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How David Ellison Built Skydance Into Hollywood's Smart Bet - The New York Times

How David Ellison Built Skydance Into Hollywood's Smart Bet - The New York Times

How David Ellison Built Skydance Into Hollywood's Smart Bet - The New York Times
Jun 20, 2021 4 mins, 15 secs

LOS ANGELES — Fifteen years ago, when a 23-year-old David Ellison rolled into Hollywood with oodles of trust-fund cash, entertainment insiders licked their jackal lips: Oh, the fleecing we will do.

Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle, sure looked like “dumb money.” That is the Hollywood term for a gullible, affluent outsider bitten by the movie bug, the type of investor that studios have long counted on to keep their assembly lines running, despite it almost always ending poorly (for the newcomer).

Ellison had given up acting and by 2010 had become a financier and producer for Paramount Pictures, pouring $350 million of equity and debt into movies like “Star Trek Into Darkness” and “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.” But Hollywood snickered at his effort to be taken seriously as a creative force, as did the news media.

Ellison’s fledgling company, Skydance Media, had some homegrown hits, notably the comedy “Grace and Frankie” on Netflix.

Ellison also enraged half of Hollywood by abruptly announcing in January 2019 that John Lasseter, co-founder of Pixar, would join Skydance as animation chief.

Lasseter (“Toy Story,” “Cars”) was radioactive at the time, having resigned seven months earlier as Disney’s chief creative officer amid #MeToo complaints about unwanted workplace hugging and imperious behavior.

He raised $275 million by selling 10 percent of Skydance to investors like RedBird Capital, a private investment firm, and CJ Entertainment, the Korean company behind the Oscar-winning “Parasite.” He lined up $1 billion in revolving credit through JPMorgan Chase.

Ellison said via Zoom.

Lasseter and Holly Edwards, president of animation, Skydance Animation has expanded at a breakneck pace.

Lasseter said in an email.

“I liken it to Pixar at the beginning, but better in that we know more, can push boundaries around creativity and 3-D animation, and aim higher.” (Skydance made Mr. Lasseter available for a photo and a background screening of “Blush,” a coming short animated film, but it declined a request for an on-the-record interview.).

At the same time, Skydance continues to have a producing and financing deal with Paramount.

(It expires next June.) That means Skydance has the opportunity to invest in Paramount productions and help shape the creative outcome.

Ellison has transformed Skydance into the rarest of Hollywood businesses — a thriving, built-from-scratch, all-audiences, independent studio.

In some ways, Skydance is an instruction manual for understanding Hollywood — where it’s been, where it is now, where it’s going.

“Credit where it’s due,” said Jim Gianopulos, chief executive and chairman of Paramount.

Geffen, for instance, has known Larry Ellison for decades and helped guide his son toward Skip Brittenham, a lawyer and power broker.

Brittenham is the definition of Hollywood establishment; he worked on Disney’s first deal to finance and distribute Pixar films in 1991.

Ellison’s younger sister, Megan, who came to Hollywood around the same time that he did and had the same resources available to her.

Ellison used her Oracle inheritance to start a finance and production company, Annapurna, which focused on prestige films like “American Hustle” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” It took off hot, and Ms.

The Skydance chief did not seem to grasp the gravity of the #MeToo movement and the ultra-raw emotions still surrounding it.

Lasseter the poster example of an executive returning to prominence after #MeToo allegations.

“John Lasseter is a category of one.

Lasseter and had privately concluded there was nothing egregious.

The animation guild predicted that Skydance would have a difficult time attracting talent.

Lasseter.

Emma Thompson quit a role in a previously planned Skydance Animation film.

Ellison said the experience made him a better leader.

Women are directing the first two feature films from Skydance Animation, the first of which, “Luck,” about secret organizations that control good fortune and bad, will arrive on Apple TV+ next year.

Lasseter sent a powerful message — not a pariah here.

A Skydance spokeswoman said that more than 50 people had followed Mr.

Lasseter to Skydance Animation from Disney and Pixar.

Perhaps most importantly, female stars have been embracing Skydance Animation.

Ellison and Dana Goldberg, Skydance’s chief creative officer, noting that she had gotten to know them while starring in “Grace and Frankie.”.

Lasseter.

At its current pace of growth — revenue is expected to increase more than 40 percent this year compared with last, the company said — Skydance could be worth $5 billion or more in a few years.

Ellison would most likely pursue a sale or an initial public offering at that point.

Ellison said, sounding more like an M.B.A.

Ellison recently hired Luis Fernández, a 20-year Disney veteran, to start a consumer products business.

Some people in Hollywood remain skeptical that Skydance has the creative expertise to pull it off.

Ellison and his team have excelled at putting projects together (29 films and television series sold to streaming services in two years).

Ellison seriously as a creative power

“We are creatively involved in everything,” he said when asked about the lingering perception that Skydance is mostly a financier, in particular of Paramount-related projects

Ellison said of “Top Gun: Maverick,” taking care to not to take too much credit by name-checking senior collaborators

Ellison added

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