This explains a lot

Coach-turned-screenplay writer?
Payton thinks up concept for movie
Sunday, June 07, 2009
By Mike Triplett
Staff writer

Apparently, Sean Payton's creativity extends beyond his offensive playbook. He came up with an idea for a screenplay two years ago as a "summer project," and it's now being shopped around Hollywood by top talent agency CAA.

The movie, currently titled "The Xbox Kid," is about a boy from a poor family in New Orleans who starts controlling the outcome of NFL games through a refurbished Xbox given to him by his grandfather after a devastating hurricane.

Payton said the idea came to him when his son, Connor, would play upcoming Saints games on his Xbox during the 2006 season.

"I just wrote about four pages, piddling around with it," said Payton, who later turned over the idea to a professional screenwriter to flesh it out.

Payton said he envisions the movie as both a sports film and an inspirational story about the city's recovery.

That Payton has been paying a little too much attention to football as rendered by video games is unsurprising to anyone familiar with his annoying and too-clever-by-half play calling style.

Also, I'm wondering if the plotline to this feature film involves gambling in some way. (It seems easy enough to imagine.) And, if so, I wonder how happy such a thing would make the NFL if it gets picked up.