Yahoo Finance Religion Of Sports Launches Scripted Division; Ryan Stowell To Quarterback It
Religion of Sports, the venture founded by Gotham Chopra, Michael Strahan, and Tom Brady, has launched a scripted film and TV department. Ryan Stowell has been named to head it.
The company is run by CEO Ameeth Sankaran and last year raised $10M in funding led by Elysian Park, Advancit Capital, co-founded by Shari Redstone, and Courtside Ventures. Its sports-centric slate has a growing podcast slate, and the Chopra-helmed Kobe Bryant’s Muse, Showtime’s Shut Up and Dribble, Apple TV+’s The Greatness Code, and Facebook Watch’s Tom vs. Time.
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Stowell comes out of New England like Brady, and he co-produced Manchester by the Sea and exec produced Thoroughbreds. More recently, Stowell produced Naked Singularity, the forthcoming directorial debut from Chase Palmer, starring John Boyega, Olivia Cooke, Bill Skarsgård, and Ed Skrein, as well as Our Friend, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and starring Jason Segel, Dakota Johnson, and Casey Affleck. That film debuts tomorrow.
Stowell served as Vice President at Academy Award-winners Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s B Story, and most recently served as Senior Vice President of Production at Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions. Additionally, Eliza Freer, who has been with ROS since early 2020, will report to Stowell, in an expanded role at the company.
“When Tom, Michael, and I founded ROS almost four years ago, we were inspired by the idea that sports are a language through which we can examine both ourselves and the critical issues of our time. I’m in awe of the talent and team we’ve pulled together since, the content we’ve produced, and I couldn’t be more excited to forge into the next dimension of scripted storytelling. That Ryan — a good New Englander and by no coincidence, a loyal Patriots fan — is going to lead the charge, is incredibly thrilling for all of us,” said Chopra.
“Over the years, we’ve seen a pattern of saccharine sports stories. It became normal to adhere to this template genre where the lessons of a game mimic the lessons of a human life. For me, what has always set Religion of Sports and its founders apart is that they have a fundamentally more complex and compassionate approach. The company has a tireless commitment to pushing boundaries with purpose — and to showing a social consciousness through the lens of sports. I’m honored to join Gotham, Michael, Tom, Ameeth, and the entire ROS team — and to help extend the same caliber of premium storytelling in the scripted narrative space,” said Stowell.
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