Internet Invitational crew behind 82 cameras gets its due

GOLF.com went inside how the Internet Invitational gets made, and the Fore Play side of the building passed it around within hours.

The numbers are absurd for something that started as YouTube golf. GOLF.com says the production ran 82 cameras with a crew of more than 75 people, working out of a command center under the Payne's Valley clubhouse at Big Cedar in Missouri. They captured 28 terabytes of footage, roughly 800 hours, and cut it into 6 episodes. The purse went from $1 million in Season 1 to $4 million this year, the field grew to 64 players, and the work drew more than 10 million views in a single week.

Dave Portnoy

@stoolpresidente

Great article on the @Internetinvite Really cant thank the production crew enough.

James Colgan

@jamescolgan26

For a few days, a YouTube series called the "Internet Invitational" is the biggest show in golf. That feels like a happy accident, but it's not. Behind the scenes at Barstool, a small army of internet gurus spends months obsessing over how to make the inane go viral. So, how do they make the sausage? "I know normal. *This* is not normal." t.co/KM3F5eDCLo

When Dave goes out of his way to thank the production crew, it's worth asking who that crew is. The piece names Brendan Jones as lead producer, running the videographers and coordinating the edit. Jones gave the line that sums up the whole project: "That's not scripted. That's not fake. That, right there is f***ing awesome content." The players apparently felt the same reading it.

Cons

@CaptainCons

these numbers are STAGGERING bravo to all the hard working folks behind the camera that make the @Internetinvite amazing for us to watch

YouTube Golf Analytics

@YTGolfAnalytics

🎬The Names Behind The Internet Invitational🎬 🎥 Lead producer Brendan Jones 📺 Reality team: Kevin Zuppe & Mike DelloStritto ✂️ Final cut: Kyle Tims, Jared DeLibero & Ryan Richson 🤯82 cameras. ~800 hours filmed. 6 episodes. Give these guys some love 👏👇 #InternetInvitational #YoutubeGolf

Behind Jones is a layered edit. According to GOLF.com, Kevin Zuppe, Trent Christensen and Mike DelloStritto made up the reality team that handled the drama and storylines. A final pass then ran through Kyle Tims, Jared DeLibero and Ryan Richson with Jones at Fore Play. Filming covered 4 days with cameras rolling around the clock, and post-production took about 3 months. That's why a 64-player golf tournament plays like a reality show, and it's also why the people who pulled it off are getting named for once.

Chaps

@UncleChaps

The producers and editors getting so much shine for the Internet Invitational is awesome

YouTube Golf Analytics

@YTGolfAnalytics

🎬The Names Behind The Internet Invitational🎬 🎥 Lead producer Brendan Jones 📺 Reality team: Kevin Zuppe & Mike DelloStritto ✂️ Final cut: Kyle Tims, Jared DeLibero & Ryan Richson 🤯82 cameras. ~800 hours filmed. 6 episodes. Give these guys some love 👏👇 #InternetInvitational #YoutubeGolf

Pat put it in plain terms too, calling the piece a must-read and saying he couldn't believe how much organization something like this takes. That's the part fans miss. You watch somebody melt down over a 4-footer and it feels spontaneous, and it is, but somebody had a camera on that green, somebody synced that audio and somebody found that moment in 800 hours of tape.

It also explains the money. A $4 million purse only makes sense when the content pulls 8-figure view counts, and those view counts depend on a crew that can turn 4 days of chaos into 6 episodes people actually finish. The rest of the season will show whether the back half holds the audience, but at least now everybody knows who to thank if it does.