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Lisa Welsh
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By Lisa D. Welsh
www.CHEERMaD.com
“Hurry up and wait” is the catch phrase in any production that involves cameras. As a broadcast media major in college, I learned this early and often.
"Keeping My Cool" MTV's MADE Episode 1208 features ProAthletics gym owner Jason Graham.
Jason Graham, owner of ProAthletics; the three -gym Allstar franchise in Massachusetts where Rachel cheers and Becky cheered and now coaches, has learned it now as well. Jason was the featured coach in MTV’s MADE newest episode: Keeping My Cool, which debuted Tuesday.
“They love Jason at MTV” said Katie Deutsch, Keeping My Cool‘s producer. “I don’t know too many other people who could have pulled this off.”
Both the episode’s title and Katie’s reference are directed to Jason’s challenge and ability to manage a troubled, stubborn, city girl who transfers to a rural Tennessee high school and her request to be MADE into a cheerleader in hopes of fitting in better.
“Every day was difficult, a new surprise,” Katie said. “Working in reality TV, you can never predict what these kids will do or say and Arly was especially volatile.”
Courtesy of MTV
For the uninitiated, the premise of MTV’s MADE, now in Season 12, is to have a high schooler “made” into something they aren’t but secretly wish they could be. Some of the episodes have featured: the quarterback who wants to be “MADE” into a musical theater star; the “Goth” who wants to be “MADE” into a pageant queen’ an overweight couch potato “MADE” into a model; sci-fi nerd morphs into a hardcore rapper.
This was Jason’s second appearance on MADE after last year’s Soccer to Cheer in which an entire team was “MADE” over (link to the episode below). That had its own challenges as it was the first time MADE took on an entire team. Soccer to Cheer first aired Feb. 9, 2011; also known as Episode 35, it was the second most popular episode of last Season 11.
Soccer to Cheer
After MTV auditioned cheer coaches for Keeping My Cool they called Jason in February, the weekend PRO was in Dallas at NCA with Rachel’s team, the ShowStoppers. The call was unexpected; MTV wanted to know if Jason was interested in doing another MADE.
He said he was.
“I don’t know too many other people who could have pulled this off,” said Katie Deutsch, producer of Keeping My Cool. “They love Jason at MTV.”
Still shot from a scene from some of the 100 hours of film that wasn't used in the episode.
Love him or not, Jason wouldn’t hear from MTV again for weeks. When producers called again in March, everything was quickly put into motion. Jason was flown to a small rural town in Tennessee where he would be charged with making over Arly, 15: a tough, stubborn transfer student from Hartford, Connecticut. Her request, to be MADE into a cheerleader in hopes of fitting in better.
Keeping My Cool reference’s both Jason’s challenge and ability to manage Arly.
“Every day was difficult, a new surprise,” said Katie. “Working in reality TV, you can never predict what these kids will do or say and Arley was especially volatile.”
Some scenes from MTV's "Keeping My Cool" -Jason watches Arley run around the football track.
Jason spent the final weeks of the 2011-2012 competition season spending weekdays in Tennessee coaching Arly, calling PRO coaches to discuss their teams and then flying back to Massachusetts for competitions on weekends. Then going back to Tennessee to do it all again.
Keeping My Cool is the last to feature high schoolers as next season MTV MADE goes in a new direction and focuses on young adults. Although their episode was still based in high school, Jason and Arly were the first to work in this new platform.
“It’s an end of an era but kind of exciting,” Katie explained. “Jason’s was the first to explore the idea of talking things out. It has more of an adult mentality, honest talk, that was real important to us.”
You’d think it would be easier the second time around but both Katie and Jason said this episode was much harder than the first.
Soccer to Cheer
“My first MADE was about a whole team that really wanted to be made into cheerleaders but this new one is a single individual who said she wanted to be made into a cheerleader but she didn’t want to put the work into it,” Jason said.
“She was stubborn, obstinate and a bully and I questioned whether or not she wanted to do this or had conned the casting directors into doing it,” he said. “Once the cameras started, her true colors came through.”
This time, it took much more than the camera to keep things rolling between Arly and Jason.
“Although she was really stubborn in the beginning and they had to find their footing, Jason had a real impact on Arly,” Katie said.
Jason talks to Arly after she's run a half-lap and quits.
“Jason kept telling Arly ‘A lot of this is mental. It takes mental strength more than physical strength to push through so many things that happen in life,’” she said. “Arly was thankful in the end that she stuck with it. It was more than becoming a cheerleader; she recognized that she did want to change.”
“Jason didn’t lose his cool once, his patience was impressive,” she added.
A much-needed in-between filming break. Courtesy of MTV
When Jason filmed Soccer to Cheer last year, he commuted daily between PRO and the highschool in the western part of the state where the soccer team needed him. Filming took place throughout the fall and the episode was broadcast in February. Some filming was done at PRO as the soccer players watched our teams practice and then a good amount of PRO athletes and parents went to support them during the big “reveal.” This time things happened so quickly that practically about the time anyone noticed Jason wasn’t in the gym as much, he was finished.
