We spoke with the 'Last Dance' producer about his Olympic basketball documentary 'Court of Gold'

Jake Rogal, who helped produce "The Last Dance," can now add directing a sports feature to his resume with "Court of Gold," a six-part Netflix documentary series following the basketball teams of USA, France, Serbia, and Canada as they vie for the title at the Paris Olympics. Through exclusive locker room access and player interviews, the series captures both heartbreak and triumph as the teams battle through group stages and knockout rounds.

Rogal sat down with HoopsHype to discuss the creative process of creating such a complex storyline within a two-week rigid schedule to capture as much content as possible for the docuseries. "Court of Gold" is set to be released on February 18 on Netflix, so it should be a compelling watch to see how the Olympic tournament transpired for these four teams.

Can you take me through how this whole docuseries came together?

Jake Rogal: I work at a company called Words and Pictures, and Connor Schell is the CEO of the company. So this thing had already been in the process when I joined the company. And I met with Connor pretty early on, and he said, “Hey there’s this doc potentially behind the scenes at the Olympics with some basketball teams. We don’t quite know who it is yet, but are you interested?” I said of course, sounds awesome.

So then it was so what teams, the USA, no brainer, because they're the team everyone’s trying to beat, all the superstars. France lost to the U.S. in the gold medal game in Tokyo; they’re the home country. They have Wemby; that’s pretty much a no-brainer. Canada has pretty much the most NBA players besides the U.S. on the team. They have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, one of the best players in the NBA. They can be compelling. They also don’t have a lot of Olympic experience so that was a decision in their favor.

And then, the last team we waited a while because we weren’t sure who we wanted to go with. Greece was floated out there because of Giannis [Antetokounmpo]. But we really wanted to think of who could really go far in the tournament, and Serbia had finished second at the World Cup. They have [Nikola] Jokic, obviously, a global superstar, and they have an amazing country history. Germany was floated out there because they won the World Cup, but ultimately, the history of Serbia basketball put them over the top. So, they were the fourth team.

Then it was a matter of getting all the parties involved, which was FIBA, and the Olympics, USA Basketball. Make sure everyone’s on the same page. So that actually went up all the way to right before we shot, which was the spring of 2024. We started shooting in June, so it was really last minute, but a lot of the legwork and getting the product off the ground was done before I entered the picture, but I watched all the hard work that went into it and saw all the parties come together, which was definitely challenging.

Obviously with the U.S. and France, that was pretty easy to pick. But the other two teams, with single game eliminations, some of them could be out by the quarters. How did you guys manage to really zero in on Serbia and Canada as the other two squads?

JR: We figured that one of those, if not two of those teams would probably go pretty far, and if two of them went far we would have enough content for the episodes, but then we talked about pivoting during the Olympics to teams to make sure we’re covering the whole story.

At one point, France was really struggling. Serbia lost their first game to the U.S. by a lot and got blown out there, and Germany was doing really well. So we started talking to the German team to see if they were up for letting us get some footage and interviews, so we started to make some inroads there. And then Germany got knocked out by France in the quarters, so that kinda went away.

We always had the idea that we might pivot when the Olympics happened –which was very hard to do – but we figured those four teams, given the players they had, some of them would probably go pretty deep, and if two of them did, we would be in good shape.

These days, access is tough to get, especially with NBA athletes. How were you able to get behind the scenes with these four teams?

JR: The IOC said we could help get you guys in the locker rooms, and give you the right credentials basically, but as far as being allowed in there at certain times, it’s up to the teams, it’s up to the coaches. So we went to each team and said look, we have the ability to get into your spaces if you let us, so it’s your call. We’ll start slow and small, introduce ourselves, shoot a couple of practices, and then, as you guys get more comfortable, let us in more and more, which was what happened. Approach them with respect and let them know this is your experience; we’re excited to be a part of it, we want to be an additive, not a distraction, so let us know how we can do that.

So the team’s ultimately gave us the access, the Olympics gave us the ability to have that access, giving the right credentials and everything, which they never done before which was awesome. So, it was a combination, it was the Olympics putting us in the right position, and the teams were granting us the access, but we said to the coaches, you can throw us out whenever you want, and they did. Because there were times when they didn’t want us in there and that’s fine.

I noticed at the end of the fifth episode, Jokic was drawing up a play on the whiteboard in their locker room, and at the very end, the Serbian coach told you guys to get out. Was there a lot of that going on when you guys were filming?

JR: With coach [Svetislav] Pesic, that was pretty common. He’s a pretty fiery dude, and he doesn’t fully understand what we’re trying to do, and all of these coaches are just, 'We need to win, we need to win, we need to win.' Some of them understand it a little more being in the NBA culture with that part of the deal, with media around and stuff like that. But he was singularly focused on winning and anything else was a distraction, no matter how much in the background we were. So he threw us out like five-ish times and we got to the point where we were used to it and we were ready.

It wasn’t common with the other coaches. They let us stay there and hang out in there. He was different, and he threw us out a lot, but never mean-spirited. Always cool afterwards, always talked about why. He wasn’t feeling it, but it wasn’t anything we were doing. We got used to it with the Serbian team at a certain point.

