INTERVIEW: HBO doc explores realities of high school rankings
Photo: Ranked is a new musical from Kyle Holmes and David Taylor Gomes. Photo courtesy of Yarcenia Garcia / Provided by Matt Ross PR with permission.
In the new HBO documentary My So-Called High School Rank, now streaming on HBO Max, directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg look at the controversial and contentious issue of high school rankings, and how so many students struggle to be “ranked” in the minds of college admission counselors. Of course, the film takes on a new meaning in light of the “Varsity Blues” scandal from a few years ago.
Within the documentary, the filmmakers look at the production of an original musical called Ranked, which explores these very same themes. The theatrical creation is the brainchild of Kyle Holmes and David Taylor Gomes. The show took many twists and turns during its development process, mostly because of the global pandemic and the inability to experience theater in person. The creators, who are educators themselves, needed to get creative on how their musical could still find an audience.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Holmes and Gomes about Ranked and being one of the stories included in the new HBO film. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What inspired you to create the musical Ranked?
HOLMES: It became very apparent to us that our students felt like their voices weren’t being heard. More specifically, they felt like the stories they were seeing on the stage and screen were not representative of the experiences they were having as young people.
How collaborative was the development process? How did you include your students?
HOLMES: Early on in the development process we sat down with our students and asked them to share their experiences with us — what they wish people really knew about being a teenager in schools today. We also gave them the opportunity to write their thoughts as monologues. We definitely took those conversations to heart, and there are echoes of what they had to say throughout the entirety of Ranked.
GOMES: From there, the two of us set out to create an original story about young people with academic pressure as the backdrop. Thousands of text messages and voice memos back and forth later, we had the framework of a show. Sometimes the collaboration was Kyle writing a scene and saying, “We need a song here that says this,” and other times it was me handing Kyle a song to shape a scene around. But most of the time, it was the two of us locked in a room until we figured out what needed to happen next.
Could you step me through how Ranked’s future changed when the pandemic hit?
GOMES: Headed into March 2020, we were full steam ahead on our 29-hour reading with hopes of a commercial run soon after. We had an amazing creative team, a stellar cast, a beautiful space at the Daryl Roth Theatre, and HBO was going to be documenting the entire process. We really felt like this was the beginning of the next big step forRanked. Obviously we did not get on our March 13 flight back to New York, and after feeling bad about the reading-that-never-was, we saw an opportunity to pivot.
HOLMES: Theatres all over the country were trying to figure out how to put their shows on digitally, but they weren’t able to get the proper permissions through creators and licensing houses. Not only did we let theatres perform Ranked digitally, we also hired some of our 29-hour reading actors to create a 10-minute demo for how it could be done, and put out a 30-minute how-to video that took directors step by step through the rehearsal process and technical hurdles of putting on a Zoom musical.
The flexibility we were offering at a time when many theatres were hearing “no” really helped us break through the traditional catalogs. At that point, we just decided to focus all of our energy on licensing until the documentary was released, so much so that we started a new licensing company — Uproar Theatrics — for Ranked and other shows like it.
Were you immediately into the idea of an HBO documentary sharing this story?
HOLMES: Yes and no. We were very excited at the opportunity to share Ranked with more people, but the idea of not controlling our own narrative was very intimidating — in the first year especially, because we didn’t really know Ricki and Annie, and we didn’t know if the story they were going to tell was the story we were trying to tell.
GOMES: The more time we spent with them, the more it became clear to us that the heart of My So-Called High School Rank was the same as Ranked — amplifying students’ voices and validating their experiences. A part of documentary filmmaking that I didn’t anticipate was how much the directors and crew were going to learn about our lives. Often they would surprise us with anecdotes that we didn’t realize they knew about our own lives. Getting to see ourselves and the students in this film through their eyes has been a very special gift. After three years it feels strange to not be planning another day of filming.
As educators, how has the pandemic disrupted student learning?
HOLMES: For us it’s really about the social and emotional setbacks students have faced over the last few years. Schools (and theatres, specifically) are where young people find community and connectedness, and have the opportunity to express themselves. We have an entire generation of young people who lost that for a little bit, and they need our patience and support as they continue to catch up in developing those skills.
What do you feel this documentary can teach future students?
GOMES: I hope that students can leave this film feeling less alone in their struggle and feel more fully seen. Academic success is a very limited measurement of students’ accomplishments. If we focus exclusively on where we land in the academic rankings, it removes our ability to be curious about who we are. Every student should know that they are more than a number, and that they have so much inherent worth in their uniqueness. Stay curious and challenge the measurements that restrict your ability to grow and innovate. And keep making art!
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
My So-Called High School Rank is now available to stream on HBO Max. Click here for more information.
