Esquire Network has ordered a 10-episode docu-series chronicling the off-field action among four leading sports agents during the run-up to the 2015 National Football League draft. The Agent will premiere in July, the network said Tuesday (March 24).
The series aims to give viewers an insider's look at the business behind a sport that experienced a troubling 2014-15 season off and on the field. The production gained exclusive access to the four agents -- Jeff Guerriero, Peter Schaffer, Sunny Shah and Ed Wasielewski -- starting last summer, Esquire Network said, capturing contract negotiations, endorsement deals, recruiting, private clubs, training, and meetings with scouts and veteran NFL players, all in pursuit of securing the top draft pick.
Filming will continue at least through the NFL draft, which begins on April 30 and ends May 2.
With its mix of drama (the "ruthless pressure" of a "cutthroat world," as the network characterized it) and characters (who Esquire positions as "real-life Jerry Maguires"), The Agent appears to fit squarely into the network's gameplan to offer programming built around "a decidely masculine experience" but in a "tone of voice that's accessible to women," as Esquire Net president Adam Stotsky told Multichannel News last year.
While it aims to skew male, the network also wants to court women viewers watching with significant others as well as solo. "This is not the men's locker room," he said at the time. "Women are very welcome at the Esquire Network."
The Agent will join other character-focused football- and sports-themed series on the network, including Friday Night Tykes, The Short Game and Horseplayers.
The Agent is executive produced by Emmy winners Mark Herzog and Christopher G. Cowen of Herzog & Company/HCO (CNN's The Sixties) with Vincent DiPersio, also an Emmy-winning producer, and Josh Mamann. Nicole Zien from HCO is co-executive producer. Esquire Network did not reveal a specific premiere date.
