.svg) | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Industry | Film production |
| Founded | January 2004; 21 years ago (2004-01) |
| Founder | Jeffrey Skoll |
| Defunct | April 16, 2024; 19 months ago (2024-04-16) |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
|
| Products | Feature films Television series |
| Website | Official website |
Participant Media, LLC was an American independentfilm and television production company founded in 2004 byJeffrey Skoll, dedicated to entertainment intended to spur social change.[1] The company financed and co-produced film and television content, as well asdigital entertainment through its subsidiary SoulPancake, which the company acquired in 2016.[2]
The company was originally named Participant Productions and went on to become a well-known independent financier. The company's name descriptively politicizes[3] its basis on currentlytopical subjects presented to induce awareness of problematic social aspects.[4][5][6]
The company produced, financed, or co-produced 135 films and five television series. Its films have been nominated for 73 Academy Awards, and have won 18, including Best Picture forGreen Book andSpotlight.[7][8][9][10]
Participant, which earnedB Corp certification in 2017,[11] was the largest company that exclusively produces and financessocial impact entertainment.[12]
On April 16, 2024, Skoll announced that the company would be ceasing operations after two decades, with nearly all of its staff being dismissed and development of new content shutting down entirely.[13]
The company was founded in January 2004 asParticipant Productions byJeffrey Skoll, the "second employee" ofeBay,[14][8] with $100 million in cash from his personal funds.[4] Its goal was to produce projects that would be both commercially viable and socially relevant.[15]
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Skoll was the company's first chief executive officer, but stepped down in August 2006.[4] The firm's initial plans were to produce four to six films per year, each with a budget of $40 million.[5][15] It focused on films in six areas – the environment, health care, human rights, institutional responsibility, peace and tolerance, and social and economic justice.[4] It evaluated projects by running them past its creative executives first, only then assessing their cost and commercial viability, and analyzing their social relevance last.[4][16] Once the decision was made to go ahead with production, the company askednon-profit organizations to build campaigns around the release.[4][5] In some cases, the studio has spent years creating positive word-of-mouth with advocacy groups, which are often encouraged to use the film to push their own agendas.[17]
The new company quickly announced an ambitious slate of productions. Its first film was thedrama filmAmerican Gun (2005), withequity partnerIFC Films.[5][6] Two weeks later, the company announced aco-production deal withWarner Bros. on two films – thegeopoliticalthriller filmSyriana (2005) and the drama filmClass Action (later re-titledNorth Country) (2005).[6][18] Participant Productions contributed half the budget of each film.[6] Its fourth production, a documentary film, was announced in November 2004. TitledThe World According to Sesame Street (2005), the film examined the impact of the children's television showSesame Street on world culture, focusing onKosovo,Bangladesh,South Africa andEl Salvador.[19][20] At the same time, the company began to implement anenvironmentally friendly strategy:Syriana was the company's firstcarbon-neutral production, and the company createdcarbon offsets for the documentary filmAn Inconvenient Truth (2006).[21]
In 2005, the company suffered its first stumble. It again agreed to co-finance a picture with Warner Bros.,Vadim Perelman's second feature,Truce.[22] Although Perelman claimed he had "never been moved by a script to such an extent",[22] the film never went into production.[23]North Country did poorly at the box office despite recent Academy Award-winnerCharlize Theron in the lead.[7]The World According to Sesame Street never found a distributor for theatrical release, and eventually only aired onPBS television,Sesame Street's broadcast home.[7]
The company announced in March 2005 that it would executive produce the Warner Bros. drama filmGood Night, and Good Luck.[24] At theCannes Film Festival in May, the company bought the right to distribute the forthcoming drama filmFast Food Nation (2006) directed byRichard Linklater in North America in return for an equity stake.[25][26] A month later, it bought distribution rights to the documentaryMurderball in return for an equity stake.[27] It also executive produced and co-financedAl Gore'sglobal-warming documentary,An Inconvenient Truth.[20][28][29][30]
As heavier production scheduling grew, the company added staff. Ricky Strauss was named the first president in March 2005, with oversight ofproduction,marketing and business development.[31] Attorney and former non-profit chief executive Meredith Blake was hired in June as its Senior Vice President of Corporate and Community Affairs,[32] to oversee development of awareness and outreach campaigns around the social issues raised in the company's films in cooperation with non-profit organizations, corporations, andearned media.[32]Diane Weyermann, director of theSundance Institute's Documentary Film Program, joined the company in October 2005 as Executive Vice President of Documentary Production.[33]
