During his 12 years in the National Football League, Greg Ellis was all about production.
Starting from day one as first-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys, Ellis was as consistent as they come, averaging 14 starts, 44 tackles and seven sacks per season. He only missed time in 2006 when he tore his Achilles and bounced back from that injury to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors the following season, posting a career-best 12.5 sacks.
But now production takes on a different meaning for the 40-year-old Dallas resident. After retiring from the league, Ellis launched his own video production company, Play Now Enterprise. And this year, for the first time, Ellis served as Executive Producer of a feature film.
“Carter High” is the gripping, emotional (and true) story of the 1988 Dallas Carter High School football team, which against tremendous odds captured a Texas state championship…only to see it eventually stripped away amidst scandal and controversy.
The film, which opened in theaters on October 30, stars Charles S. Dutton as Coach Freddie James, as well as Vivica A. Fox, Pooch Hall and David Banner. “Carter High” also serves as the feature film debut for many talented young actors, including Mack White, who plays future NFL star Jessie Armstead.
The film is directed by Arthur Muhammad, who also played on that 1988 Carter team. Muhammad and Ellis had worked together on several projects for Play Now before deciding the team up on “Carter High.”
“I wanted to do something that would give us a good chance of being successful and for that to happen you have to have something that’s going to impact people’s lives,” he said. “And I felt this story would impact a whole lot of people’s lives.”
“Carter High” is a football film in the sense that there are players and coaches, helmets and hitting. But the essence of the film stretches far beyond the football field. It’s about young, talented people making choices, in the heat of the moment, that end up affecting their lives – and the lives of those closest to them – for years to come. And that message hit home for Ellis.
“It’s about life-changing decisions,” he said. “It shows how the choices you make as a kid will dictate how you live the rest of your life.”
The choice for Ellis after football was an easy one. He was a communications major at the University of North Carolina and has always been interested in media. And in many ways his second career has been just as challenging – and rewarding -- as his first.
“You put a lot of effort into becoming an NFL player and then when you enter a second career you have to put that same effort into it,” Ellis said. “It was like starting at ground zero for me producing a movie. There were a lot of hurdles we had to jump over but we were able to get it done.”
For more information about “Carter High” visit the movie’s official website at www.carterhighmovie.com.
To view a trailer of the movie "Carter High", click here