The film industry is being challenged by a 28 year old female. Her name is Megan Ellison. She is the head of Annapurna Productions, which she founded in 2011. Her production company has produced a list of films that over the past 5 years has rivaled any major studio in Hollywood in terms of recognition and box office success. Of course the reason she is in the position to change how movies are made in Hollywood has to do with the fact that her father is one of the richest human beings on the planet earth. Megan’s father is Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle and is currently the third richest person in the world. Having billions of dollars at your disposal puts you in a very powerful position regardless of your merits. Money aside, it is how she uses her power that makes her unique. Annapurna Pictures, has pushed out recent films such as, Spike Jonze's “Her,” David O. Russell's “American Hustle”, Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master, Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty", and Wong Kar Wai's 'The Grandmaster”. These films have received a combined 27 Oscar nominations. Over the last year she opened the foreign arm of her production company expanding her reach outside the United States into foreign markets with foreign film makers. The company she keeps is equally impressive. She is garnering the attention of Hollywood’s elite directors and actors, all lining up to work with her. Recently Ellison exclusivity works with the cream of the crop, and Annapurna's upcoming slate illustrates her consistent taste. Annapurna Pictures Website Her production company’s upcoming projects include…… |
| Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "The Reverent", starring Leonardo Dicaprio |
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| Nancy Meyer's The Intern |
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| Bennett Miller's Fox-catcher |
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| "A house in the Sky" starring Rooney Mara |
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| Richard Linklater's, :That's What I'm Talking About" |
The reason I consider Megan Ellison an auteur is primarily because the movies made under her banner have a distinctive feel to them. The uniqueness of her films include larger budget, bigger stars, top notch directors and writers, but also have the feel of an independent film. The is rare in Hollywood. Typically the bigger budget films limited to a major studio production that are intended to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in profit for the studio. The films that are made at Annapurna put quality ahead of quantity. They represent a different mold of Hollywood films that dig deeper in meaning and emotion of the films meaning that typical "popcorn" movies that are seen in such frequency these days.
A recent article in Variety focused on Ellison’s philosophy… Spike Jonze, who directed an Annapurna produced film, "Her" said, “Her idea is to make a company that filmmakers want to be at, not just because she’s funding these movies, but because of the philosophy of the company, and the people who work there. Normally, the idea of the financier coming by the editing room all the time isn't very comforting, but with Megan, if she’d be walking up to work from her house, I’d get my feelings hurt if she didn't stop in and say hi.” The rarity of the head of a major production company being so hands on in the editing process of film making shows her unique ability to be involved in the most tedious and unnoticed aspects of movie making. And the fact the the films director, Jonze, who himself is a veteran and world renowned director, sees her involvement as a positive shows you that the respect she carries is rare. SHe is also getting the respect of the media moguls as well. David Geffen Said of Ellison, “People would like to see her fail but she is serious and she is winning, she's quite a girl,It never occurred to me she would be this successful this quickly.”
Megan Ellison has been firm in her belief to allow women to control the fate of most of the movies success that her production company releases. One example is Zero Dark Thirty. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Jessica Chastain, it is female driven and the movies main character exudes confidence on multiple levels and holds her own in the company of many though male supporting characters. Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post writes of Ellison, “the women in movies Ellison makes never seem less than formidable and fascinating, even when they have to swipe the movie from a male co-star or lead him.”
I believe Megan Ellison represents a new type of Hollywood that focuses more on the content versus box office numbers. Due to her immense wealth and independent status, she is not beholden to any corporation or shareholders to tell her what movies to make. She makes films that she connects with and in turn one's that audiences connect with as well. Having a producer who's agenda doesn't revolves solely around box office success is a welcome relief. Independent producer Cassie Elwes summed it up best in a recent article in the financial times. He said of Ellison,
"The studios are owned by conglomerates and unless the movie makes $300 million or $400 million it won’t move their stock price. So a movie that costs $25m that makes $25m profit won’t interest them because the risk of losing $25m outweighs the positive of making $25m on it.To the studios, that whole middle section of films – serious dramas with major stars – are a big pain because it takes just as much work to make them as it would to make Iron Man 5. There’s this whole middle ground of directors and stars and the studios don’t want to make these movies. And into the breach steps Megan Ellison.”
Works Cited:
Alyssa Rosenberg's article in the washington post:
Variety article about Annapurna Films:
Triblive Article about Megan:
Deadline article on Annapurna Films:
Advocate 40 under 40 list including Megan Ellison:
Financial Times article on Ellison:
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