Other Players in the film/other businesses

[jo]

Hugh's longtime talent agency WME ( now WME-IMG) has become much more than just a talent agency for the entertainment and sports businesses.

If you are interested in their rapidly expanding business interests and conglomerations, here's an interesting article from THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER on Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell.

www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/ari-emanuel-patrick-whitesell-unleashed-879003


Very interesting read!

On three issues which are interesting from the perspective of the film business --

How do you maintain A-list clients when you're in places like Jacksonville or Tallahassee meeting with a college sports program? What happens when Ben Affleck or Matt Damon needs something?

WHITESELL Well, the proof's in the pudding. Since we bought IMG, we signed Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds — and what's happened to their careers? It's hard to sit here without being boastful about it. Ari and I still love being agents.

Netflix has become a major buyer for you. How long can this streaming television boom last and what do you think is the long-term strategy at Netflix?

WHITESELL It's a land grab, right? [Netflix] is trying to get to a point where they feel like a monopoly. I don't think they've used that word, but to have a "dominant position." It's all about original content for them right now. They licensed all these libraries to get a foothold, and they've done very well with it.

EMANUEL And they really haven't paid proper pricing for that library, right? They've gotten away with that.

WHITESELL Now Amazon is going to go out and release movies theatrically. We're going to see how they do. We just came off this Sundance festival where we had two record-selling movies by a lot. [WME’s indie film division sold Nate Parker’s 'The Birth of a Nation' for $17.5 million to Fox Searchlight and Kenneth Lonergan’s 'Manchester by the Sea' to Amazon for $10 million.] But OK, what happens now? How do they handle them theatrically? If they're Oscar-worthy, how's that campaign? If they do that, great, then they're going to have success. If they don't, [the market will] come back. It was crazy when HBO started doing original content. Now you think that's the gold standard. Disruption is great because it creates more opportunities for our clients. At Netflix, you get the certainty of it getting made. The flipside is, in syndication could your backend be compromised? It could be.

EMANUEL Patrick and I are trying new things. Some have worked, some haven't worked. We don't like to talk about any of the ones that haven't worked. (Laughs.) But the good thing about the company and the clients is they want to try new things. [WME also helped start merchant bank Raine, which backed Vice Media and 'South Park' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Important Studios, and Media Rights Capital, which produces 'House of Cards' and the 'Ted' movies.] People talk about [risks] because they're all f—ing scared of their own goddamn shadow.

What's going to happen to Paramount? Is consolidation coming to the studios?

EMANUEL We live in a $160 billion ecosystem. The cable bundle is about $100 billion, and then there's about a $50 billion or $60 billion advertising bundle. If the majors do not solve that issue, they will get marginalized by the Amazons, Netflixes and SVOD services. Then there will be consolidation. If the studios can figure out a solve, I think there will be less. I don't think Disney is going anywhere so quickly, I don't think Comcast [is either] because they have their own distribution. I don't think Fox is going anywhere, I don't think Warner Bros. is going anywhere, and neither is CBS — these are still good businesses, but they have to solve for the bundle, and if they can find a solution, I don't think there's going to be as much consolidation as people think.

The diversity issue is front and center. Do you agree agencies aren't putting enough diverse directors on shortlists for jobs?

EMANUEL Hold on. The top five shows packaged by agencies all have diversity in them. Go through them!

That's the TV business, not film.

WHITESELL Well, in the film business, you go meet with the studios because, remember, they're the buyer. We're the seller. They usually say, "Here's what we're looking for, here's what we need, here is our slate." And then we react to that and bring them ideas based upon it. I'm not trying to put all the responsibility on them. It's a shared responsibility. It's not just African-Americans, it's Hispanics, it's Asians, it's everything. It's women. But the notion that the agencies are just holding back their diverse projects is crazy. It's crazy.

Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell

[jo]

Last year, there were some upheavals at FOX due to the appointment of STACY SNIDER to the post of Chairman of Fox Films, pending the departure of Jim Gianopulos. Jim G left earlier than expected and it was speculated that his team, including Emma Watts might also follow suit. This was because there was a reported rift with incoming Chairman Stacey Snider. This was reported in detail on the thread UNDERSTANDING THE FILM BUSINESS.


But, I guess, in the corporate world -- there is a way for contending parties to come together and work together on a consolidated front!


Here's the most suprising news --

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/twentieth-century-fox-promotes-emma-watts-vice-chairman-973947

Twentieth Century Fox Promotes Emma Watts to Vice Chairman
11:09 AM PST 2/9/2017 by Borys Kit



The veteran production executive will work closely with studio chairman and CEO Stacey Snider.
Longtime Fox executive Emma Watts has been named vice chairman of 20th Century Fox Film.

She also will retain her title as president of production.

Watts’ promotion had been widely expected. She has a strong bond with 21st Century Fox chiefs James and Lachlan Murdoch, who installed Stacey Snider as the film studio’s chairman last year. Watts' elevation solidifies her standing in the new regime.

Watts will now oversee a restructured group that brings together all of the studio's filmmaking assets, adding physical production, postproduction, visual effects and music to her ongoing leadership of the studio’s production, story, creative affairs and casting departments.

The announcement was made Thursday by 20th Century Fox Film chairman and CEO Stacey Snider.

“Emma’s work over the past 20 years speaks for itself — she’s simply the best in the industry,” said Snider. “On a personal level, I am thrilled to have her in this new role, one that not only enables us to work more closely together, but also expands her scope so we as a company can take full advantage of her talents as we tackle all the opportunities that lie ahead.”

The new structure will see Fox Animation, led by president Vanessa Morrison, co-report to Snider and Watts.
Fox International Productions and its president Tomas Jegeus will now co-report to Watts and Andrew Cripps, the studio’s president of international distribution. Fox Searchlight and Fox 2000 will continue to report to Snider, as will the studio’s marketing, distribution and other functional departments.

Snider succeeded Jim Gianopulos, who had a close relationship with Watts. In fall 2014, he reupped Watts’ contract for three years after she delivered a stellar slate of films, including X-Men: Days of Future Past and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Watts has been point on the X-Men and the Planet of the Apes movies, both of which are massive parts of the Fox film slate. She also spearheaded the Night at the Museum, Kingsman and Maze Runner franchises.

Watts joined the studio in 1997 and was named exec vp production in 2005. She became the studio’s president of production in 2007.

If I remember correctly, Ms Watts had been supervising the development stages of THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, until Stacy Snider became studio chief. Good to know that they will be working together to help the film project become a complete reality! Maybe Ms. Watts had also something to do with LOGAN?


Jo

[jo]

The report from DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD has more details and is even more candid about the former relationship with Ms. Snider --

Stacey Snider Elevates Emma Watts To Fox Film Vice Chairman

by Mike Fleming Jr

February 9, 2017 11:00am


In a move that stabilizes Fox’s film production division after last year’s Jim Gianopulos exit, 20th Century Fox Film chairman and CEO Stacey Snider has signed Emma Watts to a new deal that makes her Vice Chairman as well as President of Production. The new deal extends her oversight to animation and international productions, as well as physical production, postproduction, visual effects and music.

Related
Stacey Snider Names Dan Berger Fox Film's Chief Spokesman


Fox Animation president Vanessa Morrison will report to Snider and Watts; Fox International Productions president Tomas Jegeus will report to Watts and Andrew Cripps, who is president of International Distribution. Steve Gilula and Nancy Utley’s Fox Searchlight and Elizabeth Gabler’s Fox 2000 continue to report to Snider, as does Watts.


