On Tuesday, Netflix will release its highly anticipated Untold: The Fall of Favre episode, which will focus on Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre’s off-field issues.
Ahead of its release, executive producer and former Front Office Sports reporter A.J. Perez spoke to Awful Announcing about his involvement in the project, what it was like to have his reporting translated to a documentary format, and how Favre himself feels about it.
The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Awful Announcing: “Executive producer” can mean a lot of different things. How would you describe your involvement in this project?
A.J. Perez: “Oh man, it goes back to late 2023 when we first pitched this to Netflix and I was part of it. EverWonder [Studio] just started up, we ended up sharing the same office building, the same floor in New York, one side is EverWonder, one side is [Front Office Sports], and they came to us like, ‘What are you guys working on?’ And one of my editors asked me, and I’m like, ‘Well, we’ve got Favre.’
“This is when there was still a question whether there would be criminal charges against Favre like there have been against others. We pitched it and Netflix bought it actually fairly quickly. It was actually awesome. That’s kind of the power of Ever Wonder, even though they’re new, they have a lot of veteran great people there.
“Then we went into production February 2024. And when I first started on it, I really didn’t know what my role was. It was FOS’s first project, my first project. So it was kind of like feeling myself around and then I got kind of got more involved in it, just because not only my reporting on the welfare scandal and and how the brands left him and all the other stuff that was Favre-related that I’ve covered, but it was also having roots; my grandparents are from Wisconsin. I have cousins there. So that was actually very helpful for that and I booked out a lot of the interviews. I was pretty hands-on.
“It was daily meetings for months and and kind of planning things out. And obviously we have to pivot when someone drops out of an interview. We had some problems with that like any other project. There’s a lot of those people close to Favre who didn’t want to talk and we had to work around that because that’s just the way it is. People are conscious of their image, so I totally get that. So yeah, I was fairly heavily involved throughout the process.”
AA: As you mentioned, a lot of the project is based on the reporting you did [for Front Office Sports]. What was it like to see your written reporting translated to a Netflix show?
Perez: “I’ve watched all these Untolds over the years and the Balco one, you know, Hall of Shame, oh man, that was funny. I didn’t text anybody until after it debuted, but when I was watching the screener I’m like, ‘I know everybody in this documentary.’ I have their cellphone [numbers]. So once it debuted, I was texting Victor Conte and all these others that were in it, and it’s kind of like, you think to yourself, ‘Oh, I should be doing this.’
“Being a journalist, there’s always a fear that our skills don’t translate to anything else. And I felt that it translated well. Literally, it was telling both sides, telling the full story. Getting people to talk to you is a little harder on camera than than it is a phone call, but there’s those things. It was just kind of translated over and I worked really well with Time Studios who did the producing and our director, Rebecca Gitlitz, who is amazing. I mean, I could not have asked for a better first-time experience with anybody because she’s just a rock star.
“So it was weird and a lot of the things that I cared about may not have made it. But I think all the major stuff did. I didn’t expect every story, all the dozens of stories I wrote on Favre to make it. But even if you don’t see my story on the screen, it did help with telling the story, and helping Becca tell the story or the other producers tell the story, because they could just come to me and probably more often than not, I’d be able to have an answer for them pretty quickly on somebody or something.”
AA: You guys covered so much, from his playing career to the Jenn Sterger scandal to obviously the Mississippi welfare case. Was there any consideration to making this multiple episodes?
Perez: “That’s one of the things you realize when you make documentaries is you always want more. I think this could have been two [episodes], it could have been three, but I think we did a good job at one feature length. It is tough because it is a finite space.
“The documentary industry is very, very tough and what you would do on your own may not even work because you have so many people, so much input from Netflix and others that makes what we do better.
“You know, we always want more. I’m pitching other documentaries right now and one of them is like five parts. I know I’m not gonna get five parts, but you always ask for more because if you have the goods, go for it… you can tell a story in an hour in a few minutes, but yeah, it is tough. I think we threaded the needle on this one though.”
