Welcome to Wrexham’s producer on spending three years in Wales filming the show
A little under three years have passed since Milos Balac, a native New Yorker with only a passing interest in soccer at the time, received a work offer that would not only turn his life upside down but also, in time, help transform the fortunes of Wrexham AFC.
“I was told Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were going to buy this soccer team in Wales and film a documentary,” he explains. “I’ll admit I didn’t know any of the names, other than Ryan and Rob. I’d never heard of Wrexham, for a start.
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“Despite that, I said, ‘Sure, that sounds fun and interesting, I’d love to be a part of it’. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for.”
Within two months of that initial meeting in August 2020, Balac, an experienced filmmaker whose previous work included an intimate look at tennis’ multiple grand slam winner Novak Djokovic, was settling into a new home in the Welsh countryside.
For the next two and a half years, he lived and breathed the town as a director and co-executive producer behind the Welcome to Wrexham series. He helped find the stories and characters that have turned the show into a huge worldwide hit and became such a trusted figure in the dressing room he joined the players on last year’s Christmas jolly-up to Dublin, Ireland.
Balac called time on his UK adventure following Wrexham’s promotion to the EFL in April and went home to New York. But this week he’s been happily renewing friendships, having temporarily returned to the fold for the club’s two-week pre-season tour in the United States.
“It’s been great to be working again with the team,” Balac tells The Athletic during a break from filming as the build-up continues to the warm-up game in Los Angeles tomorrow (Saturday) against MLS side LA Galaxy’s B
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