United City FC Women documentary project will follow overlooked female players

By AI, Created 11:35 PM UTC, May 22, 2026, /AGP/ – I Play Different Productions has announced a documentary short-to-series project on United City FC Women, the Los Angeles club founded in 2020 to give overlooked female players another path. Emmy Award winner Marilyn Agrelo will direct, with filming set to begin this summer and festival screenings planned for early 2027.

Why it matters: - The project centers women’s soccer players outside the professional pipeline, a group often missing from mainstream sports coverage. - The film aims to highlight the real-world barriers many female athletes face, including money, family demands and exclusion from traditional development systems. - United City FC Women’s story shows how a small independent club can help players reach national teams and professional contracts.

What happened: - I Play Different Productions announced United City FC Women: Against the run of play, a documentary short-to-series project about the Los Angeles-based women’s soccer club. - Emmy Award-winning director Marilyn Agrelo will direct the project. - I Play Different Productions will produce the film. - The production says filming is scheduled to start in summer 2026. - Festival screenings are planned for early 2027.

The details: - United City FC Women was founded in Los Angeles in 2020. - The club describes itself as a multi-championship-winning independent women’s team built to create opportunities for female players who were overlooked, underfunded or shut out. - The team includes mothers returning to soccer, players bypassed by the college system, athletes who could not afford club fees and women told they were too old to compete. - The club says its model rejects pay-to-play and focuses on talent. - Over the past six years, the club says it has helped players earn professional contracts and represent their national teams. - The project will feature players connected to events including the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup, the Centroamericanos Games and FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers. - Agrelo’s credits include Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street and Mad Hot Ballroom. - Lavinia Jones Wright, co-founder of I Play Different Productions, said the team’s mission and the women’s stories align with the company’s focus on heart-centered films centered on diverse female voices.

Between the lines: - The film is as much about labor and access as it is about sport. - The project frames women’s soccer as a lens on sexism, gender bias, motherhood, identity and survival. - By focusing on an independent club rather than a pro powerhouse, the documentary is positioning itself as a more grounded counterpoint to better-funded sports stories. - The title, Against the run of play, signals a story about persistence in unfavorable conditions.

What’s next: - Production begins this summer. - The team plans to move toward festival screenings in early 2027. - The finished project will likely expand the club’s reach beyond soccer audiences and into documentary and festival circuits.