Mark Ellis was planning to follow up on his playing days at Appalachian State and Guilford and become a football coach when Hollywood came calling. He and his brother, Todd, a former quarterback at South Carolina, were asked if they might help as technical advisors for the 1993 movie The Program, part of which was filmed in Columbia, S.C., where Mark Ellis lives. "I knew nothing about film-making, but I knew football," Ellis said. More than a decade later, Ellis has been involved in more than 30 feature films, is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, is directing and has a production company in addition to his work as an advisor for sports-related movies. "It turned out to be a good business," Ellis said from Dodger Stadium yesterday, where a scene from a new Superman movie was being shot. "I think what we did was find a niche with so many sports movies, television shows and commercials being made and the need to make the sports action authentic." His work includes Miracle, Jerry Maguire, The Rookie and The Junction Boys. Ellis, part of a state-championship team at Greensboro Page, played for two seasons at Appalachian State - first under Mike Working in 1982 and then for Mack Brown in 1983 - before transferring to Guilford College. "We had a meeting right before Christmas and Mack said he wasn't going anywhere and that we had things to get done (as ASU)," Ellis said. "I literally got in my car after the meeting to go home for Christmas break, drove about halfway down the mountain headed toward Greensboro and over the radio I heard "Mack Brown has just taken the offensive-coordinator job at Oklahoma." I love Mack, and we are still very close, and I tease him about that to this day. "I liked Sparky Woods (who became ASU's coach in 1984, and later coached Todd Ellis at South Carolina) but after three different head coaches and five different position coaches and being moved from receiver to cornerback to safety ... I went on down to Guilford."