The Hollywood Reporter – August 14, 2019

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 69 AUGUST 14, 2019

*Disney and Fox merged in March. Source: THR Research

The grooming of the next

generation is a concern for even

seasoned producers, some of

whom see the corporatization

of the studios as squashing any

producer dissent.

“Studios don’t want to be chal-

lenged; they like consensus,” says

one studio producer. “But then,

that’s reflected in the vanilla

product you will get.”

The days of vanity deals also

are on the wane. One source

pointed to the fact that Judge

Reinhold still carried a deal at

Paramount not that long ago.

Reese Witherspoon, for one, lost

her deal at Universal in 2008

amid the strike (the actress has

no current film deal despite

such producing credits as Gone

Girl and the upcoming Natalie

Portman starrer Lucy in the Sky,

though she is very active in TV).

Margot Robbie and Michael B.

The problem is how are the films

going to be distributed? Who’s

interested in paying the money

to market the movies? So the

distributors are getting cold feet

about picking up good movies

and you’re left with a gigantic

heartbreak, which is even the case

when you’ve made a genuinely

good movie.”

Others are looking at this

moment in Holly wood with some

guarded measure of optimism

because the three biggest stu-

dios — Disney, Warner Bros.

and Universal — will soon be

launching their own streaming

services, prompting a renewed

demand for feature content to

feed the pipeline, albeit with non-

theatrical features. That means a

need for producers to fill the void.

Universal has actually begun add-

ing to its roster, with Phil Lord

and Chris Miller (Spider-Man: Into

Jordan are among the exceptions

(both are based at Warners).

The convergence of factors has

left most producers looking for

outside money to finance devel-

opment. And though many are

successful — Raine Group made

a $100 million-plus investment

in Imagine Entertainment after

the Ron Howard-Brian Grazer-led

shingle lost its once-lucrative deal

with Universal — there are only

so many distributors who can

release a film theatrically. Several

notable indies have imploded in

recent years (The Weinstein Co.,

Broad Green, Open Road), while

others are holding on by a thread

(STX, Annapurna).

“Every independent producer

right now is facing the exact same

battle,” says producer Matthew

Baer (Unbroken). “The problem

isn’t about raising money for

good independent screenplays.

the Spider-Verse) providing the

most recent example.

“We are in a moment of transi-

tion,” says Chris Bender, who has

a first-look deal at New Line and

whose banner also includes a

successful management divi-

sion. “Traditional studios are

entering the streaming platform

space and they are going to have

to increase content to be competi-

tive. And for that, they are going

to need producers, for ideas and

to oversee production.”

In fact, Bender believes that one

of the hardest jobs for producers

is knowing what area to focus on.

“While I’m waiting for major stu-

dios to figure out their streaming

strategies, do I focus on Netflix or

HBO Max or Quibi?” he asks. “As

a manager, we see talent going to

work in ways we didn’t pre-strike.

So, I feel this odd mix of excite-

ment and concern.”

THE DISAPPEARING PRODUCER-STUDIO DEALS: THEN AND NOW

As Disney goes, the rest of the industry typically follows. So it should cause alarm among

producers given that the studio has slashed its roster of film producers with first-look

deals from 24 at the height of such deals in 2003 down to a current seven. Sony also has

trimmed the fat, moving from 29 in 2003 to eight now. Though Warner Bros., Paramount

and Fox have held steady (the latter now under Disney’s domain), their lineups are

expected to dwindle in the future, particularly Fox’s, as deals expire. Universal is the only

outlier, with the same number of deals now that it had in place in 2003. Here are some of

the producers who can still call a major studio a home.

2003

2019

5

0

10

15

20

25

30

35

1 Beacon

2 Boxing Cat

3 Jerry

Bruckheimer

4 FP Ventures

5 40 Acres and

a Mule

6 Gunn Films

7 Harbour

Pictures

8 Hyde Park

9 Junction

10 Live Planet

11 Manderville

12 Garry Marshall

13 Mayhem

14 Offspring

15 Pandemonium

16 Pfeffer

17 Pioneer

Pictures

18 Positano

19 Rocket

20 Rob

Schneider

21 Robert

Simonds

22 Storyline

23 Vanguard

24 Walden

Media

24

Disney absorbed a number of producers following its

acquisition of Fox in March, but the future of those deals

is uncertain. In a sign of the times, Disney cut ties with

powerhouse Jerry Bruckheimer in 2013 (he then moved

to Paramount). Rob Marshall (Mary Poppins Returns) is

the only director to currently have a deal at Disney.

