Greg Whiteley of ‘Last Chance U’ on ‘Cheer’ and his empathetic approach to documentary filmmaking

Greg Whiteley’s forthcoming Netflix docuseries, Cheer, follows Texas’s Navarro Community College cheerleading team on its journey to the National Cheerleading Association’s Championship in Daytona Beach, Florida — and it’s a worthy follow-up to his Netflix hit Last Chance U.

Before his Netflix boom, Whiteley created the eye-opening documentaries Resolved (2007) and Most Likely to Succeed (2015), which both examine facets of the United States education system. Last Chance U (2016-present) and Cheer (2020) pivot outside the classroom, showcasing extreme sports and the empowering aspects of community college athletic programs. However, as he and I discussed in a phone call last week, Whiteley doesn’t necessarily see his repertoire as an exploration of connected themes.

Cheer‘s narrative centers around the rituals that take place and the progress the team makes during practices on the college’s campus in Corsicana, Texas. Throughout the series, Whiteley and producers Chelsea Yarnell and Arielle Kilker profile the Navarro team as a whole while paying special attention to head coach Monica Aldama and the backstories of Navarro cheerleaders Jerry, Morgan, LaDarius, Lexi, and cheerleading sensation Gabi Butler.

The docuseries is heartfelt, invigorating, and incredibly entertaining. Whiteley’s genius is in his skill to not only make viewers feel invested in the sport, but also to encourage audiences to authentically care about those who are involved with — and rely on — cheerleading as a lifestyle. 

In advance of Cheer‘s release on January 8, Mashable spoke with Whiteley about his creative process and how his method of documentary filmmaking differs from his peers. 

Both Cheer and Last Chance U are set at junior colleges and showcase dedication to an extreme sport above all else, with young adult athletes placing an immense amount of trust in a dedicated coach who acts as an all-encompassing authority figure. Did you get the idea for Cheer while filming Last Chance U? 

I think the idea [for Cheer] has germinated with[in] me for a while. It really started to get some traction with [Yarnell], who is a producer on Cheer; she was a field producer on the second season of Last Chance U. In an effort to broaden our scope when we were in Scooba, Mississippi [filming Last Chance U], we started looking at different auxiliaries and elements of [East Mississippi Community College]. [We looked at] the school band and school administration, and then there were, of course, the cheerleaders who we would see at the sidelines of every football game. 

We were struck by the intensity of the [cheerleading] practices. The coach was super aggressive and adopted a style of coaching that was very similar to what we were seeing Coach Buddy Stevens deploy while coaching football players. We saw them doing a level of stunts [in practice] that they didn’t do on the sidelines of the football game. So, we started to talk to the coach and to some of the cheerleaders, they said, “Oh yeah, these aren’t [stunts] that we would do on the sidelines of a football or basketball game, we’re saving these for Daytona.” I go, “Well, what’s Daytona?” Then they described [the National Cheerleading Association’s Championship in] Daytona…. The fact that [cheerleaders] work all year and that there was this end-of-the-year competition they went to, that struck both [Yarnell] and I as really interesting. 

Image: Courtesy of Netflix

So, we began poking around, and [Yarnell] was given the task of finding what schools are the very best [cheerleading] schools out there. Then, we began the process of getting to know those schools and reaching out to them. In our conversations with Navarro, we became convinced that they were the place we wanted to go and make a series about. 

I love the idea that while you’re creating and filming one docuseries, you poke around to see what else is hidden and interesting. When you were creating such a comprehensive work about this specific community and activity, what was the aspect, practice, and/or phenomena related to cheerleading that surprised you the most?

I think they are the toughest athletes I’ve ever filmed. And that was surprising to most of us on the film crew — there’s a lot of people who came from Last Chance U to film Cheer. 

Image: Courtesy of Netflix

[When filming a documentary] you’re always surprised by something, or at least you’re hoping to be. That’s the only way you’re going to have a series that’s of any interest. [With the cheerleaders], it was their ability to endure pain. That continues to surprise me.

When you’re creating a docuseries that includes themes or topics that are controversial — in Cheer’s case, the toxic beauty standards and ways in which cheerleaders endure injuries from the sport — how do you work to represent and showcase those harsh realities, the motivations behind them, the culture of the sport, and the dedication to it in the most authentic ways?

Our job is to document their story (any story that we’re doing) with a cold eye but a warm heart. I tried as best I can to remain agnostic on different themes or issues. [I, instead, prioritize] being generous with my subjects, while also documenting — in cold detail — who they are and what they’re going through. And I trust that, by doing that correctly, themes will just naturally emerge. They’ll organically come out. 

Image: Courtesy of Netflix

I think that’s a much better way to do it than me having a prescribed agenda that I’m attempting to cram down an audience’s throat. I can still get at a lot of the weightier issues and themes, but do it in a way that’s very generous with the audience and allows them to draw their own conclusions instead of me leading them by the nose and telling them what to think. I recognize that there are different styles of filmmaking, and other filmmakers would handle it differently. That’s just the way that I choose to do it. 

“Our job is to document their story with a cold eye but a warm heart.”

I find that your filmmaking is so comprehensive because of its undeniable empathy. In looking at your work as a whole, do you feel like there’s a thoroughfare connecting all of it? If so, where does Cheer fit in?

Boy, I feel like that’s probably something for other people to answer. I don’t think too much about it… There’s just certain things that become interesting to me, and then I trust they’ll be interesting to other people if I throw myself into it. But whether or not there’s kind of a broader theme from one project to the next, I haven’t given that any thought. 

What was the process like in choosing which students to “mic” or focus on? What were you looking for when making that decision?

There’s no science to it, there’s no formula. [Yarnell] and [Kilker], my [filmmaking] partners, and I… thought there were about four or five people that we could follow with any degree of substance. We quickly tried to find out who those people were, and there were all kinds of different factors. But I would say the biggest factor was, for me, when I watched the cheerleading practice or when we followed different people to class, who is it that popped for me? When I’m watching the whole routine, where are my eyes going? And why are they going [to that person]?

It’s very subjective. If there was a different filmmaker, they would maybe choose a different five. But my eyes would frequently go to LaDarius. Or Morgan. Or Jerry. Or Lexi… Not only are they people that are fun to watch when they’re competing on the mat, but they also have great backstories… It’s very instinctual: I just like these people, I don’t know why, but I keep going back to them. I have to trust that there’s a reason why I want to spend more time with them.

I think about Morgan, Lexi, Jerry, and LaDarius all the time. They just stayed with me. They’re interesting people, and there’s something special and different about them. 

I think you just said it! That’s right. We would go home at night and I’d think, ‘Who are the people I’m still thinking about?’ Those are probably the people you should be following.

The final resonance and conclusions of their stories, especially Lexi’s, has stayed with me, too. After creating and finishing this series, what is your take or perspective on the American obsession with cheerleading? Do you think it’s the stereotypical gendered aspect? How extreme it is? How athletic it is?

I can’t speak for the American people, but in my experience, I had no idea it was this intense. I didn’t realize that there was a competition in which the stakes would feel that high for cheerleading or what a big deal it was. 

I think that’s part of Navarro’s anxiousness to allow their story to be told: They recognize how cheerleading is viewed by the general public and [how that public perception contrasts to] what it really is. For me, what’s been so fun about making this series is revealing that gap and trying to fill it in. I think audiences will find that ride satisfying.

Cheer is available to stream on Netflix on January 8.