually be free admission. So, even if you don't have a film badge or a ticket to a film, you can stop by because we're going to have TVs outside where you can watch any and every sports. It's going to be the like heaviest sports weekend I think I've seen. It's kind of a specific space or is it So, the grid iron is outside. It's on the football like it's a football field essentially outside.
Oh, yeah. Across um from the Morris Performing Arts Center. Yes. Do you know what I'm talking about? I'm like looking it up on the app. Yeah, it's so cool.
It was the old um football team. Yeah. And uh I wish we talk about that. We don't have to talk about that. I was like I wish it was still there. They moved that to Atlanta unfortunately.
Yes. This is like the plaza that's right there. It's like a half football field basically. Yes. Yeah. So I mean like you're talking about Tallaladega um Indie like the they're all happening this weekend.
We've got, you know, NBA games going on, WNBA games going on, so many races going on with F1 as well. So, we just really wanted to host a place in between all of our venues for people to kind of just relax, hang out, go catch some live sports because live sports are also very important to us. We want to incorporate that as much as we can into the films that we're showcasing as well as some of the anniversary screenings that we're showcasing because it's all in it's all connected. I mean, if you want to go catch a a live game, like, of course, like, go take a break, go catch something, you know, on one of our TVs, but then you can head back to one of our venues and and catch a film in between uh those break sessions. But we're going to be at the Morris Performing Arts Center. So, super excited to use that venue.
It's absolutely beautiful, especially with like the new renovations that they've made inside. Uh we're going to be screening at City Church next to the Tribune, uh which we're super excited for that location as well. It's It's such a cool space. Uh we also will be at the Civic, um which is also just walking distance to where everything is. Uh and then we also are going to be at the Bendix, which is a great location. I I know there's some history there.
It used to be the main kind of hub for wrestling uh and things like that, which I kind of love that there's like a little bit of sports history in it. Ted Mandel actually told me he used to do some films in there for the wrestlers way back when. Uh so I do kind of love that heritage where you know we're now going to be showcasing really fun sports films uh in there. Uh we're also going to be the first film festival this year to be showcasing the greatest um which is Michael B. Jordan's new show on Muhammad Ali and this is the first to to be shown in Indiana. It's the first uh to be shown at any film festival which we are super excited to have that announcement made.
H how do you this is like more of a tactical question but how do you get the director's cut of hers like all of these insane firsttime films? Like how do you even like start to build the relationships or like call the people or talk to them to like get them to say, "Yeah, I will put my creativity on display for you up in Southbend." Yeah. I mean, this is uh this is different for everyone and I would say that we have a very unusually incredible lineup for a first year festival. This is not usual. I actually, you know, in doing my research for a lot of the film festivals before I jumped on board of even taking on this task was a lot of film festivals honestly have terrible programming.
Um, I didn't want to do this if I couldn't get the programming to be honest with you. Programming comes first. I want to make sure those who are attending this film festival are enjoying themselves and they leave thinking, "Wow, I can't believe we had access to these films, to these shows first before anyone else." Uh, and for me, I've definitely have the background. and I've been, you know, creating content around movies and films for the past uh years and you build those relationships. So, I know the studios, I know the PR teams, you know, this is definitely something I wouldn't have jumped on if I didn't have that background.
Uh, it's very hard if you if you don't have those relationships. Um, it's it's pretty crazy. Um, strangely enough, this is going to be an even crazier uh story for you, but I was actually at church, um, and my pastor when I was giving a hug hug by and he was asking me how Tiff was. I was like, "Oh, yeah, it was great. I just saw, you know, this movie I play Rocky is probably my favorite." And he was like, "Oh, really?"
He's like, "Because one of the producers is right there." And I was just like, "Huh?" And he's like, "Go catch him right now, Marissa. you got to go say hi to him. And little did I know like my pastor was on set while they were filming it here in Jersey. I was just like blown away.
But sometimes, you know, too, like I feel like the universe just, you know, when you when you need something or you're asking for something, I feel like it just kind of throws it your way. But that's kind of how that conversation started. It's different for every film, every series, you know, that we've brought on. Um, but I just think that, you know, I've also created such a great team. uh Octagon's production team which is the agency I'm signed with uh they are have been a huge part of this um ex Amazon as well. So uh super lucky to have them on board helping us with this project.
This is something they've never done before and so you know it's new territory for all of us but we have just been like super ecstatic at the progress. We can't wait to make this bigger from you know the next year and the next year after. This is just kind of the start. Yeah. Two more questions for you uh relative to to specifically uh the festival. One, who were the partners across the region that really helped you bring this thing to life?
Uh obviously, you know, being out on the east coast and like having some experience coming to South Bend, but you need like people blocking and tackling in South Bend to help bring this thing to life. Oh yeah. If I had not met Chris Premiere, like there there is no way we would have been able to make this happen. So Chris, uh, as you may know, started the Momentum Hub idea week. Uh, I like to call him the mayor of Southbend. I remember him whipping out a key to put some barriers down the road, and I was just like, we would never be able to do this in New York, Chris.
