Photo courtesy of Stefanie Williams 

CORRECTION: Due to an editing error in a version of this story, Generate was described as a talent and production agency. For the purposes of Stefanie Williams, United Talent Agency is the talent agency and Generate is the production agency. This story has been updated to reflect this correction. 

 

 

When Stefanie Williams became the men’s lacrosse team manager during her freshman year, the 2008 university alumna said she got her first taste of athletes and their drama. 

Since then, she’s kept a blog, “Chasing the Jersey,” detailing her sexual encounters with male athletes ranging from a “pitcher who was in the Yankees minor league system” to a “decently well-known soccer player.”

“It’s been a really fun ride,” Williams said. “I never thought I would be doing this after college.”

Williams recently signed with production company Generate and United Talent Agency to produce a TV series based on the blog, which chronicles Williams’ life from age 18 to 24.

“I looked back over the life I had led the past six or so years and picked out the stories that mattered most, threaded together by the common theme that I had tended to date athletes,” Williams wrote on her blog on April 3. “I hashed out the story line, the characters, my life in a treatment. The best trips, the biggest fights, the hardest parts, the greatest loves.”

To get her TV series into the production phase, Williams said she “Facebook [stalked] 50 agents from five agencies” and sent them her script along with reasons why they should read it.

She originally met with agent Peter Benedek, but he was already representing Lena Dunham, creator of Girls, and he felt the two female writers targeted too similar an audience.

About four months later, Williams signed with Generate, and after a year, they partnered with Kenny Neibart, who was an executive story editor and writer for Entourage for several seasons.

Williams’ friend, actor Ryan Preimesberger, said he is a big fan of the story line.

“The first time I read this script, I immediately wanted to be a part of it,” Preimesberger said. “It was brilliant and witty. I actually laughed out loud.”

Williams originally posted on “Chasing The Jersey” anonymously, fearing that the content of the blog would affect her future in the job market, as well as potentially offend her family and violate the privacy of the men she mentioned.

She contacted BroBible editors in 2010 with the hope that their site would help promote her blog.

Williams wrote her first piece for BroBible under the pseudonym, Sporty McBangin’. She included a list of 10 things that sleeping with athletes had taught her, ranging from ensuring they wash their hands before any touching and accepting that teammates share everything with each other, including sexual encounters.

“Stefanie is always ready to grab the bull by the horns when it comes to writing,” said Brandon Wenerd, BroBible senior editor. “She’s just this strong female voice that we’re very proud of here.”

When Williams eventually revealed her identity as a writer for BroBible and as the author of her blog, her writing skill and ability only increased, Wenerd said.

“I knew if I wanted to move forward with it, I had to own up to it and believe in it and not be afraid of backlash or gossip,” Williams said. “I wasn’t ashamed of it. I know who I am and what I write about doesn’t change who I am.”

Williams continues to write for BroBible today.

In April 2011, Williams published a 204-page e-book based on her blog that was sold by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. CNN and Fox News Talk Radio have interviewed Williams about her story.

Williams attributes the development of her unconventional writing to her favorite English professor, Michael Olmert. She said Olmert taught her that good writing could include foul language and cover cruder topics, advice that inspired Williams to develop the writing style used in her blog.