I noticed in the doc, there wasn’t much one-on-one time with certain stars like Nikola Jokic or LeBron James. Was it due to time restraints, or did they not want to participate?

JR: Most of the players, we would approach and ask, and a lot of them said no at first, but then they got to know us and they eventually sat down. Jokic doesn’t really like doing interviews and I totally understand that. It’s just one of those things where he just doesn’t want to do it. We never really thought he would do it because we know his history and we know his evasiveness with the media. We tried to get him of course, but we knew it would probably not work out.

With LeBron, it was a scheduling thing. He wanted to be a part of it. His schedule was very packed. We did the show in a condensed time, so we only had a couple months to get these interviews, and LeBron is a busy man with a lot of obligations. So the schedules just didn’t work out, so it wasn’t for a lack of want, it just didn’t really align.

We tried to knock out as much as we could in Paris, some guys we got there, some guys we needed to wait to get back, life happens. For the most part, most of the players were down to do the interviews. The pitch was you’re gonna have this for your grandkids when you’re older, so it’ll be cool to give us some time, so this is a good thing. I think a lot of them felt that, and when you’re at the Olympics it feels bigger because of what it is. So a lot of them were pretty reflective and open because they know the experience is so unique and so rare, so it was easy to get guys to sit down.

A big media storyline during the Olympics was about the lack of playing time for Jayson Tatum. At one point in the doc, coach Kerr talked with Tyrese Haliburton about instances where he wouldn’t play much. Did you guys try to get the Tatum storyline covered in the doc, or did you guys feel like that was too specific and needed to focus on the general road for the four teams more so than any specific team angle?

JR: We talked to coach Kerr about it and we felt like that was a respectful place to start. Because you want to be respectful of the process and not embarrass somebody. We never tried to go to Jayson with anything. We talked to Kerr about it, and let him talk about it, which he did. While it was a big story at the time, it wasn’t what we were trying to do with the doc because we were explaining how these countries got to where they are. So while it was dramatic from an NBA storyline, it didn’t really fit into the storyline of what we’re trying to do. Even if we had gotten that access, I’m not quite sure where it would fit in our storyline of what we were trying to build. And we felt that at the time, we were watching it all unfold. And we thought if coach Kerr wanted to really elaborate on it, or explain the inside of it that would be a respectful place to start, but it just never really formulated in that way.

With the Joel Embiid saga and the French crowd booing him when he played, was that something you guys thought about including or another one of those instances you felt didn’t fit your storyline?

JR: That was a compelling story, and Joel’s backstory is amazing. We wanted to be respectful to every player, so we met with everybody and we said, 'How much do you want us to be around, how much are you comfortable with us being around?' And I think Joel hadn’t been to the Olympics before and he really wanted to take it in, and as much as you want to get the guys on your show, these guys are humans, and you want to make sure you’re letting them experience that. If he never plays in the Olympics again, the last thing you want him to remember is this annoying documentary crew that was in his face for two weeks. You want him to remember the games, his family, his kids, and all that. Pretty early on you can feel their vibe, like 'Hey man, I just want to enjoy this.' That’s all you really need to hear, you don’t want to pester them or badger them.

The story is very compelling and Joel is an awesome dude and he has a great story that will eventually be told one day. You feel out which players are into it and gravitate towards them. And the other guys you try to be respectful to. He’s great, he is an awesome guy, everybody loves him on the team. He was nothing but cordial and nice with us.

Who were your favorite players to cover in Paris?

JR: Kevin Durant. He was just so cool and I got a different sense of him than I had been exposed to him through media and what I watch on Twitter. Seeing how much he cares about just basketball, it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I have friends who are passionate about a lot of things, but I have never seen someone so singularly focused on one thing like him, and how much it meant to him. So, seeing that, getting a sense of that early on. Watching the tournament unfold, knowing he is playing in Paris and his mom’s there, that was just cool from a human standpoint.

Victor Wembanyama was also amazing to cover because there hasn’t been a lot done on him, so you got to learn a ton about him everytime you saw him. He’s such a young guy, and has such an old soul. He is cerebral, is thoughtful, and really, really smart. He thinks about what he is going to say before he speaks. So just seeing a guy like that, knowing what’s ahead for him and how big he can actually be, and seeing he has the right head on his shoulders, it was encouraging and exciting to see what he can do.

At the end of episode 2, Kevin Durant started breaking down talking about what basketball and his family meant to him. How did you manage to get that genuine of a moment?

JR: That was one of my favorite moments of the whole process. So, the day after the Serbia game where he went off in the Group stage, I was on Twitter and I was looking at what he was doing, and I saw interactions with people he was having on Twitter. I clicked on the Twitter handles, and it was a random guy from Dallas who had 200 followers, and I clicked on another one and it was a random person from Arizona, and he had 100 followers.

I was thinking why? The day after, you’re in Paris, you’re in a tournament, you just had an amazing game. Why are you spending time addressing some of these people? I honestly thought it would be a funny question, so I asked him what I just said to you with the Twitter guys, why are you spending time with these guys? And Kevin said, “How many Twitter followers do I have?” I was like I’m not sure, and he said, “28 million, I’m not trying to get these people a platform, I’m trying to get my voice out there by responding to something they’re saying so I can make a point. So really I’m using them to get my voice heard. The game means so much to me and we’re here in Paris and we’re seeing all these people, and this game means so much to all these people.”

