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  • Religion of Sports Names Pietro Moro as First COO/CFO

    Religion of Sports (ROS), the award-winning sports media company founded by creator Gotham Chopra, Tom Brady, and Michael Strahan, today announced several key additions and promotions to expand and strengthen its production and executive teams. These moves – including the hiring of entertainment industry veteran Pietro Moro as COO/CFO – further reinforce ROS as a leader in premium and transcendent content creation.

    Pietro Moro joins ROS in a hybrid role of chief operating officer and chief financial officer where he will oversee a range of teams including development, production and post-production, finance, human resources, and operations teams. Prior to joining ROS, Moro was CFO of Gunpowder & Sky, an independent Los Angeles-based film and TV studio run by former MTV President Van Toffler. At Gunpowder, Moro’s focus was leading the finance, HR and operations functions, spearheading the Company’s corporate development efforts, and most recently, running the DUST and ALTER direct-to-consumer brands division.

    “I’ve been a fan of awe-inspiring stories about legendary athletes my entire life,” said Moro. “After meeting with Gotham and Ameeth and learning about their vision for the growth of Religion of Sports and some of the projects they had been working on, my curiosity quickly became sheer enthusiasm. Religion of Sports is on a spectacular rise bringing its myth-making storytelling to its loyal audiences in sports, and rapidly expanding to other genres, media and territories. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working alongside this amazing team and to be part of the strong momentum in the company’s next chapter.”

    “I am thrilled to welcome Pietro to Religion of Sports as our first CFO/COO,” said Ameeth Sankaran, CEO, ROS. “His deep-rooted understanding of our industry, enthusiasm for the content we are creating and passion for great storytelling will be of tremendous benefit to our company as we enter this next phase of our growth and development.”

    Religion of Sports has also strengthened its executive ranks with the following promotions:

    • Meg Cirillo to Co-Executive Producer and Showrunner. Cirillo has been involved in many notable ROS projects including, Man in the Arena: Tom Brady, Simone Vs. Herself, Greatness Code, and Passion Play: Russell Westbrook. Cirillo’s work has made her a two-time Emmy winner and four-time Emmy nominated producer.
    • Pam Daniels to Vice President of Production. Daniels has nearly 25 years of production experience. In her five years at ROS, she has been part of several notable projects including the Emmy-nominated docuseries Simone vs. Herself as well as the Emmy-winning Greatness Code.

    The company also announced four notable production hires:

    • Gloria F. Coronado, Vice President of Post Production. Shut Up and Dribble (Showtime), Passion Play: Russell Westbrook (Showtime), Man in the Arena: Tom Brady (ESPN+), Neymar: The Perfect Chaos (Netflix), and Greatness Code (Apple TV+)
    • Bryant Robinson, Lead Creative: Origins of Hip-Hop (A&E Networks), Monster, the legacy of Beats by Dre inventor and audiophile Noel Le, For Khadija, the autobiographical film of diamond selling artist French Montana
    • Andy Zare, Archival Supervisor: NOVA (PBS), Simone vs. Herself (Facebook Watch), Colin in Black & White (Netflix), The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (Nat Geo), and Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammed Ali (Netflix)
    • Brian Miller, Music Supervisor: 25-year industry veteran with experience at MTV, NFL Network, ESPN, and Nickelodeon including the VMA’s and Super Bowl’s

    “As we continue to build upon our success from 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, we are proud to recognize the work of Victor, Meg and Pam in leading many of our most successful and impactful productions, ” said Sankaran. “We will also continue to invest heavily in our production team to broaden our in-house capabilities and deliver more premium content that inspires.”

    This announcement comes on the heels of several significant announcements from ROS, including the acquisition of Jiva Maya, a UK-based production company founded by Manish Pandey. Last week, the Company announced two new docuseries In the Arena: Serena Williams (ESPN) and a production focused on a season in the NBA G League (Prime Video). On May 17, McGregor Forever premiered on Netflix, giving an all-access look into Conor McGregor’s epic journey back to the top of the UFC.

    About Religion of Sports
    Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Religion of Sports (ROS) is an award-winning media company founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan, and Gotham Chopra. To believe in the power of sports is to experience religion, and the company’s work is defined by thoughtful, elevated stories that explore a range of themes and uncover why sports matter.

    Through scripted and unscripted video, podcasts, feature films and social content, ROS distills the spirituality, science and humanity that unites elite performers and people of all kinds. Since its inception, the company has built an impressive array of work in collaboration with the world’s most elite athletes, distributed across platforms including Netflix, Apple TV+, Prime Video, ESPN, Showtime, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, Facebook Watch and more. Among its highlights, “Man in the Arena,” “Tom vs Time,’’ and “Greatness Code” won Sports Emmy awards and projects on Simone Biles, Stephen Curry, Conor McGregor, Shohei Ohtani, and Russell Westbrook have captured global audiences. The Company has several upcoming productions green lit, including In the Arena: Serena Williams (ESPN) and a docuseries on the NBA G League (Prime Video).

  • Santa Barbara Film Festival To Open With Abigail Breslin Drama ‘Miranda’s Victim’ As Full Lineup Set

    The Santa Barbara Film Festival has today unveiled the lineup for its 38th edition, taking place in-person from February 8-18.

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  • Religion of Sports Raises $50 Million, Wins Fifth Sports Emmy

    Ameeth Sankaran, CEO of Religion of Sports, says that his company is on a mission to deliver emotional, deeper storytelling. Sankaran also discusses why Religion of Sports’ fifth Emmy for ‘Man in the Arena’ was so significant.

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  • The Men in the Arena

    Filmmaker Gotham Chopra had only some loose ideas about the importance of sports around the globe and a minute-long sizzle reel to demonstrate his vision when he first met with Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan one day in 2014.

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  • How Gotham Chopra, son of the New Age guru, became sports’ go-to documentarian

    Chopra, the son of renowned New Age alternative medicine author and speaker Deepak Chopra, has carved out his own notable career as an Emmy-winning sports documentarian whose work as a director and producer includes collaborations with Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, LeBron James and other elite athletes.

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  • A compelling character’: Simone Biles to star in new behind-the-scenes docuseries ahead of Olympics

    The four-time Olympic gold medalist will be the subject of the newest docuseries from Religion of Sports. Simone vs. Herself, announced Thursday morning, will begin airing this summer on Facebook Watch.

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  • ESPN Announces 9-Episode Tom Brady Docuseries ‘Man in the Arena’

    Following the success of the Michael Jordan docuseries The Last Dance, ESPN has inked a deal with Tom Brady and Religion of Sports for a nine-episode series on Brady’s career, coming in 2021.

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  • How Gotham Chopra’s Sports Emmy-Nominated Series ‘Why We Fight’ Tackles Opioid Addiction

    The eight-episode series on Verizon go90 network, executive produced by UFC champion-turned WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey, is far from your typical sports drama — especially as its host unexpectedly relapsed into opioid use during production.

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