Director Sean McNamara to helm ‘Will to Win’ Movie

Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer, The Miracle Season, The King’s Daughter) has signed on to direct the Will to Win Movie.

Producers Russ Kirkpatrick and Andy Kinslow are thrilled to welcome McNamara to the team, saying, “Sean’s successful track record is key to what we imagine will be an incredibly inspiring movie for families across the world.”

In 2023, Mr. McNamara celebrated the 25th anniversary of Brookwell McNamara Entertainment, which he co-founded with business partner David Brookwell in 1998. Together, they have produced over 40 feature films for Paramount Pictures, Republic Pictures, Sony, Tri-Star Pictures, New Line Cinema, Lionsgate, and Universal Studios, to name a few. Their TV movies and series include over 500 episodes for Hulu, Netflix, CBS, ABC, The Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network.

Most recently, McNamara directed On a Wing and a Prayer with Dennis Quaid and Heather Graham (2023). His upcoming films include Bau, Artist at War with Emile Hirsch, On Fire with William H. Macy, and Reagan, also with Quaid, with principal photography having taken place in Oklahoma.

Set in Indian Country in the center of the United States, Will To Win is a sports drama featuring a Native American lead. When Florida softball star Skylar Forest’s parents die in a car crash, she’s uprooted and forced to live in Oklahoma with her traditional Native grandmother. Grief-stricken, yet smart and determined, Skylar focuses her passion for sports on the boys’ baseball team, after softball is canceled at her new high school. While dealing with trauma from the loss of her parents and maneuvering through the drama of being in a boy’s world on the baseball diamond, Skylar also sets her sights on an academic scholarship, finding guidance from an unlikely source: a Native ancestor, the legendary Will Rogers. Through Will’s timeless wisdom and wit, Skylar navigates the complexities of her teenage life and reclaims her “will to win.”

Scheduled to begin shooting in 2024, Will to Win is the first project of its kind to ever be endorsed by the Will Rogers family. Family Representative Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry, a Cherokee Nation Citizen and Will Rogers’ great granddaughter, is a consulting producer on the project. The movie is also endorsed by the Will Rogers Memorial Museum and the Oklahoma Historical Society.