Overview:
Hahn won two of the three Emmys awarded to the New York Jets content/multimedia team
The New York Jets may be desperately fighting for a spot in the NFL playoffs, but their film producer and editor from Santa Barbara already won some serious hardware last month.
Will Hahn, a graduate of Santa Barbara High School’s Class of 2017, recently won two Emmys from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences of New York for his film and audio work with the team last season.
He won an individual Emmy for his “audio — live or post-produced” work on several projects.
He was also part of the “One Jets Drive” team which received the award for best “Sports Program — Post-Produced Or Edited Series” at the 66th annual Emmy ceremony held on Oct. 30 at the Paley Center For Media in Manhattan.
“I kind of do everything on that series,” Hahn said. “I do a lot of audio production and I also shoot quite a bit of the show. It kind of depends on the week and what they need.
“A lot of the game-day stuff we do goes into that. I wear a lot of hats on that one.”
The Jets received 19 nominations and won three Emmys, two of which were claimed by Hahn.
“To work on a team where you’re pushed to do content at this level, and then be rewarded for that, feels pretty remarkable,” he said. “New York is one of the biggest media markets in the world and this is the original home of television.
“To be awarded for working in that complicated and tough of a media market is really an honor. I really appreciate my team and everyone who blessed me with this award.”
Hahn, 24, was hired by the Jets in August of 2022 after having graduated several months earlier from California State Northridge with a degree in Documentary Production.
“We’ve actually done a lot of cooler stuff this year that will hopefully really clean up next year’s awards,” he said. “A lot of it was just for the work on One Jets Drive.
“That show presents a lot of interesting, difficult season audio recording. A lot of the sound I do is what we call bench sound.”
Hahn’s job often includes getting the sounds of the sidelines when the Jets are filmed while celebrating a big play.
“We’ll go over to the bench with a camera and a boom mic, and we’re trying to capture the reaction in real time,” he pointed out. “The guys are really hyped, and the coaches are congratulating them, or something like that, and capturing that audio clearly is not an easy thing to do.
“You have 80,000 people screaming, so that presents a real unique difficulty.”
Hahn and the rest of the Jets’ content/multimedia team had to call an audible of their own at the beginning of the season. Recently acquired, star quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon just four plays into the Sept. 11 opener against Buffalo.
“We had done a lot on him (in the preseason) — It was definitely disappointing,” Hahn said. “But as a storyteller, you had to look at it in the context of story.
“When you look at the entire season, you realize, ‘This could be a very interesting story to tell.’”
Hahn, the son of Santa Barbara’s Steve and Connie Hahn, was actually one of the last at MetLife Stadium to realize that Rodgers had been injured.
“I was working on a completely different project that night,” he said. “We were putting together a featured film on (running back) Breece Hall, who was coming off ACL surgery from last year.
“I was filming his mom that night because that was his first game back. His mom was mic’ed up in the stands, reacting to his first game. It wasn’t until she said it on the mic that I realized, “Oh my God! Aaron got hurt!’”
It’s been speculated that Rodgers could return to action as early as the Dec. 17 game at Miami. The Dolphins lead the AFC East with a 6-3 record, followed by Buffalo at 5-5 and the Jets at 4-5.
The Jets visit Buffalo on Sunday and play host to Miami the following Friday.
“It’s an interesting time because if you win this week’s game and Miami loses, all of a sudden you’re playing for the division next week on Black Friday,” Hahn said. “You can either come out and play for the division next week or the season could be over.”
He and the rest of the One Jets Drive team have their own set of challenges.
“They’re different than most because we’ll do it in the rain, we’ll do it in the snow, we’ll do it in the cold,” Hahn said. “I’m already packing my cold-weather gear for Buffalo.”
