This short documentary highlights a day in the life of UFC fighter and The Ultimate Fighter contestant Nick Ring. Nick was Calgary’s first fighter to ever get a UFC contract. In addition to producing a documentary on a comedic stage hypnotist for The Documentary Channel, and co-producing a documentary for CTV on women in combat athletics, RabbitView has produced 80 sports-oriented documentaries for International broadcast distribution.
When we are commissioned to produce a documentary, we want to find the elements that make an individual or topic compelling and focus and creating a strong story arc. In this particular case, we found intrigue in the the contrast of the bright lights that Nick experienced in the UFC ring with his humble existence living in the basement of a property he rents out. Additionally, Nick is a very private person and although he enjoys the thrill of martial arts, he normally does not do a lot of media so we had a sort of exclusive access.
We were also able to capture several eye-opening elements. The casual fight fan might assume that winning UFC fighters are set for life from their fight purses. In Nick’s case we see him cleaning toilets and dusting off shelves for a home he preps for potential renters – it is becomes apparent that being a successful, well-known fighter does not necessarily mean a financial windfall.
Finally, we had a steam-lined budget for this production and were afforded only one day of filming with Nick and also had very limited time/budget for pre-production planning. While this undoubtedly posed many challenges when producing a 22 minute broadcast piece for television, it demanded that we be extremely efficient with our shooting schedule and diligent with our preparation. We had to draw upon our experience to optimize our time and develop a filming strategy that enabled us to maintain an elevated professional standard. Regardless of the scope of the project we are always focused on telling an intriguing story with compelling visuals.
