Nick Trotta’s 10-year-old son had a request.
He told his dad that he was the biggest fan of the ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary” and hoped to see baseball integrated into the show. Trotta, who is Major League Baseball’s VP of global media and licensing, spoke with Carolyn Lehman, the league’s head of development for original content, about whether any efforts had been made for MLB to partner with the show.
Trotta’s department then reached out to ABC to express its interest and learned that Quinta Brunson, the show’s creator, cowriter, executive producer and lead actress who stars in the sitcom as Janine Teagues, had wanted to work with MLB for some time.
“[Quinta’s] one of the best in the business, so just knowing that’s where her creative instincts were at, nothing could make us happier,” Trotta told ESPN. “Same thing goes for the Phillies, they obviously have awareness of her love for their city. … To be able to give back, but really collaborate together, [it was] once in a lifetime.”
On Wednesday, the Golden Globe-winning television show on ABC airs an episode that was filmed at the Philadelphia Phillies’ Aug. 28 showdown against the Atlanta Braves.
The episode isn’t the first time a professional Philadelphia sports franchise has been featured in “Abbott Elementary,” a comedy about teachers and a Philadelphia public school principal who are determined to help their students succeed. In previous seasons, three Eagles stars (Jalen Hurts, Jason Kelce and Brandon Graham), former Philadelphia 76ers forward Andre Iguodala and Flyers mascot Gritty made cameos.
Trotta said that when MLB began to collaborate with the “Abbott Elementary” production crew for the episode, they coordinated the Phillies’ regular-season schedule with the television show’s production schedule to determine a designated shooting day.
Once the two parties scheduled the filming date — Aug. 28 — Trotta said that the Phillies organization reacted positively. The team previously had contributed to the documentary “The Turnaround,” which required the Phillies to shoot content for game day-related events.
“[The Phillies] are entertainment savvy and very accommodating as a staff [and] we had challenged what the limits of shooting during games could be on some other projects recently,” Trotta said. “There was a level of trust there and know-how on the Philly side.”
Chris Perfetti, who plays Jacob Hill in the series, says he was pumped when he received the news that “Abbott Elementary” would shoot an episode at a Phillies game.