Rick Santorum Trades Politics For Movies As CEO Of Faith-Based EchoLight Studios

The most recent news item on Rick Santorum‘s website is the former U.S. senator’s enthusiastic endorsement of Mitt Romney for president of the United States. But the runner-up for the 2012 GOP nomination is back in the headlines: He’s the new CEO of EchoLight Studios, a faith-based production, distribution, marketing and financing company that has released eight straight-to-video films since its founding in 2011. The Dallas-based company has four films in postproduction including The Redemption of Henry Myers, which this fall will be its first theatrical release. “To me, this is a natural extension of a lot of work I’ve been doing,” Santorum told the Wall Street Journal. “One of the things you run into in politics is that you’re downstream from the culture; it’s a huge influence in what goes on in society.”He reportedly will do everything from reading scripts to weighing acquisitions for films in the $2M-$2.5M range that target “soccer moms” ages 35-55 who drive minivans and listen to Christian radio. “I’m not a film producer, but clearly there’s a lot of synergy there,” he told WSJ. “I have a brand; I have opportunities to meet with the influencers in the conservative/Christian community.