After about five weeks and 100 hours of Jason coaching, mentoring and mentally sparring with Arly, the episode was done, save for a few voice overs Jason went to VIACOM studios to record. He was told that the show would be aired sometime in May, which was later moved to June.
No one knew when Keeping My Cool would be aired, until a week ago when Katie emailed Jason with the news that his episode was scheduled for Tuesday, June 5 at 4 p.m. est.
There were no viewing parties, there wasn’t time to plan them so everyone watched in their own way. Jason watched from his home and I don’t even think it was on in the gym. Becky saw the first ten minutes of Keeping My Cool before she had to leave herself to coach at PRO.
“The interesting thing about reality TV is they can put whatever spin on it that they want,” Jason told me before the show aired. “I’m very interested to see how this one turns out because there was a lot of drama.”
So were a lot of people.
Still from a scene that was not used on air. Courtesy of MTV
There’s a risk of reality television is you leave your fate, and reputation in the hands of the producers and editors. With more than 100 hours of film, and the knowledge from my old degree kicking in, I thought they did a great job telling the story. The Jason you saw on television is the Jason we know at PRO. Motivated and disciplined with high expectations of himself and athletes, at the same time, he expresses himself well and motivates others in such a way that it makes you want to do better.
I wasn’t with Rachel when she watched MTV but I called her after it aired. With all the excitement one would expect a child to have to see their coach on television, Rachel was surprisingly matter of fact. As if, doesn’t everybody’s coach do that.
If they’re lucky they do.
Click Here for MTV’s MADE preview: Keeping My Cool
NOTE: Jason Graham will be a featured coach attending next month’s Cheer Cruise and Beach Blast Camp in Miami, Florida and the Bahamas:
July 25–27 The Beach Camp will take place at the Eden Roc, Miami Beach and will offer: training sessions with featured coaches, parent seminars, supervised activities for cheerleaders and siblings, spa specials, exclusive Pool Party and Beach Bash.
CHEERMaD is going….it won’t be the same without you!
July 27–30 The Cheer Cruise will offer unique cheer related activities on board the Norwegian Sky and exclusive shore excursions hosted by elite coaches from around the country. Click the link above for an overview of things to do in Nassau. For important information please visit: The Cheer Cruise
Use Promo Code: CHEERMaD when booking your Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp, you’ll receive a CHEERMaD Cruisin’ Gear Package worth $100 of free CHEERMaD items including: t-shirt, Tote bag, poster and great CHEERMaD endorsed products (one package per cabin or per hotel room//two packages for registering for both Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp for value of $200).
For details and registrations visit The Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp page on CHEERMaD’s website.
By Lisa D. Welsh
www.CHEERMaD.com
“Hurry up and wait” is the catch phrase in any production that involves cameras. As a broadcast media major in college, I learned this early and often.
"Keeping My Cool" MTV's MADE Episode 1208 features ProAthletics gym owner Jason Graham.
Jason Graham, owner of ProAthletics; the three -gym Allstar franchise in Massachusetts where Rachel cheers and Becky cheered and now coaches, has learned it now as well. Jason was the featured coach in MTV’s MADE newest episode: Keeping My Cool, which debuted Tuesday.
“They love Jason at MTV” said Katie Deutsch, Keeping My Cool‘s producer. “I don’t know too many other people who could have pulled this off.”Both the episode’s title and Katie’s reference are directed to Jason’s challenge and ability to manage a troubled, stubborn, city girl who transfers to a rural Tennessee high school and her request to be MADE into a cheerleader in hopes of fitting in better.
“Every day was difficult, a new surprise,” Katie said. “Working in reality TV, you can never predict what these kids will do or say and Arly was especially volatile.”
Courtesy of MTV
For the uninitiated, the premise of MTV’s MADE, now in Season 12, is to have a high schooler “made” into something they aren’t but secretly wish they could be. Some of the episodes have featured: the quarterback who wants to be “MADE” into a musical theater star; the “Goth” who wants to be “MADE” into a pageant queen’ an overweight couch potato “MADE” into a model; sci-fi nerd morphs into a hardcore rapper.
This was Jason’s second appearance on MADE after last year’s Soccer to Cheer in which an entire team was “MADE” over (link to the episode below). That had its own challenges as it was the first time MADE took on an entire team. Soccer to Cheer first aired Feb. 9, 2011; also known as Episode 35, it was the second most popular episode of last Season 11.Soccer to Cheer
After MTV auditioned cheer coaches for Keeping My Cool they called Jason in February, the weekend PRO was in Dallas at NCA with Rachel’s team, the ShowStoppers. The call was unexpected; MTV wanted to know if Jason was interested in doing another MADE.
He said he was.
“I don’t know too many other people who could have pulled this off,” said Katie Deutsch, producer of Keeping My Cool. “They love Jason at MTV.”
Still shot from a scene from some of the 100 hours of film that wasn't used in the episode.
Love him or not, Jason wouldn’t hear from MTV again for weeks. When producers called again in March, everything was quickly put into motion. Jason was flown to a small rural town in Tennessee where he would be charged with making over Arly, 15: a tough, stubborn transfer student from Hartford, Connecticut. Her request, to be MADE into a cheerleader in hopes of fitting in better.
