IrishIllustrated.com Insider Irish Illustrated Interviews: Catholics Vs. Convicts Director Patrick Creadon
Jan 23, 2026
Patrick Creadon, documentary filmmaker and 1989 University of Notre Dame alum, shares his Notre Dame family ties and how campus projects launched his film career. He discusses using archival footage, choosing central players, and why he appeared on camera. The conversation covers making Catholics vs. Convicts broadly appealing, funding Hesburgh independently, and tackling the century-old Rockne story.
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Senior-Week Film Sparks Career
- During senior week Patrick cut together a 20-minute video of his four years using two VCRs and showed it at his senior dinner.
- That early hands-on editing hooked him on storytelling and foreshadowed his documentary career.
Using Later Footage As College B-Roll
- Footage of Pat Walsh selling shirts in Catholics vs. Convicts was actually shot in 1991 at a Florida-Florida State game, not during college.
- Creadon later found that archival footage in his home archives and used it to represent Walsh's college-era operation.
Outside Producers Spot Hidden Stories
- ESPN's 30 for 30 pitched Catholics vs. Convicts to Creadon rather than the other way around, because he lived the story and didn't see it as a pitchable subject.
- External producers can reveal story potential that insiders miss because they live inside the memory.
