Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell last week released a film about fantasy football for free download. Since then, ”10 Yards” has gotten some pretty decent play online, including a mention in the Fifth Down blog on The New York Times’ website.

For a bit of the story behind the movie, though, I chatted via e-mail with Weeks. Here’s what he had to say about playing fantasy football, filming the movie and what might lie ahead.

Can you describe your and Josh’s backgrounds in fantasy sports?

Josh and I both went to the same college in Illinois. After graduating, we started playing fantasy basketball with some college buddies. We then tried the whole gamut of sports, and fantasy football has definitely endured through the years. We play with the same general group.

I’d say fantasy football has really turned me into an NFL fan. Prior to playing, I’d occasionally watch a game. Now, it’s religious.

How did the idea for this movie come about?

After filming our first feature, we knew we had to come up with what we were filming next. Back in 2003, before the first film, we took a video camera to a party with our fantasy football league and after I cut a 20-minute piece together, we knew there was potential for a bigger story. And someone was going to figure out how to make a legit movie about fantasy football and get it out. So, back to early 2006, we decided that we had to act fast and that we could be the guys to make the first legit feature film on the topic.

For how long did you work on it?

We shot it during the 2006 NFL season. It then took about a year to edit the 200 hours of footage and interviews that we got. Editing a story like this is always the tough part.

How did you go about finding the fantasy players featured in the film?

We relied on friends and Craigslist, mainly. It was amazing how many people out there replied to our Craigslist ads. Our goal was to be in a different city each week of the season, and, for the most part, that did happen.

What kind of reception did you find among NFL players and former players you talked to for the film?

Interviewing the players was easily the most intimidating (but also fun) part of making the film. A few, like Warren Sapp, had no interest in talking to us. He felt like fantasy football was all about offensive players.

(Editor’s note: This is particularly funny when you consider that Sapp is now doing fantasy commercials for NFL.com. I really dislike Warren Sapp.)

But some guys, like Desmond Clark and Ryan Longwell, were really cool and very easy to approach. We did most of our interviews in locker rooms.

How familiar did they seem to be with fantasy football, really?

NFL players were all over the place in terms of this. Many seemed to be
hiding the fact that they knew what it was all about. Watch the film and you might notice this with a couple of them. (Don’t want to say names here … haha.) But, some were totally into it. Artose Pinner said he played with a bunch of guys from the Lions. Now, this year, he’s back with Detroit. I wonder if fantasy football had any influence on that decision.

(Editor’s note: Actually, I’m sure it has far more to do with the fact that the team stinks at running back, unless Kevin Smith pans out.)

How many leagues will each of you compete in this season?

I’ll be in two or three. Josh will probably just be in our usual league. He doesn’t like to stray too much.

(Editor’s note: Our female readers would probably say that’s a good quality in a man.)

Any plans for future fantasy-related projects?

I’m talking to a few places now and I think we’re going to try to do a
j.fred (the main character in “10 Yards”) series that kicks off in
September.

The movie is available for download or viewing in various places, including OurStage, MySpace and SnagFilms.

For those fantasy fans tied to their computers today but in need of some distraction, here are a couple of events that might divert your attention.

– The FLW Tour is set to award the first-ever million-dollar fantasy prize to the season winner of its fantasy fishing contest. If you go to the site, you can watch the presentation live in Columbia, S.C., at noon Eastern.

– If you don’t care so much about watching someone else become a millionaire, maybe you’ll be interested in the entertainment of a fantasy football movie. The 90-minute film “10 Yards: Fantasy Football” by Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell is available for free download as of today, as are some songs from the movie’s soundtrack. If you get the stuff by way of a new, free OurStage account, that site will donate $2 to the filmmakers.

It’s a buddy film. It’s a comedy. It’s a documentary.

It comes out a week from Thursday, so I guess we’ll have to wait to know just how to classify it.

“It” is “10 Yards: Fantasy Football,” a 90-minute film created by Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell, that is set for online release on Aug. 21. The pair might be familiar to some Web regulars from their 2007 film “10 mph,” in which they purchased a Segway and proceeded to ride it across the country at speeds upwards of the film’s namesake.

For “10 Yards,” the filmmakers traveled around to interview fantasy players, review the history of the game, talk with current and former NFL players and tag along with a league that awards a box of Twinkies to its champion.

The movie will be availabe for free download on iTunes for two weeks after its release.