A Rhode Island firm is telling the story of beach volleyball

PROVIDENCE — In a different life, it could have been Mark Bucknam in front of the camera.

He might have been among those profiled for the upcoming documentary series on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) beach tour. The beginners trying to establish themselves, the solid professionals grinding out a steady living, the stars like Karch Kiraly and Misty May-Treanor who approached retirement age in relative financial comfort — his performance on the sand could have dictated one of those three futures.

His path ultimately led to producing and directing — and, as fortune would have it, an accepted pitch to tell what could have been his own story. Bucknam is part of the city-based BYB Pictures, and that group's five-part series, "AVP Uncovered: Best of the Beach," debuted on YouTube on Thursday.

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“We were able to kind of step into this world that we at least had a basis of knowledge about,” Bucknam said. “We knew the players who were relevant to talk to.”

This is the latest project for Bucknam and a pair of lifelong friends. He was Moses Brown classmates with Howard Yang and Bruce Bendheim long before he went into business with them. The office they call home in Davol Square opened in the late 2010s and is hoping to shift from commercial advertising work to more sports and entertainment content.

“I was kind of at a point where I was able to combine two things I care a lot about — video production and beach volleyball,” Bucknam said. “We actually approached AVP with the idea.”

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That was midway through 2021, and COVID-19 restrictions were easing. The AVP tour played a limited number of events in front of empty grandstands in 2020, limiting its momentum-building to what was generally a strong period for the sport. The Summer Olympics typically offer a larger stage and some short-term growth — the limited exposure and quarantined athletes in Tokyo were a far more restrained buildup than usual.

“The reality of the sport is it’s very prize-money based,” Bucknam said. “Numbers don’t look much like the PGA Tour or ATP tennis. A lot of guys have supplemental jobs.”

Bucknam found this out firsthand as a college student at Florida Southern. He was recruited to play tennis but gravitated to the beach – at 6 feet 4 inches, he had both the athleticism and the measurables to give competitive volleyball a real shot. The endless attempts to qualify for major tournaments and the realities of a life spent almost completely on the road sunk in over a short time.

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“If you do break through like Phil Dalhausser or April Ross or Karch Kiraly, you’re making a living and it’s a pretty good career,” Bucknam said. “If you’re not quite there yet, you’re doing hard work trying to find sponsors, trying to find events to go to, maybe coaching.”

Bucknam started to explore his creative side and returned home to discover his close friends had developed skills that would jell perfectly with his own. Yang is “great with the camera” and Bendheim is “so structured and organized” — they handle filming and operations, respectively. Bucknam is largely tasked with publicity and finding leads on what could be the group’s next project.

“Really, really fortunate that we were able to come together in that way,” Bucknam said. “There’s not a ton of overlap. Nobody steps on each other’s toes. We’re all happy with what we get to do when we go to work each day.”

BYB focused on four-time Olympian Jake Gibb, NCAA standouts Zana Mano and Kristen Nuss and fellow college All-American Taryn Kloth. Bucknam, Yang and Bendheim were granted full access by the AVP to work with players at home, at practice and on the road. The end product was a multi-night collection of content that will air each of the next four Thursdays at 8 p.m. on the AVP Uncovered YouTube channel.

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“We want to demonstrate to the world as a production company from Rhode Island that we’re able to do a whole bunch of things,” Bucknam said. “Regardless of what the sport may be, I think this series applies outside of beach volleyball in terms of how you can tell stories and peel the curtain back on some of these athletes.”

Bucknam said the production trio planned to watch the premiere together with friends and family. Advertising work with local businesses and schools will always be a fallback option — one of BYB’s first jobs was a tourism production based in Newport. But sports and entertainment content have exploded in recent years thanks to production companies founded by the likes of LeBron James and fresh streaming outlets such as ESPN+, Roku and Netflix.

“We’re super excited,” Bucknam said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

bkoch@providencejournal.com    

On Twitter: @BillKoch25 

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 'Best of the Beach' volley documentary brought to screen by RI team