WGNO

Play-action! Drew Brees joins movie studio

NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is taking on a new role off the playing field.  He’s teamed up with three other athletes in a producing team for Argent Pictures.

Brees joins NBA guard Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs, retired NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Brooks, and retired NBA all-star Michael Finley in the new endeavor.

The quartet of athletes will help develop, finance, and produce films with Argent.  The plan includes developing, financing and producing three to six projects per year.

The Los Angeles based film production and financing company was involved in the making of Tom Cruise’s American Made, Nate Parker’s Birth of a Nation, Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, the Sundance Audience Award-winning documentary Chasing Coral, and most notably for many in New Orleans, the Steve Gleason documentary Gleason.

Brees was involved in both Gleason and Hacksaw Ridge.  Parker, Brooks and Finley have worked on projects with Argent as well.

“Having worked with Mike, Drew, Tony and Derrick for many years on their entertainment endeavors, not only have they become good friends but our collective experience in the entertainment industry has been very rewarding and successful,” said Argent CEO Ben Renzo.

“We felt strongly that uniting as a formalized team under Argent would provide us greater reach to source and attract the best stories and storytellers, and enhance our ability to efficiently develop, finance and produce more films than ever before.”

“For me, being in the film business is about being able to tell stories and having a viable vehicle to do so. We are all inspired by stories with motivating messages yet are highly entertaining,” Brees said.

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