Washington Football Team Announces New 'Unfiltered' Inside Series

When you've struggled as much on-and-off the field as the Washington Football Team has - you have to reimagine yourself.

You have to take chances and be bold with your thought process. Sometimes that's going to lead to mistakes. The goal is to have more homeruns.

As a multi-media veteran for over a quarter century, I know one thing. Fans and even media love inside access and behind the scenes footage.

Think "Hard Knocks" and what that has done for HBO. It's also spawned other series such as Amazon's "All or Nothing" which goes inside an NFL team for a season.

Bruce Allen would have never allowed any of that. He hated the media and any thought of peeling back the curtain.

When you're in need of good vibes and when you're reshaping the culture, you let people in.

That's what the Washington Football Team and new Senior VP of Media & Content Julie Donaldson is doing via an announcement this morning.

Via the press release:

"The Washington Football Team announced today a first for its digitally owned channels as it expands from on-field content to provide fans of all generations unprecedented access into players’ and coaches’ personalities and lives off the field through the multi-platform series, Unfiltered.

"The organization unveiled seven new shows under the Unfiltered umbrella that will take viewers behind the scenes of franchise happenings while connecting with the fans through more areas of interest than ever before.

“Unfiltered allows us to pull back the curtain and use a cross-channel approach to serve up a 360-degree view of our organization and players,” said Julie Donaldson, Senior Vice President of Media and Content for the Washington Football Team. “But more than that, we want to have a dialogue with our fans and involve them like never before. Our programming will empower the fan voice as a key component as we prepare for game day, when many view our broadcasts with multiple screens and analyze the team in real time.”

Unfiltered will air on the Washington Football Team’s website and YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, with limited content being teased through Instagram.

The weekly slate for Unfiltered includes:

The Game: Washington Football Team coverage that speaks the modern fan’s language through cutting-edge visuals and X’s and O’s. Viewers will be invited to banter with the talking heads.
The Park: The organization has listened to the fan base, who have long said that they would like an inside look into the team’s facilities. Now, both in-season and during the off-season, fans can expect a weekly series that incorporates a well-known Washington fan narrating the ups and downs of everyday life at the Inova Performance Center.
The Lab: A weekly show hosted by some of the best Madden competitors around, where team players, gamers and fans can interact and learn how to dominate on the virtual gridiron and participate in matchups that they never thought they’d see.

The Life: This segment will showcase the lighter side of the game through the lens of pop culture, complete with fan interaction and fresh memes.
The Fit: Fashion is an expression of players’ personalities across professional sports, who frequently inspire fans’ “‘fits.” “The Fit” is a weekly series dedicated to the world of fashion that will go inside the players’ wardrobes. The show will review sneaker drops, debut clothing line collaborations and cover new Washington Football Team gear. “The Fit” will be more than just player style photos; it will blend music and fashion to allow fans to see yet another side of their favorite players.
The Legacy: Nobody knows Washington football better than those who have taken the field. This 30-minute show will feature Hall of Famer and Super Bowl Champion, John Riggins, alongside a cast of rotating legends trading stories from the field, the locker room and beyond.
The Beat: D.C. is home to political debates 24/7/365. This half hour will be a bit lighter, but will pit local reporters against each other as they discuss their views on the Washington Football Team, the NFL as a whole, and a potpourri of trending topics.

Clearly this is a step in the right direction of embracing inside access which is how you begin to convert a skeptical fan base which has been disappointed time and time again.

Donaldson has a largely blank canvass to paint on and clearly she is intent on not doing things the way they were always done.

Good for Julie. Good for the Washington Football Team. It's a smart move.

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Chris Russell is the Publisher of this site, a part of SI.com. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Washington Football Team" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621