Ryan Gorcey: Connecting People Through Storytelling
Multimedia Storyteller
To see me work on a written piece or grind away at a graphic design, you'd easily be able to surmise that I'm an introvert. And, to some extent, that's true. But, if you scroll down and watch and listen to the pieces below, you'll see that I'm just as at-home in front of a microphone as I am a keyboard. For whatever reason, when the bright lights are on, I always manage to command a room. Speaking or answering Q&As in front of a live crowd, calling a baseball game with a headset on, hosting a podcast remote in a rowdy sports bar, or working in front of or behind the camera—they all come naturally to me. I can think on my feet, I can improvise, I can synthesize information in real time and I've always been a showman. When it comes to performing, you can simulate 'It' for short bursts, and you can even teach a version of 'It,' but when the light comes on, either you either have 'It' or you don't.
Video Essayist
While news consumers may not have time or patience to get through a magazine-length written feature, engagement analytics have shown that they are willing to sit and watch (or listen to) a video piece. Longer-form visual human interest like ESPN's "30 for 30" series or "Outside the Lines" are the gold standard, and Ryan can not only replicate their production quality on a budget, but combines that with his trademark storytelling style to produce authoritative and polished pieces with the humblest of tool boxes.
For this piece, on future MLB star Andrew Vaughn returning to his hometown to serve as the face of a benefit for fire victims, I spent four days straight driving up and back from Oakland to Napa. When one edit of this video didn't provide the visual punch I wanted, I drove back up and got more compelling B-roll. The final product, which was paired with an in-depth written enterprise feature, includes those visuals (sometimes captured on a handheld consumer camera, hanging arm outside my car window while driving through affected areas), B-roll of the action as well as on-camera interviews. Over the course of a weekend, I scouted shooting locations, wrote my script, composed one-shot stand-ups, shot B-roll, conducted on-camera interviews, provided voiceover and edited the final product into a TV-ready standalone.
During his third and final season at Cal, future No. 1 NFL Draft pick Jared Goff was harder to get one-on-one than Stephen Curry during the Golden State Warriors' run to that year's NBA Finals. So, I used my everyday access to practice, my four years of trust with Goff and my long-established relationships with his family and friends to produce the only feature-length profile and video of him before he was picked by the Los Angeles Rams.
Analyst
To separate BearTerritory.net from other outlets, Ryan made heavy use of video, engaging audiences with a variety of content—scouting film, game highlights, human interest, off-the-wall player shenanigans, two-shot interviews, lower-third graphics and boots-on-the-ground reporting—to bring his audience inside Cal sports. This video series, shot before Mike Neu's first season as head coach, breaks down the Golden Bears' biggest fall ball storylines.
In-Game Reports
When Scout.com was purchased from FOX Sports shortly after Ryan's move from Rivals.com, the new regime emphasized video as a way to increase engagement. Ryan took the directive and ran with it, adding game week previews, mid-game video reports and postgame analysis to Cal football coverage, and post-game breakdowns to basketball and football coverage. This halftime report was filed during the Golden Bears' 2017 win over North Carolina.
Postgame Reports
Ryan recruited reporters from the San Francisco Chronicle and student broadcasters from the undergraduate ranks to round out football videos, setting his coverage apart from competitors and giving the feel of a Cal-focused television network.
On-Camera Interviews
Ryan assiduously follows the first commandment of sports journalism—don't make friends with the athletes— but that doesn't stop him from building relationships based on trust and mutual respect. That not only comes through in videos like this one with Cal quarterback hopeful Zach Kline, but in his longform writing.
Two years after Kline, the recruit dubbed by many the "savior" of Cal football, left Berkeley following the ascendance of future first-round pick Jared Goff, he returned to finish his degree. Having built a strong and enduring relationship with Kline and his family, Ryan was able to write the definitive piece on one of college football's most peculiar journeys.
Director
As Director of Communications at Stephen Wise Temple & Schools, Ryan shaped the organization's messaging across multiple channels, from text-based storytelling to e-mail campaigns to web presence to social media. Applying the lessons learned as a visual sports storyteller, Ryan also assembled compelling videos from footage shot not just by the in-house videographer, but from sources across the globe.
For Israel's 75th birthday, our chief engagement officer asked for a video of our community singing "Ha Tikvah," Israel's national anthem. I envisioned a layered piece and directed a shoot that included drone footage, complex camera motion, and evocative key shots. I stood side-by-side with our videographer, directing shots and communicating a cinematic vision that invested what could have just been a simple publicity video with the passion and love the community has for the State of Israel.
Two months into my tenure at Wise, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. After I initiated and owned the creation and upkeep of a Ukraine resource page using WordPress, our community partnered with other synagogues across the nation to raise funds for United Hatzalah's Operation Orange Wings, which sent planeloads of medical supplies, equipment and personnel to aid Ukrainian refugees in Krakow, and returned to Israel with those seeking asylum. Receiving bits of footage and photos from the first plane we sponsored, I produced a promotional video for our community and for social media.
Podcast Host and Moderator
For five years, a rotating cast of voices—reporters, news makers, alumni and friends—joined me in a weekly sports bar town hall of Cal sports we lovingly called the Bear Republic Podcast. Begun as the recorded musings of myself and fellow former Daily Californian staffer Jon Doss (Sports Director at WEWS, Cleveland) as the miracle Golden Bears baseball team of 2011 made its run to the College World Series, the podcast grew rapidly. Soon, we added former Cal beat writer Ken Clampett, Danny Freisinger—the radio voice of that Cal team and current VP of Sports at Audacy—and CBS Sports' John Breech.
For a podcast about a traditionally middling athletic program, we saw over 500 downloads per episode at our peak as we recorded episodes at The Republic, a sports bar at 3213 Scott St. in San Francisco, hosted by Cal alumnus Shaw Amirghassemkhany. Irreverent, insightful, unpretentious and unfiltered, this was sports talk radio in its purest form. Our listeners felt like they were sitting on the bar stool next to us, talking about their favorite team. Whether in a booth with a pitcher of beer, in a hotel restaurant in San Diego, or in the whiskey bar of the MGM Grand for the Pac-12 Tournament in las Vegas, we gave Cal fans and alumni something they'd never had before: A sports talk show made especially for them. Using a jerry-rigged equipment setup, Audacity recording software, borrowed microphones and borrowed headsets, we delved into sports major and minor, breaking down weekly football matchups and discussing the regional and national sports news of the day.
We welcomed NFL stars like Kansas City Chiefs tackle Mitchell Schwartz, Cal greats like Brian Treggs, top recruits like Zach Kline and national press luminaries like Mike Silver in-person and over the phone. Though many episodes are lost due to the shuffle of digital publishing and shifts in podcasting platforms, several of more recent vintage are available here and on Apple Podcasts.