Standing on the sideline at the Coliseum as the Oakland Raiders took on the New York Jets last month, Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch shook his dreads back and forth to the beat of the music and danced. This is the Lynch people love to see, especially more than the man who says one or two words on the mic during a mandatory press conference.
Now, Bleacher Report and Facebook are giving fans more of the dread-shaking, fun-loving Lynch with a new 10-episode reality series called “No Script,” which will follow Lynch around as he interviews celebrity guests, test drives military tanks and messes around with science.
“No Script” marks Bleacher Report’s first live-action video show and is being produced by the company for Facebook’s Watch, a new section of Facebook dedicated to professionally produced shows.
“Watch is not a proven product yet, but out of fairness to Facebook, we’re optimistic about it due to the level of investment they’re putting into this initiative,” Rory Brown, president of Bleacher Report, told Digiday. “It does not hurt when there is a licensing fee attached to this as well, but Facebook has made this less of a blind guess and more something where we’re able to weigh the short-term, mid-term and long-term potential of the show.”
According to Reuters, Brown emphasized the importance of the maintaining Lynch’s authentic and “raw” style, but there is still concern over how Facebook will manage offensive language. The debut episode starts with a warning that it contains mature content, with the video including profanity and crude language. Lynch proceeds to use an expletive that’s bleeped out in the first shot. The episode has drawn 1.2 million views.