Celebrity-run Production Companies
Celebrity Production companies seem to pop up every day. Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore, Margot Robbie, even Marilyn Monroe all have started their own production companies after they’ve reached celebrity status. In comparison to the last Indie companies we’ve studied these end up being a lot more durable and able to ward off bad box office numbers. They fufil a different purpose than most productions companies.
Marilyn Monroe Productions
Marilyn Monroe Productions was founded in 1954 after her brief suspension from MGM for refusing to accept a part under contract. She spent 1955 founding the production company while on suspension and her contract was renewed by MGM giving her much more creative control than before and a larger salary. Marilyn Monroe Productions offer her a bigger chance at freedom. It was a way to fight back against the studios, and it proved that the power was in her name not in MGM. Her independent company offered her a chance to work when if they ever threatened her with suspension again. The company made The Prince and the Showgirl which ended up being a box office flop but Monroe’s name was undamaged and her career was not affected by it.
Flower Films
Drew Barrymore’s Production company had a very similar model to Monroes. A child star, Barrymore founded flower films in her adulthood and it has produced every film she has starred in since then. The most notable film to come out of this production company is whip it, because Barrynore directed it herself. The film received mostly positive reviews but only made 16 million on a 15 million dollar budget . But Barrymore and flower were unaffected by this. When an actor has a production company they play by the actor rulebook not that of production companies. A normal production company gets a bad box office run and they usually do not recover as had been the case for Ubu productions.
Hello Sunshine
While celebrity production companies may have started to give power back to the actors fighting the studio system, they’ve adapted since it’s collapse. Resse Witherspoons Hello Sunshine has been massively successful and it’s due to her celebrity status. Originally Witherspoon founded Type A productions in 2000 which was later turned into Pacific Standard. In 2016 Witherspoon split with her production partner and founded Hello Sunshine. Hello Sunshine has produced show like Daisey Jones and the Six, and The Morning Show. Hello Sunshine appears to select it’s properties in 2 ways. One: Witherspoon has been approached as an actress and part of obtaining her as an actress is to also collaborate with her production company. Or two: A book is Selected through Witherspoons book club on instagram after the rights are purchased, which does wonders for the marketing of a movie before it’s even in production. This model has worked incredibly well and in 2022 Witherspoon sold Hello Sunshine for 900 million.
We’ve talked previously about the struggles of Big Idea and Phil Vischer who an animation genius a talent writer and director, but terrible at the business management aspect of the company. When the company entered a more profitable spot he stopped being able to do what he was good at and was stuck in the business side of it all, something that he wasn’t trained for, celebrities avoid this pitfall all together. Celebrities are the face, their name has power and they attach themselves to riskier projects on the assumption that their name will get people interested. The celebrity world offers plenty of free marketing through gossip and tabloids and fashion blogs. They are able to recover because while they are the face of the production company they don’t face the same consequences a faceless production company would in the industry. This is important to discuss because it skews the data for independent production companies. The companies are independent but they are given a massive leg up at there conception.