AA: Obviously we know based on his previous lawsuits against Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe that Favre is very litigious. Even though I’m sure you were confident you had all of your bases covered, did that give you any pause about being involved in a project like this?
Perez: “I think no matter who you report on, you have to be honest, you have to be truthful. You have to make sure everything’s buttoned up, so if you use anonymous sources, really make sure it’s buttoned up.
“So that really didn’t change. And yes, he sued McAfee, he sued Shannon Sharpe, and then Chad White, the state auditor. And he threatened others. And we knew that because there was a couple of years ago, people like reporters and media figures were getting letters from Favre. I never got one of those, but I did get that phone call and I live in a one-party state in Virginia, so that kind of gives me cover there, legally.
“Defamation-wise, just tell the truth. And yeah, anybody can sue for anything. As we saw with Shannon Sharpe, that defamation lawsuit, it was appealed and everything, but it eventually got thrown out. Pat settled for basically nothing, just an apology or a correction, clarification, and then Chad White’s is still going. So yeah, you have to be careful. I’ve covered Dan Snyder. I’ve covered all the people who are said to be litigious throughout my career, and I’ve been fortunate not to face one of those, but it’s because I’m careful, and what I report is accurate.”
AA: There’s a scene in the episode where they show you listening to threatening voicemails that you had received from Favre’s representatives because of your reporting. What was that like, and how did that scene come to fruition?
Perez: “It was a few months before we started production, a few months before we actually got the green light from Netflix and Ever Wonder. We started talking around table; what are our ideas? Who do you want to talk to? And I threw O.J. [Simpson] out there. No idea why.
“I was just like, ‘let’s get O.J., let’s try for [Donald] Trump.’ This is before really Favre was really tied to Trump. It was people who have been accused of stuff. And it was like during one of those meetings where just like throwing names out there like Michael Vick, which we got, fortunately. So it was like, ‘I got this [voicemail].’ We had it in our back pocket for months. It kind of fit there. That was one of the more fun phone calls of my career.”
AA: Obviously, Favre didn’t participate in the project, which I’m sure wasn’t a huge surprise. Have you gotten any feedback or reaction from his camp about it?
Perez: “I have not heard anything from Favre’s camp for many months. And it got to a point after that threat, I would have to have one of my editors reach out for comment because they thought they were a little too aggressive with me. So a few of the stories that ran after that phone call, it was an editor or somebody else reaching out to their to their camp just to, I wouldn’t say protect me, but just protect FOS and everything else.
“So I really don’t know. I don’t know what the reaction is from Favre, he’s been pretty quiet… I haven’t had any contact with his camp for several months now.”
AA: You cover sports media. Untold has obviously been a polarizing series within the industry because of the perception it allows its subjects too much creative control. This obviously isn’t that. Do you think this could be a new chapter for Untold moving forward, because this felt more like the kind of hard-hitting journalism that people are looking for from this type of project.
Perez: “Yeah, there’s always a mix. Look at the first two episodes of that this season. You’ve got [Javaris] Crittenden and Gilbert Arenas, the Shooting Guards one was amazing. Yes, they’re both involve a documentary, but it also told the full story. And then The Liver King, which as a personal trainer, I cannot wait. There’s so many people on social media, influencers like, ‘yeah, they’re not doing it naturally.’ So I really can’t wait to see that one. That one’s more personality-driven as well.
“But yeah, there’s always been a mix where there’s ones like [Steve] McNair and mine and others, but there’s a mix and I know there was some pushback, especially for the Florida one [Swamp Kings], the [Tim] Tebow and Urban Meyer stuff, and it’s a tough thing because you get access to these individuals. I’m not saying it’s like you’re promising anything, but it does result in different kind of documentary. But it doesn’t make it any worse. It’s kind of just that’s the way it is.
“I think the mix of doing this kind of documentary where you don’t have the cooperation, it does tell the good and the bad. So I did that. But yeah, so far this season, I’m not counting mine, but I think this has been a good one.”