‘The Dynasty: New England Patriots’ Director On Getting Answers From A Team Not Known For Saying Much Off The Field – Contenders TV: Doc + Unscripted

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Ahead of preparing for his latest documentary The Dynasty: New England Patriots, director and executive producer Matthew Hamachek didn’t know much about the NFL team other then its ability to win Super Bowls.

However, he quickly found a focus once the interview process revved up. “Whenever I have written or directed a doc before, one of the things I’m always trying to do is to figure out the central theme or central idea is when we go on this journey, whether it’s over 90 minutes or 10 parts like in this one,” Hamachek said on a panel for the Apple TV+ docuseries at Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted event. “I was interviewing the director of football research, Ernie Adams, and he said in our first-ever interview, ‘Every team says they want to go to the Super Bowl every year, but not every team is willing to do what it takes to get there,’ ” Hamachek recalled. “The question of what it takes to get there became the driving principle in everything we did going forward.” RELATED: How Tom Brady & Robert Kraft Got Brian Grazer Into The Huddle For The New England Patriots Docuseries ‘The Dynasty’ Hamachek noted the incredible access his crew received with everyone he interviewed, saying it came down to “the process of listening” to pull the most out of a team that was not known for saying much once they left the field.

When it came to what interviewees revealed, Hamachek says it came from a mix of building up trust while also realizing a lot of these players were ready to unload after years of being quiet. “Some people were ready to talk out of the gate, and some people you really had to figure out what it was,” Hamachek said. “What I tried to make clear was I don’t really have anything specific I