Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

SVG Sit-Down: Marie Margolius on the Thrill of Directing New Prime Video Docuseries For the Win: NWSL

14/03/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Marie Margolius on the Thrill of Directing New Prime Video Docuseries For the Win: NWSL The Words + Pictures production takes viewers inside last year's playoffs and championship By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital

Friday, March 14, 2025 - 11:16 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

As the 2025 National Women's Soccer League season kicks off, Prime Video is ushering in the league's return with a new four-part docuseries, For the Win: NWSL.

The series, which dropped all episodes last week, takes viewers behind the scenes of last year's playoffs and championship and offers an intimate behind-the-scenes look at the league, its best teams, and some of its most engaging personalities on the pitch.

The series is produced by Words + Pictures and executive-produced by studio founder and former ESPN executive Connor Schell, accomplished documentary producer Libby Geist, legendary soccer player Alex Morgan, and former NFL quarterback Eli Manning.

Marie Margolius helmed the project as director, bringing with her a strong sports-documentary track record, having worked on numerous 30 for 30 films and other projects during her time at ESPN. The former collegiate soccer player jumped at the chance to work on a project spotlighting the NWSL.

Margolius sat down with SVG to discuss how she mapped the story, what players surprised her along the way, and why building trust in the interview subject is the most important part of developing a series of this nature.

Director Marie Margolius speaks on a panel at the premiere of Prime Video docuseries For the Win: NWSL at The Paley Center for Media on March 4. (All photos: Valerie Terranova/Getty Images for Prime Video)

You have a pretty clear box to play in here: you're chronicling a playoff and eventual champion. I'd imagine that makes it clear when this story ends, but, from a creative perspective, where and with whom did you want to start this story?

We wanted to start with the characters who we felt were going to be the most open with us. I think the key to success in shows like this is building trust and relationships with the people on-camera.

We went to all of the playoff teams, [presented] what I wanted to do and what the series was, and basically said, If you want to be a part of it, we would love to have you, and, if you don't, I'm not going to make anyone do anything.

For example, [Washington Spirit player] Trinity Rodman came up to me after I gave the spiel and said, Hey, I was sort of apprehensive about this, but I think I want to be a part of it. Tell me what that looks like and what the commitment would be. Of course, Trinity as a player and character in a story is a dream come true and was on a list of people I would love to embed with. But it was when she raised her hand and said, I want to be a part of this, that it became a slam dunk. I wanted her to feel good about it and feel like a willing participant.

That was the process: getting buy-in from teams and players first and then deciding that, if Trinity is one of our characters, who's going to help us tell this story. That leads us down a path. We start pulling on the Trinity thread, and certain stories sort of surface naturally.

Were there any players or coaches that surprised you along the way?

Kylie Strom. [The center back for the Orlando Pride] is a player whom I had known about only because I happened to play against her when I was still playing soccer. She's fairly anonymous on the grand scheme of the international soccer landscape, but she has worn the captain's armband and is very much a leader on the [Pride]. She plays an important piece and is the heartbeat of this team, so let's interview her. Let's see what she has to say.

I remember during that interview sort of looking at my co-producers and saying, Oh, my God, this story is insane. She, as [sportscaster] Roger Bennett says in the doc, really took football roads to get where she is today, which is a leader on the NWSL Championship-winning, largely undefeated, Shield-winning Orlando Pride and played a huge role. I found her story so inspiring. Again, it wasn't something I set out to tell, but, because of her openness and her journey being so compelling, I sort of fell in love with it, and she ended up being one of our main voices.

There are many iconic American players in this story, but I was curious what it was like for you to talk to Marta, the Brazilian player currently with the Orlando Pride. U.S. audiences know she's a legend and have seen her play in World Cups, but they may not know a lot about her personality. What was it like to get to know her more intimately?

Marta is incredibly endearing because she's such a legend and she's such a badass. I went in thinking she would have this veneer of media-trained. She has done it all; she has seen it all. She doesn't need to do things like this, but she, again, was a person who sat down in the interview chair and was an open book. She was incredibly charming. She's really funny. She's very uncomfortable talking about herself, super humble.

Obviously, on the field, she's incredible, but it's easy to see why, off the field, she's such a leader: she wears her heart on her sleeve and makes everyone feel like they're on the same team. Getting to know her was a joy. It was totally surprising and made, I think, our whole production team root for her.

I think you'll see in the doc, her personality is amazing. She's so fun; she's so funny. She's galvanizing in a way that I've never seen. I felt like I wanted to run through a brick wall at the end of the interview. She's amazing. I'm excited for U.S. audiences to get to know her a little bit better.

You played soccer at Harvard. What does it mean for you persona
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/03/14/svg-sit-down-marie-margolius-on...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

04/09/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Dalet Win Prestigious 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year Award

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...

27/04/2025

A Tribute to Bruce Logan, Written By Steve Weiss

It's with deep regret that we share the passing of our dear friend Bruce Logan, ASC. Bruce was not just a collaborator-he was family. He worked with us at ...

26/04/2025

Samsung Ads Launches New Interactive Ad Format

NEW YORK Samsung Ads has debuted a new interactive advertising format, Creative Canvas, that helps automate and deliver interactive ads....