And he started to get emotional about it, his tears were over how much he cares about basketball. I was shocked when he started to get emotional, and I was happy because that’s a good thing for people to see. It makes you understand him a lot more. So after the interview, I said to him that it’s great that you did that. It will mean a lot to a lot of people and it will get your voice out there in a way that it hasn’t before.

So it started in a place where I thought it was funny to ask that question, and he turned it into something that was very emotional and serious, and I was grateful for, and it was one of my favorite moments of the series for me.

Any of the other players you were surprised with how welcoming they were?

JR: Bogdan Bogdanovic. He was awesome, into the project. The Serbian team is tough because there’s a language barrier there, and also because of the tone Coach Pesic sets. It’s pretty serious. Bogdan was able to let loose with us and let us in, which was very cool.

On the Canadian side, Dillon Brooks was really awesome. You hear all these things about him being a villain, and you see him on the court annoying other players, but with us he was very cool, really nice, let us into a dinner with his family who were awesome.

All the coaches were amazing. Steve Kerr is incredible. He makes you feel like you’ve known him for 20 years. You never feel like you’re being annoying or imposing, which is a feeling you might have.

How much footage did you get where you couldn’t include and just felt like, 'Man, if only we could include some of this other stuff?'

JR: No footage was taken out for political reasons, or because we kept something where we weren’t supposed to. Everything that is in there was the best stuff that we got. We shot the Greece qualifier for the Olympics and their celebration in the locker room, and Giannis is singing and dancing. We had to get to the Olympics faster so we couldn’t get to the qualifiers, so that moment is where I would think, like man, that was cool, great access. We see Giannis happy, we’re feeling it, but we had to cut it.

But for the most part, we had to make the show so quickly, there was not a lot left on the floor. There was a lot of footage left on the floor, but not a lot of compelling stuff I wish we kept. I really think we got the best stuff in there, and a lot of times we were moving so fast, we had to pick a moment and make a scene around that moment. We had a story structure we were trying to hit, but if we had an amazing moment, we would build a scene around that moment. Like, one of the German players is crying in the locker after they lost. We were in the French locker because we didn’t know the German players that well, and we wnted to see the celebratory France team we got to know them over the episodes. But that moment was so amazing to see how much it means to these guys. Like the end of this game, that needs to be the moment, not necessary the French team celebrating.

In what ways did helping produce 'The Last Dance' help in making 'Court of Gold'?

JR: Jason Hehir was the director of it, and he was an executive producer on this. So having him in my corner was so important for me, for my soul and for my brain. The thing about 'The Last Dance' was it was such an intimidating project with a lot of eyes on it like Michael [Jordan], who is arguably the most famous person in the world, it means a lot to a lot of people. When you’re in such a high-pressure situation like that and you go into another one like this, the feeling is familiar. The projects were completely different creatively because 'The Last Dance' was about nostalgia and 'Court of Gold' is about the future of basketball and seeing something new. For both, it’s a lot of pressure and a lot of big names you’re dealing with, and I think that was applicable to both.

With only two weeks really to film, how did you guys manage to prepare for all of this beforehand?

JR: Going into this with a plan, the plan is never what it ends up being, because things change on an hourly basis. So, we knew some of the stories we were going to tell going in, and we talked about capturing those moments, like Wemby as the next phenom, the history of French basketball, we had those predetermined stories going in. But then you can’t fabricate how the Olympics unfold. You have to shoot what you’re seeing. Hopefully the authenticity of this project resonates, we didn’t tell certain players to do certain things they wouldn’t do. It was very very difficult to, but creatively it was let’s see what happens because you don’t know what is going to happen. If we have one field team with each team everyday for the entirety of the Olympics, we’ll get most of the content.

So that was the assignment. Show up with your team everyday and shoot what they’re doing that day, and do it again, and again, and again. You have two weeks to do it which is a very small period of time, but if you do it everyday you’ll get a pretty accurate story of what happened. So you’re planning as you’re going, you’re pivoting as the tournament goes, but for the most part, you’re going into it with a completely open mind because you don’t know what will happen.

Having to show up to every practice, game, and event, did you guys kind of feel like you were sports journalists? Having to grab as much content as you could with the allotted access time you guys were given?

JR: Well, it’s a fine line because you want to be a fly on the wall. You don’t necessarily want them to know you’re there. When you’re trying to uncover certain things, for this doc, you just want to show what’s happening, and let people decide their opinion. There’s a fine line between the journalistic side of you which is asking the questions and the fly on the wall, I’m supposed to be on the background side. And you’re constantly walking that, so yes, you want to tell a compelling story. One day you’re being a journalist doing the interview, and one day you’re hiding behind chairs so you get out of the shots so they don’t see you, so it’s kind of two jobs in one.

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: We spoke with the 'Last Dance' producer about his Olympic basketball documentary 'Court of Gold'