Kyle Opens his Gym

I want to give a huge congratulations to Kyle. This past weekend he celebrated the grand opening of his fitness center - No Excuses Athletics, located in Suwanee GA. We were there filming the excitement and emotion.

Go to www.noexcusesathletics.com to learn more.

Cody Black's MMA Debut

Alex did a great job and put together this video for Cody Black. Cody Black has been an old friend of Kyle and just fought in his first amateur battle at Wild Bill's in Duluth, GA. Check out this great MMA action!


Cody Black Amateur MMA Debut from Alexander Shofner on Vimeo.

Mr. Scott and Mrs. Anita Maynard

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of interviewing Kyle's parents. They have been a lot of help for us throughout this process and the ones we should thank for making Kyle the person he is today.

Update

After a few weeks of traveling and filming Kyle in Virginia for a speech, we are back in town for another week or so. Last weekend we were able to get the funny and refreshingly candid opinions of Rory and Adam Singer of the Hardcore Gym in Athens. They have been very good friends of Kyle's in the world of MMA and will be playing a larger role in preparing Kyle for his fight.

Last Weekend: UFC Champions

Along with Eddie Bravo, I forgot to mention that we got to interview three additional fighters: Cain Velasquez, Forrest Griffin, and Randy Couture.

Cain is currently undefeated with a 4-0 record. He is set to fight on the UFC 90 card coming up.

Forrest is the current light-heavy weight UFC Champion. Yeah. The Champion.

Randy "The Natural" Couture is a legend in UFC. He has been the champion 5 different times and in 2 different weight classes. He practically made the sport and is now set to fight Brock Lesnar in an upcoming fight.

GAEC Interview

I don't have any pictures from the interview yet, but on Tuesday we filmed one of their monthly meetings. We also got the opportunity to sit down and interview one of the head commissioners J. J. Biello . He brought up some very interesting points and was able to explain why the commission denied Kyle the license to fight MMA in Georgia. While this story is about Kyle's journey, we want to explain both sides of the situation and controversy. Maybe the commissioner is right. Maybe there are simply some things that some people just aren't able to do safely. Maybe Kyle doesn't have a chance at all, and maybe what he is doing could even be bad for the sport he loves...

Last Weekend: Eddie Bravo

Sorry everyone for the delay in updates. Last weekend we had a fantastic day and got to interview some great guys and some even better fighters. Eddie Bravo, a legend in brazillian jiu-jitsu was teaching a seminar at the Knuckle Up gym in Kennesaw. Kyle got to roll around with him and we scored a great interview.

Interview with Kyle Titus

Yesterday, we interviewed another one of Kyle Maynard's childhood friends. It is is pretty strange interviewing people who I have also known for very long periods in my life. Either way, we had another great interview experience.

Interview with Oblas

Yesterday we finished another interview with Dave Oblas. Oblas is a fight promoter in the Atlanta area and a goof friend of Kyle's. Thank you to Dave and his mother for letting us shoot.

Website is up!

The new official website is up and running! Please check it out and join our mailing list!

Got to www.aFightingChanceMovie.com

Interview with Coach Ramos

Today we interviewed Coach Ramos, Kyle's highschool wrestling coach. I want to take this chance to thank him for his time and efforts in helping with this project.

Website in development

We have our official website in development. Look for it in the coming weeks at

www.aFightingChanceMovie.com .

Now accepting intern applications!

We are now accepting applications for interns for the fall semester. If you are in the Atlanta area and are interested in video production, then shoot us an email at any of the contacts below.

Dockyard Productions LLC is a group of young filmmakers looking to take the industry by storm. We are not the stuffy, rigid production companies you have heard of, and we are looking for excited and talented interns to really think outside the box. We are inventing new ways to run this industry, because we believe that a big change is coming - and we really want smart, fun, and hardworking people to help us out.

Donate!

Hello everyone! We are about 1 week away from starting our interviews and are very excited about beginning the production phase. Thanks to PayPal we have set up an account so that we can now accept donations conveniently and securely directly from our website. Just click on the button to the right that says "Donate" and you can contribute directly to this wonderfully inspirational story.

We would also like to offer something in return for your generosity.

For donations of $25, your name or business will be featured in the special thanks section of our film.

For $50, you will receive a special credit in the film. This your chance to have your own IMDB.com film credit!

For $100, you will receive a credit and a signed copy of Kyle's New York Times bestselling novel, "No Excuses."

For $150 or more, you will receive all of the above as well as a DVD copy of the film, once it is released.

Thank you so much for all of your support!

Contacting Sponsors

Today we are focusing a lot of our efforts on contacting sponsors. If you know anyone that would love to be a part of this amazing story, then please tell them to email me at anytime. Thanks!

Short Subject Finished!

I have some great news! The short subject has just been completed and uploaded. You should see the link on the right side of this blog. Because we aren't using this for official promotional or commercial uses, we currently have it password protected (this is just to save ourselves until the movie is completed and all rights to media have been purchased.) However, if you would like to see it out of curiosity then please email one of us and we will gladly let you watch it. Hope you enjoy!

Preproduction Update

We are right in the heart of preproduction and really moving forward to start principle shooting in the next few weeks. Right now we are acquiring all of the equipment that we will need and are beginning to contact the important people in Kyle's life for interviews. We are also on schedule to release the trailer this evening so stay tuned!

Almost done

The trailer is coming along great! Look for the full trailer tomorrow evening.

Short Subject Coming Soon

We have only been live on the web for a few hours but I would like to announce that a trailer is coming soon. Look for it in a few days!

Kyle on PBS

Kyle on HBO

The Official Blog

This is the official blog for the documentary, "A Fighting Chance." We, the filmmakers, will be updating the progress as we set out on this journey to tell the unbelievable story of one young man. Feel free to post any questions, leave any comments (as long as they are appropriate of course), and email us. We will do our best to respond. Thank you!