Sean McNamara to direct Oklahoma-based film 'Will to Win'
Sean McNamara (“Soul Surfer,” “The Miracle Season,” “The King’s Daughter”) has signed on to direct the Oklahoma-based feature film “Will To Win,” representatives for Kirkpatrick and Kinslow Productions announced.
In 2023, McNamara celebrated the 25th anniversary of Brookwell McNamara Entertainment, which he co-founded with business partner David Brookwell in 1998. Together, they have produced over 40 feature films for Paramount Pictures, Republic Pictures, Sony, Tri-Star Pictures, New Line Cinema, Lionsgate and Universal Studios, to name a few. Their TV movies and series include over 500 episodes for Hulu, Netflix, CBS, ABC, the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
McNamara most recently directed “On a Wing and a Prayer” with Dennis Quaid and Heather Graham, which was released in theaters last year. His upcoming films include “Bau, Artist at War” with Emile Hirsch, “On Fire” starring William H. Macy and “Reagan,” also with Quaid.
“Will To Win” is a present-day sports drama about a Native American high school softball star who is sent to live with her traditional Cherokee grandmother in Oklahoma after her parents die in a car crash. When she learns her new school doesn’t have a softball team, she joins the boys’ baseball team. She ultimately seeks advice from Native icon Will Rogers, who she sees in her imagination, as she navigates the challenges of living in a boys world, including forces who want to see her removed from the team.
Producers Russ Kirkpatrick and Andy Kinslow released this statement about the addition of McNamara to the team: “Sean’s successful track record is key to what we imagine will be an incredibly inspiring movie for families across the world.”
“Will to Win” is the first movie project of this type ever to be endorsed by the Will Rogers family. Family representative Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry, a Cherokee Nation Citizen and Will Rogers’ great-granddaughter, is a consulting producer on the project. The movie is also endorsed by the Will Rogers Memorial Museums and the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Aside from Kirkpatrick and Kinslow, McNamara is joined by partner Brookwell, producer Mark Heidelberger, screenwriter and Cherokee Nation citizen Aaron Fulkerson and executive producer Jhane Myers, a Comanche and Blackfeet American Indian. Consultants on the project include the Cherokee Film Commission and Will Rogers historian Steven Gragert.
Kirkpatrick & Kinslow is an Emmy-winning international production company with film properties distributed in multiple territories around the world.