Snider just sent this email to staff:

Everyone,

Please join me in congratulating Emma Watts on her promotion to Vice Chairman of Twentieth Century Fox Film (TCFF) and President of Production for Twentieth Century Fox (TCF) – a move we will be announcing shortly with the press release below. As I say in the release, Emma is truly one of a kind. Her contributions to our studio over the past two decades are too numerous to even attempt to list here, and the relationships she’s built with the industry’s top creative talent is literally unmatched in town. Both personally and professionally, I couldn’t be happier to have her in this expanded role.

Her promotion parallels a new organizational structure that will bring all of TCF’s filmmaking functions under Emma’s leadership. TCF’s Post Production, Physical Production, Music and Visual Effects departments will now report directly to Emma. These new reports will add to her ongoing oversight of TCF’s Production, Story and Creative Affairs groups. Having all these functions under one roof will help us work more collaboratively and efficiently from the development process all the way through post production.

In addition, Vanessa Morrison will continue her leadership of Fox Animation and will now co-report to Emma and me, while Tomas Jegeus, our President of Fox International Productions will continue to lead his group, co-reporting to Emma and Andrew Cripps. Elizabeth Gabler, Nancy Utley and Steve Gilula will continue to report to me, as will our marketing, distribution and other functional areas.

Emma’s new role is another step forward in building out the industry’s top management team – and having her duties scale across even more pieces of our business is fantastic news for the future of our studio. Please join me in once again congratulating Emma on this incredibly well-deserved promotion.

Best,
-S

In an official announcement, Snider said: “Emma’s work over the past 20 years speaks for itself – she’s simply the best in the industry. On a personal level, I am thrilled to have her in this new role, one that not only enables us to work more closely together, but also expands her scope so we as a company can take full advantage of her talents as we tackle all the opportunities that lie ahead.”

Said Watts: “I’m excited to take on more responsibility and incredibly grateful for the continuing opportunity to work with the most creative and dedicated people in the business. A special thank you to Stacey for the trust and confidence she has placed in me with this new role.”



This happy outcome wasn’t a given back when Snider was named Fox Film chairman and CEO last summer — prompting an early exit by predecessor Gianopulos — and word on the lot was that things had been frosty between them and it was an open question whether Watts would continue to steer Fox’s film fortunes. But that talk died down as both executives dug in and focused on the slate. Deadline reported on January 30 that this re-up and ascension of Watts was coming, with the escalation of her responsibilities.


Snider is a seasoned warrior who has a track record of empowering and relying upon her executives. And it was clear that Watts, who joined Fox in 1997, has been one of the most effective film executives working at a studio right now. At Fox she’s doing repeat business with strong filmmakers and the franchises she has built are thriving. It was on her watch that Deadpool got made, an irreverent $58 million budget gamble that grossed $783 million worldwide and spawned a sequel that is in production. The final Wolverine installment Logan looks good and there is strong buzz on War For The Planet Of The Apes directed by Matt Reeves; Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant is skedded for May 19 release; Matthew Vaughn has Kingsman: The Golden Circle slated for this fall; and there is the Jennifer Lawrence-starrer Red Sparrow skedded for November 10; the Deadpool character and his irreverence seem likely to become a cornerstone for future X-Men spinoffs. All this to go with James Cameron’s Avatar sequels.

Future potential franchises include a deal Watts made with Loving helmer Jeff Nichols to write and direct what’s envisioned as a film trilogy based on the cult favorite 1988 science fiction thriller Alien Nation, that is a metaphor for racism and tolerance. The studio just prevailed in pre-empting the Raymond A. Villareal novel A People’s History Of The Vampire Uprising. It is described as World War Z with vampires and 21 Laps’ Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen will produce it and fast-track development of a book that sold in a big deal to the Little, Brown imprint Mulholland Books and will be published next year.

[mamaleh]

Women have long been the ultimate minority group in Hollywood---good sign that things may be changing. Let's hope the two-woman team hits it out of the park, as they say.

Ellen

[jo]

This is generalizing but aren't women supposed to be the more intuitive gender

Identifying film projects that appeal to general audiences or specific demos ( in terms of production as well as marketing) is probably the main asset of this two-woman team.

Jo