You are listening to the Next Best Picture podcast and V's or Will Mavity's interviews with the screenwriter for Air, Alex Convery, and the film's editor, William Goldenberg.

1984 has been a tough year. Our sales are down. Our growth is down.

Sonny, I brought you in here to grow the basketball business.

People don't know what the hell of Nike is. What's a converse?

NBA All-Star shoes.

There's nothing cool about Nike.

You would have to have a pretty compelling pitch.

I can tell them the one thing the other companies can't compete with.

Our basketball division is terrible.

I do not love it.

This is where you come up with a brilliant idea that no one else can see. Let's hear it.

I got it. I found him. Who's that? Jesus? Can't afford it.

I'm willing to bet my career on one guy.

My name's Sonny Vakero. I'm with Nike. Do you typically make it a habit of showing up at people's front doors and announce? I don't like to take no for an answer. Oh, man, here we go. You ask me what I do here. I find you players and I feel it this time. Okay, it's risky.

When you were selling sneakers out of the back of your Plymouth, that was risky. Don't change that now. For a rookie? Yes. Who's never set foot on an NBA court. That's the literal definition of rookie. Yeah. So I am unfortunately going to ask you a bunch of stuff. I know you've answered before, but I think your story is really cool. And, you know, I'd like to hear you tell it. So you go from never having accredited screenplay

to, you know, having Ben Affleck directing your movie and getting sole screenwriting credit. Start me

at the beginning, man. How do you get here?

I mean, gosh, that's a long road, right?

And it always is.

I mean, that's the funny part of this.

Like, yes, it is my first produced credit and, like, my first screenplay and all of that.

But it certainly is not the first one I've written. You know, you go through just years and years and years of that, but, but it certainly is not the first one I, I've written, you know,

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