26/04/2025

Sinclair Names Vincent J. Sollecito VP/GM of WPEC

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Sinclair has appointed Vincent J. Sollecito vice president and general manager of WPEC, serving the West Palm Beach, Florida market....

26/04/2025

Comcast Technology Solutions, AD-ID Join Forces to Advance Ad Standards

NEW YORK and DENVER AD-ID and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced that they are working together to promote the adoption of industry standards in ...

26/04/2025

Cobalt Scores a Trifecta of Awards at NAB 2025

Cobalt Scores a Trifecta of Awards at NAB 2025 Brie Clayton April 25, 2025 0 Comments Company adds another Best of Show and two Product of the Year tr...

26/04/2025

FilmLight Colour Awards welcomes 2025 entries

FilmLight Colour Awards welcomes 2025 entries Brie Clayton April 25, 2025 0 Comments Entries open from 1 May 31 July to colourists on any grading pl...

26/04/2025

Blackmagic's Latest Products - Larry Jordan Guest Spots with Dan May at NAB Las Vegas 2025

Blackmagic's Latest Products - Larry Jordan Guest Spots with Dan May at NAB ...

25/04/2025

The Legend of Ochi Takes Families on an Adventure

Emily Watson, Isaiah Saxon, Helena Zengel, and Finn Wolfhard at The Legend of Ochi premiere (photo by Soul Brother/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...

25/04/2025

Interoperability and Networked Electronic Warfare: Critical for the Modern Warfighter

Using its CORVUS portfolio, L3Harris created a highly adaptable battle network t...

25/04/2025

Agile Content and Tiscali team up to launch the tv service Linkem My TI-VI in Italy Agile TV

Agile Content joins forces with Tiscali to introduce a new platform in Italy, of...

25/04/2025

Agile Content is Now AgileTV Agile TV

The company positions Agile TV as the commercial brand focused on delivering TVaaS solutions for operators and media. The chosen tagline TVaaS your way enca...

25/04/2025

Agile TV, United Teleports, and BNS Launch a More Profitable, Hassle-Free TV Service Agile TV

A Fully Managed Solution That Maximizes Revenue for North American Operators Whi...

25/04/2025

Former Morgan Murphy Media CEO Elizabeth Murphy Burns Has Died

Morgan Murphy Media has issued the following obituary for its former CEO:...

25/04/2025

FEMA Lifts Its Hold on Warning System Grants

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has lifted its hold on grant money for some public broadcast stations to upgrade their infrastructure....

25/04/2025

Enhance Videos 80% Faster & Fix Format Issues with VideoProc - Major Update

Enhance Videos 80% Faster & Fix Format Issues with VideoProc - Major Update Brie Clayton April 25, 2025 0 Comments VideoProc Converter AI just got a m...

25/04/2025

Listen to Kim Perlak and Francisco Mela's New Album, Recorded in a Single Afternoon

Listen to Kim Perlak and Francisco Mela's New Album, Recorded in a Single Af...

25/04/2025

YouTube Turns 20, Celebrates 20 Trillion Uploaded Videos

YouTube is celebrating its 20th birthday with stats showing how popular the platform has become and by announcing some new features, including the ability for u...

25/04/2025

Sinclair's Dave Schwartz, Corporate SVP/Station Operations, to Retire

BALTIMORE Sinclair, Inc. has announced the retirement of Dave Schwartz, its corporate senior vice president/station operations, effective June 30....

25/04/2025

SBE Releases Updated CertPreview Practice Exams

The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) has released its popular CertPreview practice exams in a new, online format. SBE CertPreview allows people preparing to...

25/04/2025

Dallas Wings Expand OTA Reach with Tegna, Gray and Corridor Deals

ARLINGTON, Texas Two months after naming Tegna station KFAA in Dallas-Fort Worth its exclusive local broadcast partner for WNBA games, the Dallas Wings are expa...

25/04/2025

AMG's Local Now Launches on Vizio's WatchFree+

LOS ANGELES, Calif. Allen Media Group has announced that all 223 U.S. Markets covered by its Local Now FAST Channel are now available on the Vizio WatchFree+ st...

25/04/2025

Working with Shutterstock's AI Editor to Create Unique Images

Working with Shutterstock's AI Editor to Create Unique Images Brie Clayton April 25, 2025 0 Comments What's better than a stock image source? ...

25/04/2025

VEON Files its 2024 Annual Report on Form 20-F

25 Apr 2025 VEON Files its 2024 Annual Report on Form 20-F Dubai, April 25, 2025: VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON), a global digital operator ( VEON' or the Compa...

25/04/2025

Super Bowl Streaming Success: A Conversation with Tubi's Chief Product & Technology Officer Mike Bidgoli

Super Bowl Streaming Success: A Conversation with Tubi's Chief Product & Tec...

25/04/2025

Tariff Turmoil: Trump's Trade Policy Sparks Uncertainty at NAB and Increases Focus on Software Adoption

Tariff Turmoil: Trump's Trade Policy Sparks Uncertainty at NAB and Increases...

