Rumored to be a true story in the life of filmmaker Shane Stanley. However, his brief stint on the 'dark side' happened 10 years before 'Gridiron Gang' was produced as a feature film, not after as implied.
Filmmakers were trying to come up with alternative/fictitious titles to reference in lieu of "Gridiron Gang" and it's adult, gay film parody, "Gridiron Gang-Bang" but after reading the script both Lee Stanley and Dwayne Johnson encouraged them to keep the titles for authenticity.
The film "Corners" referenced as being canceled was a project Stanley and W.T. Smith had written about a young man living with Down syndrome that had fallen out of preproduction twice. Attached to "Corners" are Louis Gossett Jr. and Clayne Crawford. It's financier is portrayed by Ron Masak at the end of "Dark Side."
Entire project was created after someone sent Shane Stanley an email with the 'Gridiron Gang-Bang' porn parody cover image attached as a joke. The first draft of the script was completed within 72 hours.
The footage that is referenced with Alisa Reyes character is from the Guns 'N Roses music video for "Street of Dreams" that never came to be.