Dekin and Story, who produced and directed the film, respectively, both played rugby for the Big Green as undergraduates and competed at the post-collegiate level throughout the 1990s.
"We both learned at Dartmouth the community aspect of rugby in college," Story said. "And when that went away it intrigued us enough to write a story."
"Play On" which captures rugby gaining recognition as a professional sport in 1995 has garnered attention from both rugby aficionados and film critics, receiving accolades at a variety of film festivals, including the All Sports Film Festival and the Landlocked Film Festival. The film can also be viewed in the United States on the iTunes store, where it has received an average rating of five stars from users.
Dekin said the movie includes a number of interesting characters, adding that the interspersed rugby plays provide natural story lines that lend themselves to movie production.
"I think at the end of the day you measure anything by the product," Dekin said. "I have probably watched it at least 50 times and I'm only blown away by what we have put together."
Keir Kilgour, the film's protagonist, is a brash Scottish rugby player living in the shadow of his father, a successful and famed former rugby star. Kilgour, determined to play for the Scottish national team, makes a selfish choice that backfires, causing him to lose his chance at making it big.
Kilgour then spontaneously decides to travel to the United States for a shot to play American professional football in Kansas City, Mo., attempting to get himself recognition and a paycheck. After failing to succeed in football, he latches on to a lower-division rugby team.
"There was tension between old-school naysayers play for God and country,'" Dekin said. "And for the younger generation it became a paycheck and a means to an end."
The writers chose to avoid a "middle-man" in creating the movie, distributing on the Internet and attempting to appeal to a smaller, niche audience. Although it has not been widely distributed in movie theaters, it screened at several film festivals, Dekin said. The film premiered in Scotland where much of the movie was filmed in November.
The writers are currently in the process of launching the distribution of the movie in Europe and the United Kingdom.
"We think of it as a simple story well told," Story said. "The game does lend itself pretty easy to metaphor, there's no time outs, no running to the sidelines."
Rather than being financially motivated, Dekin said the movie was instead "a labor of love."
"We thought there was potential to make something non-Hollywood," Dekin said, noting that the movie took "several years" to produce.
Story and Dekin who described himself as a film-producer "wannabe" were both living in Los Angeles almost 10 years ago when they began discussing the idea of creating a film and soon started writing.
"Having been in the business world for so long, it's not something you get to do everyday," Dekin, who now works for an electronic commerce company in the Boston area, said. "As soon as I can afford to send my kids to Dartmouth, I'll start on the next [film]."
Time and capital provided, Dekin said that he hopes to collaborate with Story on another project.
"For Dave and I it all started in Hanover," Dekin said. "Pretty simply and pretty clearly it led to this movie."
Dekin, who did not start playing rugby until his senior year at the College, competed around the world for 18 years after graduation, including 17 years with the U.S. Sevens Team. He served for three years as the American team's captain.
"A lot of the inspiration comes from playing in Scotland," said Dekin. "Living in Edinburgh, I was really exposed to all the basic elements of the sport."
Story played for Dartmouth, the University of London and several other top American club teams. He now works as a television producer, writer and director, with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Cinema-Television from the University of Southern California.
