Religion of Sports — the production company founded by former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan and filmmaker Gotham Chopra — and Skydance Sports, the sports content division of Skydance Media, have signed a content deal covering scripted television, documentaries and podcasts.
The first scripted project in development (and the first scripted project ever for Religion of Sports) is The Owl, a “rags-to-riches story about an orphaned, American-born boxer with Mexican lineage who travels across the border to locate his family and is thrust into the world of Mexican boxing,” per its logline.
The companies are also pursuing sports-themed intellectual property that it can develop into a number of formats, including live events and video games.
Religion of Sports was founded by Brady, Strahan and Chopra in 2017 with a focus on sports and sports-adjacent unscripted content. It launched its scripted division last year. Skydance, meanwhile, entered the sports content space last year, tapping executive Jon Weinbach to lead the division.
“At Skydance, we are always looking to tell not only the best stories possible but also to tell them in the medium that best suits the story and enhances the audience experience,” said Jesse Sisgold, president and COO of Skydance, in a statement. “This cross-media partnership with my friend Gotham and his Religion of Sports team allows us to perfectly match these sports stories to how they should best be told.”
“Our mission at Religion of Sports is to tell stories about why sports matter, and to make believers out of everyone who sees our content,” said Chopra in a statement. “Collaborating with Michael Perri and Aurora Guerrero on The Owl puts us all on our way to achieving those goals.”