25/04/2025

High Kicks and High Stakes: Sky Arts announces new series, The Battle of the Irish Dancers

Friday 25 April 2025 Hot on the heels of the Irish Dancing World Championships ...

25/04/2025

Netflix Announces Release Date and First Look of 'The Thursday Murder Club'

Back to All News Netflix Announces Release Date and First Look of The Thursday ...

25/04/2025

FOR-A Showcases Next-Generation Broadcast Solutions at CABSAT 2025

Connecting the present, building the future FOR-A IMPULSE HVS-Q12 FOR-A MixBoard...

25/04/2025

dB at MPTS 2025

Following last year's successful event, we're back at the Media Production and Technology Show (MPTS) in London this year. As before, we're looking ...

25/04/2025

Thales and Deloitte form Strategic Alliance to Help Enhance Data Protection and Governance Services

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Enhancing Data Protection and Governance Service...

24/04/2025

Film Festival Watch: Catch These 13 Sundance Institute-Supported Films at the 2025 Hot Docs Festival

We're huge fans of shining a spotlight on the documentaries that empower, en...

24/04/2025

Spotify Expands AI Playlist in Beta to Premium Listeners in 40+ New Markets

Playlists have always been at the heart of the Spotify experience. Since AI Playlist in beta launched last year, Premium users have used it to create millions o...

24/04/2025

How Latin Artists Are Thriving Both at Music Festivals and on Spotify

From the California desert and Chicago's Grant Park to New York City's Flushing Meadows Corona Park and beyond, music festivals this spring and summer w...

24/04/2025

82 Artists, 10 Countries, Limitless Sounds: Meet the RADAR Asia Class of 2025

The sounds of Asia are as diverse and vibrant as the continent itself. From the lively beats of Indonesian pop to the gritty rhymes of Pinoy hip-hop, the region...

24/04/2025

L3Harris Technologies Reports First Quarter 2025 Results, Updates 2025 Guidance

Highlights* Revenue of $5.1 billion Operating margin of 10.2%; Adjusted segment operating margin of 15.6% Diluted EPS of $2.04; Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $2.4...

24/04/2025

L3Harris Harnesses Commercial Model to Deliver Capability to Warfighters with Speed and Agility

For more than 50 years, the company's commercial approach to delivering resi...

24/04/2025

Ateliere Acquires Agile Live Software

Century City, Calif. and Bilbao, Spain (July 8, 2024) - Ateliere Creative Technologies, a leading GenAI media software solutions company, and Agile Content, a l...

24/04/2025

AgileTV Showcases TVaaS at IBC 2024

Agile Content to Showcase Industry-Leading TV-as-a-Service Platform at IBC 2024 Bilbao, September 4th - Agile Content, a leading provider of Internet televisio...

24/04/2025

AgileTV & Netorium Boost TVaaS in DACH

Boosting TVaaS in the German-speaking countries with expert integration and 24/7 local support Bilbao/Wiesbaden, September 5th 2024 Agile Content and netorium...

24/04/2025

AgileTV & GlobalDots Revolutionize CDN

New partnership between Agile Content and GlobalDots promises to introduce automated multi-CDN solutions, optimizing content delivery and easing provider manage...

24/04/2025

AgileTV & Agama Boost Streaming at Telenor

Empowering operators with real-time content delivery optimization, improved video quality, and reliable end-to-end service visibility Amsterdam, Netherlands, S...

24/04/2025

Agile Content and Convergenze partner to launch Convergenze TV in Italy Agile TV

Agile Content joins forces with Convergenze to introduce a new platform in Italy, offering a wide range of premium content for all audiences. Bilbao, September...

24/04/2025

AgileTV Earns Bronze EcoVadis Rating

Bilbao, October 10th 2024 - Agile Content, a global provider of PayTV end-to-end solutions, has received the Bronze EcoVadis Sustainability Rating. This ranking...

24/04/2025

MASORANGE & AgileTV Renew Deal

Through this agreement, MASORANGE will incorporate new AGILE CONTENT technologies into its television service, enhancing customer experience with optimum servic...

24/04/2025

AgileTV Reports Q3 Growth

The company reports positive results in the third quarter, despite ending the first half of 2024 with an 8.8% decline in revenue and an 18.3% drop in EBITDA com...

24/04/2025

AgileTV & Tiscali Launch Linkem My TI-VI

Agile Content joins forces with Tiscali to introduce a new platform in Italy, offering a wide range of premium content for all audiences. Bilbao, November 26,...

24/04/2025

Agile Content Rebrands to AgileTV

The company positions Agile TV as the commercial brand focused on delivering TVaaS solutions for operators and media. The chosen tagline TVaaS your way enca...

24/04/2025

AgileTV, BNS & Teleports Launch TV Service

A Fully Managed Solution That Maximizes Revenue for North American Operators While Combining Traditional Cable TV and OTT Apps in one Single Interface. Bilbao,...

24/04/2025

AgileTV & CANAL+ Launch Entertainment Hub

The Entertainment Hub is a fully integrated TV solution that represents a significant step in redefining the white-label TV business model for operators across ...