Keeping My Cool reference’s both Jason’s challenge and ability to manage Arly.
“Every day was difficult, a new surprise,” said Katie. “Working in reality TV, you can never predict what these kids will do or say and Arley was especially volatile.”
Some scenes from MTV's "Keeping My Cool" -Jason watches Arley run around the football track.
Jason spent the final weeks of the 2011-2012 competition season spending weekdays in Tennessee coaching Arly, calling PRO coaches to discuss their teams and then flying back to Massachusetts for competitions on weekends. Then going back to Tennessee to do it all again.
Keeping My Cool is the last to feature high schoolers as next season MTV MADE goes in a new direction and focuses on young adults. Although their episode was still based in high school, Jason and Arly were the first to work in this new platform.
“It’s an end of an era but kind of exciting,” Katie explained. “Jason’s was the first to explore the idea of talking things out. It has more of an adult mentality, honest talk, that was real important to us.”
You’d think it would be easier the second time around but both Katie and Jason said this episode was much harder than the first.
Soccer to Cheer
“My first MADE was about a whole team that really wanted to be made into cheerleaders but this new one is a single individual who said she wanted to be made into a cheerleader but she didn’t want to put the work into it,” Jason said.
“She was stubborn, obstinate and a bully and I questioned whether or not she wanted to do this or had conned the casting directors into doing it,” he said. “Once the cameras started, her true colors came through.”
This time, it took much more than the camera to keep things rolling between Arly and Jason.
“Although she was really stubborn in the beginning and they had to find their footing, Jason had a real impact on Arly,” Katie said.
Jason talks to Arly after she's run a half-lap and quits.
“Jason kept telling Arly ‘A lot of this is mental. It takes mental strength more than physical strength to push through so many things that happen in life,’” she said. “Arly was thankful in the end that she stuck with it. It was more than becoming a cheerleader; she recognized that she did want to change.”
“Jason didn’t lose his cool once, his patience was impressive,” she added.
A much-needed in-between filming break. Courtesy of MTV
When Jason filmed Soccer to Cheer last year, he commuted daily between PRO and the highschool in the western part of the state where the soccer team needed him. Filming took place throughout the fall and the episode was broadcast in February. Some filming was done at PRO as the soccer players watched our teams practice and then a good amount of PRO athletes and parents went to support them during the big “reveal.” This time things happened so quickly that practically about the time anyone noticed Jason wasn’t in the gym as much, he was finished.
After about five weeks and 100 hours of Jason coaching, mentoring and mentally sparring with Arly, the episode was done, save for a few voice overs Jason went to VIACOM studios to record. He was told that the show would be aired sometime in May, which was later moved to June.
No one knew when Keeping My Cool would be aired, until a week ago when Katie emailed Jason with the news that his episode was scheduled for Tuesday, June 5 at 4 p.m. est.
There were no viewing parties, there wasn’t time to plan them so everyone watched in their own way. Jason watched from his home and I don’t even think it was on in the gym. Becky saw the first ten minutes of Keeping My Cool before she had to leave herself to coach at PRO.
“The interesting thing about reality TV is they can put whatever spin on it that they want,” Jason told me before the show aired. “I’m very interested to see how this one turns out because there was a lot of drama.”
So were a lot of people.
Still from a scene that was not used on air. Courtesy of MTV
There’s a risk of reality television is you leave your fate, and reputation in the hands of the producers and editors. With more than 100 hours of film, and the knowledge from my old degree kicking in, I thought they did a great job telling the story. The Jason you saw on television is the Jason we know at PRO. Motivated and disciplined with high expectations of himself and athletes, at the same time, he expresses himself well and motivates others in such a way that it makes you want to do better.
I wasn’t with Rachel when she watched MTV but I called her after it aired. With all the excitement one would expect a child to have to see their coach on television, Rachel was surprisingly matter of fact. As if, doesn’t everybody’s coach do that.
If they’re lucky they do.
Click Here for MTV’s MADE preview: Keeping My Cool
NOTE: Jason Graham will be a featured coach attending next month’s Cheer Cruise and Beach Blast Camp in Miami, Florida and the Bahamas:
July 25–27 The Beach Camp will take place at the Eden Roc, Miami Beach and will offer: training sessions with featured coaches, parent seminars, supervised activities for cheerleaders and siblings, spa specials, exclusive Pool Party and Beach Bash.
CHEERMaD is going….it won’t be the same without you!
July 27–30 The Cheer Cruise will offer unique cheer related activities on board the Norwegian Sky and exclusive shore excursions hosted by elite coaches from around the country. Click the link above for an overview of things to do in Nassau. For important information please visit: The Cheer Cruise
Use Promo Code: CHEERMaD when booking your Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp, you’ll receive a CHEERMaD Cruisin’ Gear Package worth $100 of free CHEERMaD items including: t-shirt, Tote bag, poster and great CHEERMaD endorsed products (one package per cabin or per hotel room//two packages for registering for both Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp for value of $200).
For details and registrations visit The Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp page on CHEERMaD’s website.
