Two film makers have gone from non-league to Premier League as they prepare to air their inside take on Crystal Palace’s promotion campaign.
Daniel van der Molen, 26, from Epsom, and Joe Mainland, 27, from Chertsey, said they have a queue of interested companies offering to show their Crystal Palace documentary this summer.
But much like Crystal Palace’s journey to the Premier League, the route to filming one of the most memorable seasons at Palace was somewhat unexpected.
Mr Molen, foudner of Molen Media, started off creating a ‘mokumentary’ called The Road to the FA Cup, with his friend Aaron Whitehead who wrote the script, in 2009.
The six part comedy series, based on BBC hits The Office and The Thick Of It, follows a fictional non-league team called the Croydon Terriers as they challenge for the FA Cup.
The 26-year-old aims to film the series finale in the next year before it is broadcast either online or on TV.
Filming The Road To The FA Cup
As with any successful football story there is always a little bit of luck involved and Mr Molen said there was an element of fortune about filming Crystal Palace’s road to the Premier League as his next project.
Mr Molen and Mr Mainland were originally going to film a day in the life of co-chairman Steve Parish which coincidentally fell on the day Palace unveiled Ian Holloway as their new manager.
He said the documentary evolved into a Crystal Palace day rather than a Steve Parish day and Mr Molen said it felt wrong not to go on and film the rest of the season .
Daniel van der Molen with the Crystals
The pair, who were helped by Road to the FA Cup producer Aaron Whitehead, cover the rollercoaster ride from Ian Holloway’s appointment, to Wilfried Zaha being sold to Manchester United, to the winless run, to the drama at the Amex stadium against Brighton and the celebrations at Wembley, as well as lots of other behind the scenes access.
Mr Molen said it would be ideal to air the documentary a couple of weeks before the season kicks off.
He added: "It is something that definitely needs to be seen. We got to witness some fantastic moments and I have to say thank you to everyone at the club for helping us make it happen."
Joe Mainland at Wembley
See the trailer here for the CPFC documentary here:
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