Like, how are you doing this right now? Uh, and then I realized like he just is so well connected to everyone. Um, and honestly like the connections that we've made, a lot of them have actually stemmed from Chris. Uh, and Chris introduced us to Jeff over at Visit Southbend. Jeff has been absolutely incredible with just introductions to all of the the local uh retail stores, restaurants in the area. Um, just connecting us with people over at Notre Dame as well.
Super helpful with that. Um, also downtown Southbend, Willow and Curi on their team, they have been so generous and helping us with like printing posters, helping display them in the area, helping us just kind of conceptualize good ideas that, you know, will help the community come out to support and want to attend the film festival. Uh, Ted Mandelle has also been like a huge factor in this. He has really introduced us to all the different professors within Notre Dame's campus. They've been super helpful. Also working with Rally.
Rally is absolutely amazing. They've introduced us to a lot of the athletes who we're hoping actually to have a huge involvement with for the film festival. Uh so lots of different partners in different regions, different areas, but you know, all helping us in different types of ways, but everybody just in general in South Ben is so kind. I mean, coming from New York, most people know New Yorkers. It's just, you know, a little different out here. Uh yeah, I will say it.
Uh so the South Bend City Charm is definitely so refreshing to go out there and recognizing that so many people just want to help you succeed. Uh and that's a huge part and a huge component as to what's you know making this festival so successful is that everybody is just so helpful there and they they really do want to see success. Yeah. I would say like the two things I could like kind of put a bow on that is Indiana from top to bottom whether it's Indianapolis, Evansville or South Bend, Fort Wayne, all over the state. Like it is truly a great place to host your thing cuz like for a week like what you care about we're going to care about. Like right now it's like you're talking sneakers, you're talking sports, film, like all the stuff like I forgot one of the locations Nate for Windsfield.
Uh we're hosting the 20th anniversary of Cars on Sunday. So that's going to be our family day. Let's go. Yeah. Yes. That's fun.
Great film. Underrated film. Cars is electric. Um, but like I talk about hosting it like I mean we are just so in it because obviously we're Indiana, but like people from that I meet from all across the country do genuinely love hosting their events here. The piece to where Hoosiers also have to show up is by showing up, right? like getting tickets, going out there, like giving you guys like an audience there to experience this.
So, how can Hoosiers or people from around get plugged in uh buy tickets, do whatever they have to do to actually, you know, like come out and support the event? Yeah, I mean, we have three different passes. Uh so, whatever works for you. We also are selling uh individual tickets. So, if you don't feel like you can actually attend the film festival for all four days, that's okay. We want to also give you the option to just buy a ticket, buy each film.
Again, we are having kind of this amazing family day. So, if you are somebody with a family and maybe you can't really attend some of the other screenings, we've kind of reserved that Sunday as a special family day for you to attend and you can buy individual tickets for that. Uh but again, uh the beer garden is also free. So happy to have as many of the locals show up. Uh you can watch any of your sports uh live in that space, which we're really excited about. We're also hoping to loop in some yoga sessions, uh some other workout type of sessions in between.
So, if you feel like you want to be sporty and, you know, build up a sweat in between some of these films, uh, we're definitely giving that, uh, free access to those who have passes to the film festival as a nice fun option. Um, but yeah, I mean, I think, uh, we've definitely got a lot lot of different variations and again, Dynasty Sports Film Festival is our website, so you can look at our programming there as well for those four days and uh, kind of just pick what suits you. Um if that is a single day ticket or a day pass or a 4-day pass, it's up to you. But yeah, we would just love the support of the community. It's really important to us to showcase that, you know, Southbend really can hold down a sports film festival like this and we really want to bring this back next year. So, uh as much support as we can get from the community showing up that we can showcase, we're going to have huge content creators out there as well helping to promote this.
Um, we've invited some very large content creators from the region, but also outside of the region, which we're super stoked about. So, they'll be promoting uh Southbend as much as they possibly can. I love it. Yeah. I was just like looking through the whole schedule and saying if you were like a diehard Indiana person, you've got to go see the opening uh 60 Minutes to Play and A Lifetime to Remember, kind of the Lou Holtz tribute. You've got to go see the 40th anniversary director's cut.
We're talking unseen footage from Hooers going to be uh in South Bend on Saturday the 24th. Then you have the first five which is all about Bob Knight's very first recruiting class at IU. And then if you're just like a lover of fun, the 20th anniversary of cars at Four Windsfield, like out on a baseball field. You can't beat that. It was a pleasure getting to learn uh more about the festival. Super excited.
We're going to see that what this Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday is family day. We love it. We want to see more cool things like this being built here uh and and brought to the state of Indiana. So, get out there, go support it. Uh I love it. It was it was a pleasure.
If people want to learn more about you or connect, how can they do that? We've got Instagram, we've got an ex account, we've got Tik Tok, we've got YouTube, everything set up um at Dynasty Sports Film Festival. So, we've got a website as well. Feel free to contact me on any of the social platforms. I'm pretty active uh on all of them. And again, it's October 22nd to the 25th, and I'm excited to meet all of you.
So, don't be shy. I'm going to be roaming around. I love it. Amazing. We'll see you out there. Thanks so much, Nate.