March Madness 2024: What if past miniseries directors were the guarantors?

With Buster Keaton being announced as the next miniseries to be followed up by Park Chan-wook, by this Fall there will be 32 directors officially covered by Blank Check in their own dedicated miniseries. That is the same as the number of March Madness (MM) slots. So the pitch for next year's competition is to have each previously covered director "sponsor" (i.e., act as the guarantor for) a related candidate for MM. To put it simply, each MM contender would have a connection to a previous miniseries subject. That could include:

• Mentor or protege: a director that influenced them (John Carpenter loves Howard Hawks and included 4 of his movies on his Sight and Sound ballot) or a director that they influenced (e.g., Demme's impact on PTA, Kubrick's on Fincher)
• Working relationship: Past directors could have been a producer or writer on a contender's project (Elaine May and Mike Nichols as a writing duo being an obvious one, Miyazaki was executive producer for some of Isao Takahata's films)
• Contemporaries/comparison: a filmmaker similar to the miniseries director could be a candidate (e.g., a Buster Keaton comparison could be Charlie Chaplin, Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho are friends and Korean New Wave contemporaries)

What better way to celebrate Blank Check's legacy and longevity than to give previously covered directors a chance to win March Madness (or win again is some cases)?

(Also, the artwork potential of a coach/player or trainer/fighter dynamic alone would be worth it)