1 Depth of Field

2 Imagine

3 Jersey

4 Kennedy/

Marshall

5 Larger Than

Life

6 Mandalay

7 Barry Mendel

8 Misher

9 Mostow/

Liberman

10 Marc Platt

11 Playtone

12 Shady Acres

13 Sean William

Scott

14 Shutt-Jones

15 Casey Silver

16 Sommers

17 Strike

18 Tribeca

19 Ty p e A

20 Working Title

Focus Features

21 Anonymous

Content

22 Jane Campion

23 Elephant Walk

Entertainment

24 David Leveaux

25 Liaison Films

26 Pretty

Pictures

27 This Is That

1 Judd Apatow

2 Elizabeth

Banks &

Max Handelman

3 Tim Bevan &

Eric Fellner

4 Jason Blum

5 Dylan Clark

6 Michael De Luca

7 Vin Diesel &

Samantha Vincent

8 Paul Feig

9 Tina Fey

10 David

Hoberman &

Todd Lieberman

11 Chris Meledandri

12 Kevin Hart

13 Robert Kirkman

& David Alpert

14 Malcolm D. Lee

15 David Leitch &

Kelly McCormick

16 Eva Longoria

17 Phil Lord &

Chris Miller

18 Marsai Martin

19 Lorne Michaels

20 Janelle Monáe

21 Chris Morgan

22 Will Packer

23 Amy Pascal

24 Jordan Peele

25 Marc Platt

26 Charlize Theron

/Beth Kono/

A.J. Dix

27 Jeffrey Weiner

& Ben Smith

27 27

1 1492

2 Alcon

3 AS

4 Baltimore/

Spring Creek

5 Castle Rock

6 Di Novi

7 Franchise

Pictures

8 Fortis

9 G4TV

10 Further

11 Gaylord/

Pandora

12 Gerber

13 Heyday

14 Industry

15 Killer

16 Mad Chance

17 Malpaso

18 Maple Shade

19 Morgan Creek

20 Plan B

21 Radiant

22 SDR

23 Section Eight

24 Dylan K.

Sellers

25 Shangri La

26 Silver

27 WBEZ Alliance

28 Village

Roadshow

29 Weed Road

30 Jerry

Weintraub

31 John Wells

32 Wildwood

32

23

1 Allied Stars

2 Art Echo

3 Martin Campbell

4 Circle of

Confusion

5 Escape Artists

6 Flower

7 Leonard Goldberg

8 Gracie

9 Happy Madison

10 Heartburn

11 Konrad

12 Tobey Maguire

13 Laurence Mark

14 Nancy Meyers

15 Mace Neufeld

16 Nuyorican

17 Original

18 Out of the Blue

19 Overbrook

20 Parkway

21 Red Wagon

22 Ricochet

23 Sprocketdyne

24 Ta l l Tr e e s

25 Tehani

26 Art Winkler

27 Wonderland

28 Laura Ziskin

29 Revolution

29

1 Doug Belgrad

2 Clint Culpepper

3 Escape Artists

4 Ghost Corps

5 Will Gluck

6 Larry Mark

7 Issa Rae

8 Unanimous

8

22

1 J.J. Abrams

2 Josh Appelbaum

& André Nemec

3 Darren

Aronofsky

4 Marty Bowen

5 Jerry

Bruckheimer

6 Lorenzo di

Bonaventura

7 Leonardo

DiCaprio

8 Will Ferrell

9 Andrew Form &

Brad Fuller

10 Todd Garner

11 Akiva Goldsman

12 Eric Heisserer &

Lawrence Grey

13 Daniel Kaluuya

14 Matthew Kaplan

15 Graham King

16 Adam McKay

17 Neal Moritz

18 Ty l e r P e r r y

19 Martin

Scorsese

19

1 Alphaville

2 Carsey-Werner-

Mandabach

3 Bob Cort

4 Crusader

5 C/W

6 De Line

7 Di Bonaventura

8 Evans Ent.

Group

9 First Light

10 Kerner

11 Klasky Csupo

12 Lakeshore

13 Latham

14 Lion Rock

15 LRO

16 Manhattan

Project

17 MTV

18 Mutual

19 Nickelodeon

20 Scott Rudin

21 SNL Studios

22 Tollin/Robbins

1 Tr e vo r A l b e r t

2 Bazmark

3 Conundrum

4 Davis

5 Everyman

6 Firm Films

7 Mark Gordon

8 Icon

9 Barry

Josephson

10 David E. Kelley

11 Lightstorm

12 Moore/Blum

13 New Regency

14 Zak Penn’s Co.

15 Scott Free

16 Te n T h i r te e n

17 Underworld

18 Ralph Winter

FOX 2000

19 Everyman

20 Wendy

Finerman

21 Spiritdance

22 State St.

23 Gil Netter

24 Ralph Winter

Fox Searchlight

25 Uberto

Pasolini

FOX Animation

26 Lori Forte

26

Disney

1 Kristin Burr

2 Gordon Gray

3 Rob Marshall/

John DeLuca

4 Justin Springer

5 Suzanne Todd

6 Brigham Taylor

7 Jim Whitaker

FOX

8 Ben Affleck &

Matt Damon

9 Wes Ball

10 Josh Bearman

& Josh Davis

11 Greg Berlanti

12 Boom! Studios

13 Peter Chernin

14 Scott Frank

15 DeVon Franklin

16 Noah Hawley &

John Cameron

17 Jeremy Latcham

18 Shawn Levy

19 James Mangold

20 Hutch Parker

21 Radar Pictures

22 Ryan Reynolds

23 Ridley Scott

24 Steve Zaillian

25 John Green

26 Nina Jacobson

27 Karen Rosenfelt

28 George Tillman

& Robert Teitel

28

1 Gary Barber

2 Bradley Cooper

& Todd Phillips

3 Donald DeLine

4 Denise Di Novi

5 Bill Gerber

6 David Heyman

7 LeBron James/

Maverick

Carter

8 Broderick

Johnson/

Andrew Kosove

9 Michael B.

Jordan

10 Sue Kroll

11 Andrew Lazar

12 Roy Lee & John

Berg

13 Dan Lin

14 Charles King

15 Chris McKay

16 Margot Robbie

17 Lionel Wigram

18 David Yates

New Line

19 Chris Bender

20 Michael Disco

21 Beau Flynn

22 John Rickard

23 James Wan

DISNEY / FOX* PARAMOUNT SONY UNIVERSAL WARNER BROS.

Sony has shed pricey pacts from once

high-flyers such as Adam Sandler,

James L. Brooks and Nancy Meyers;

Will Smith’s Overbrook left the studio

at the beginning of this year.