With no live events scheduled for this year, the Professional Fighters League has set up PFL Studios to produce their own original content. The division is set up to provide the same kind of marketing and programming push for PFL that NFL Films has provided the NFL for decades. "This was not necessarily in reaction to Covid-19, but this content will certainly fill a void the rest of second quarter and going into the third quarter," said PFL CEO Peter Murray. "We made the decision last year to invest in more resources to tell more stories. It kind of worked out from a timing standpoint that we're filling a demand." ESPN already has committed to carry the first four PFL Studios projects, starting this month. Former Fox Sports producer and director George Greenberg and PFL Chief Digital Officer Daniel Ghosh-Roy will head up the new venture, with offices in N.Y. and L.A. "We will handle production very aggressively with graphics and with music," Greenberg said. "We're going to be doing over 30 shows in the next four or five months."
IN THE WORKS: PFL Studios' first projects will be "Fantastic Finishes," a seven-episode highlight-driven series, and "Inside The Season," a 10-part series that recaps the '19 PFL season. Other projects include "A Champion’s Journey" and "The Randy Couture Story." In addition to TV programming, PFL Studios will produce digital shorts, with programming like the weekly series “Inside the Knockout” and “Run it Back.” Both Murray and Greenberg said that they patterned PFL Studios after NFL Films. “Look at the role that the NFL Films production facility and content house played in shaping the image of the NFL over the years and providing fans access to the athletes and the games and the great stories,” Murray said. “Not only is there a demand for live sports, but also the great stories.” Greenberg agreed: “This is straight up storytelling. NFL Films every week found a really cool way to hook you. We have all these great stories behind the curtain. Everything that happens after the decision is made is as rich as anything we have.”
