Former men’s basketball star Tahj Eaddy releases film

An Elite Eight run in March Madness ended in a deplorable fashion for redshirt senior guard Tahj Eaddy. All of the work he had put in to reach this position came to a halting end. Averaging 13.6 points per game while shooting 44% from the field as a 6-foot-2 guard in the loaded Pac-12 was impressive.

However, it was his story that captivated filmmaker Reed Martin. 

Eaddy switched from two prep schools, two high schools and two colleges before playing for the Trojans. 

A rising sophomore majoring in film and television production at USC, Martin became captivated by Eaddy’s journey of being under-recruited coming out of high school to bouncing around at multiple colleges before being the second-leading scorer for the Trojans. 

Martin worked with men’s basketball during their last season, creating highlight reels for the team’s Instagram. He eventually pitched the film idea to Eaddy over Instagram. 

Through the film, he wanted to bring Eaddy exposure after his tremendous season and chronicle his unique career. 

“I kind of had some idea of his background … and when I read into the story a little bit more about how many times he’d been kind of flip-flopping around, I was pretty inspired,” Martin said. 

His idea came to life Friday with the launch of a two-and-a-half-minute film full of action shots from Eaddy and a narration highlighting the obstacles he’s had to face. 

It premiered on the official USC Men’s Basketball Instagram account. At the time of publication, it had nearly 2,000 views. 

“I know [my story is] relatable in a lot of ways. It may not be as specific as my situation, my basketball career, things like that. But just being able to relate to overcoming adversity, just the trials and tribulations that come from playing sports as well as your daily life,” Eaddy said. “It’s bringing spotlight to that. I think it was important for me.”

What caught Eaddy’s attention was the idea of having the film be more of a commercial rather than a documentary. You hear directly from the former Trojan throughout the nearly three-minute piece.

Eaddy expresses the moments of doubt from scouts as the film shows him putting shots up and doing push-ups. He mentions the self-belief he had in himself to never give up on chasing his dreams. 

“Under Martin’s direction, Eaddy delivers a gritty, invigorating, and inspirational retelling of his journey and the mindset that took him from virtual obscurity to the cusp of the NBA draft,” a statement accompanied with the release said.

The film came together under an unusually quick timeline — just one week. 

After going over logistics with Eaddy on Zoom, Martin received the go but was informed that Eaddy would be moving to Dallas to prepare for the draft. Martin scrambled to find locations and people to help him get the job done. 

Martin got help from Maximilian Stafford, a rising junior majoring in cinema & media studies, who had a key role in producing the film. Stafford emphasized his excitement to share Eaddy’s story. 

“It was really rewarding to be able to share with USC hoops and the entire community just because of the extreme hard work we put into it and the amount of time that we spent on it in post-production, really just polishing it, making sure that it was something that we’d be proud of,” he said.

As the draft approaches at the end of July, Eaddy will now shift his attention toward being prepared for any outcome. 

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