SVG Sit-Down: ESPN’s Derek Mobley on Prepping for First-Ever Divisional Playoff Game on ESPN/ABC

‘Our philosophy was, let’s do a robust show every week so that, by the playoffs, we’re just doing our normal show.’

Tomorrow, ESPN will produce its first-ever NFL Divisional Playoff game, and, for Derek Mobley, in his first season directing Monday Night Football, it marks the conclusion of an exciting year transitioning from directing college football (including 15 National Championship games) and bringing a new look and feel to ESPN NFL coverage, alongside producer Steve Ackels and the rest of the production team. Mobley spent a few minutes discussing the playoff production with SVG this week as he prepares to sit on the front bench of NEP EN2 production unit, which he has called home all season.

What are you looking forward in this matchup?
This is ESPN’s and ABC’s first Divisional Playoff game so that is very exciting for everyone in the company. We’re also excited about the matchup with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, who are a huge story this year and arguably the best team in the NFL. And then there are the Texans with all the rookies who are super-fun to watch. I think it’s going to be a fun game to watch.

You’ve directed a lot of big games over the years. What is your directing philosophy?
It’s not breaking news, but I guess my philosophy is just to make sure you document the game and have the live picture, the replay, and everything else you want to see. And then I want to have the pictures of what [announcers] Joe [Buck] and Troy [Aikman] are talking about and document all the plays and all the stuff that happens in the game. We add whatever we can on top of that in terms of pictures or color.

ESPN’s Derek Mobley: “There are few shows that are blessed with the number of resources that we have.”

Are there any new bells or whistles from a production standpoint?
Our philosophy going into this season was, let’s do a big, robust show every week so that, by the time we get to the playoffs, we’re just doing our normal show. The isos are the same, the replays are the same, but we did add one hard camera for the playoffs for reaction shots. We also have Fletcher robotic cameras down the sidelines to cover each sideline. Sony is letting us test out a new 4K camera CCU that shoots at 4X speed. Those won’t be additional cameras; they will just replace previous 6X HD cameras. We’re excited about those cameras [for replays] because we can go a little bit tighter or go wider so we don’t miss something and can have the best of both worlds.

This is your first season directing and working with Buck and Aikman. How has the season gone in terms of getting the rhythm down?
When I got put on the project, I worked almost every day to get it to the right place we wanted, and it has been seven days a week with the season under way. Joe and Troy are fantastic; I think they are the best as they’ve been funny and insightful. Our producers are great as well. I did bring some of the crew from my college show and kept a lot of the great people that already worked on Monday Night Football. And we have a fantastic technical and operations crew that is super-experienced and fantastic.

We also have lots of people [working] in Bristol — tape operators, graphics operators, and telestration producers — and the Hawkeye replay operators are working from their houses. It’s not just the people here at the stadium and in the trucks.

How do you and the team juggle a show with so many resources and replays?
There are few shows that are blessed with the number of resources that we have. One thing for me is, when I watch TV, I don’t want to watch replays that are not super-slo-mo. I think we have 17 super-mo cameras here plus 10 UHD cameras for the different angles. There is UHD zoom, which you need to use only when it makes sense and you want the viewer at home to not notice it is a zoom. That is our philosophy: have the ability to do something, but, if you don’t do it, that’s fine.

How do you approach aerials?
Winged Vision provides our aerials as they have all season long. They are great as they are squared away and do a bunch of little extra things as well. Goodyear is sponsoring it so we’re super-appreciative to them as well. As for drones, we don’t have a live drone, but we will capture some [scenic shots] around Baltimore and the harbor.

You’ve done 15 college-football championship games, and those were massive shows as well. How do they differ from the playoff game?
The difference in college football is all the resources that are dedicated to the marching-band sections and the mascots, all the things that make college football great. When I did those shows, I was always hyper-focused on making sure we got all of that in.