The company's non-film-production efforts continued to grow. The company provided an undisclosed amount of financing in February 2005 to film distributorEmerging Pictures to finance that company's national network ofdigitally equipped cinemas (with Emerging Pictures distributing Participant's films).[34] The company also began its first socially relevant outreach project, helping to finance screenings of thebiographical filmGandhi (1982) in thePalestinian territories for the first time as well as in the countries ofIsrael,Jordan,Lebanon andSyria.[35] In support of its upcoming film,An Inconvenient Truth, the studio negotiated a deal for distributorParamount Classics to donate five percent of its U.S. domestic theatrical gross box-office receipts (with a guarantee of $500,000) to theAlliance for Climate Protection.[36]
The company had a very successful 2005 awards season, with eleven Academy Award nominations and one win.[7]Good Night, and Good Luck garnered six nominations, includingBest Art Direction,Best Cinematography,Best Director (George Clooney),Best Picture,Best Actor in a Leading Role (David Strathairn) andBest Original Screenplay.[37]Murderball was nominated forBest Documentary Feature.[37]North Country was nominated forBest Actress in a Leading Role (Charlize Theron) andBest Actress in a Supporting Role (Frances McDormand).[37]Syriana was nominated forBest Actor in a Supporting Role (George Clooney) andBest Original Screenplay.[37] But of the eleven nominations, onlyGeorge Clooney won forBest Actor in a Supporting Role inSyriana.[38]
In June, the company announced it would partner withNew Line Cinema (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.) to produceThe Crusaders, a drama aboutBrown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), a landmark ruling of theSupreme Court of the United States which endedracial segregation inpublic schools.[39] But the film never got beyond the development stage. In September, the company entered into an agreement to co-produce the drama filmThe Visitor (2008) withGroundswell Productions,[40] and two months later agreed to co-produce (withSony Pictures Classics) a documentary film aboutthe Abu Ghraib torture scandal,Standard Operating Procedure (2008), directed byErrol Morris.[41]
The company also took an equity position in and a co-production credit forChicago 10 (2007), ananimated documentary film about the 1969Chicago Seven conspiracy trial.[42][43]
Finally, in December, the company agreed to finance and produce the documentary filmMan from Plains (2007), directed byJonathan Demme, that followed formerU.S. PresidentJimmy Carter as he promoted hispolitical-science book,Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2006).[44]
The company also co-financed, withWarner Independent Pictures, the documentary filmDarfur Now (2007),[45] and, withUniversal Studios and others, co-financed thebiographical filmCharlie Wilson's War (2007).[46] The film had the biggest budget of any of the company's films sinceSyriana.[7]
Three major corporate events also occurred in 2006.
The company's success continued through the 2006 awards season.An Inconvenient Truth was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and the song "I Need to Wake Up" (byMelissa Etheridge) nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Original Song.[51] The film and song won their respective categories in February 2007.[52][53]
Corporate growth continued in 2007. On January 8, the company hired motion-picture marketing veterans Buffy Shutt and Kathy Jones, both Executive Vice President of Marketing, to coordinate marketing of the company's films.[54] Eight days later, the company hiredTony Award- andEmmy Award-winning event producer John Schreiber as Executive Vice President of Social Action and Advocacy to enhance the company's earned media, non-profit and corporate outreach and advocacy campaigns.[55]
February saw the hire of Adrian Sexton as Executive Vice President to oversee digital and global media projects,[56] and April saw veteran production head Jonathan King join the company as Executive Vice President of Production.[57] Lynn Hirshfield was hired in May as Vice President of Business Development to launch the company's publishing division,[58] and saw Bonnie Abaunza and Liana Schwarz both Vice President of Social Action Campaign Development and Operations to assist with social outreach and advocacy campaigns in mid-June.[59]
In November, the company signed a deal with actressNatalie Portman's newly formed production company, Handsomecharlie Films, under which the two studios would co-produce socially relevant films for a two-year period. No films were produced under this agreement, however.[60] The same month, the company hired veteranShowtime producer John Moser to oversee development and production of original programs for television and home cable.[61] But despite the management activity and expansion, not all of the company's films did well.Chicago 10 did not sell for several months after it premiered at Sundance, and only significant editing and a reduction in running time led to a distribution deal.[7]
The company also announced additional productions. In January, it said it was co-financing the drama filmThe Kite Runner (2007) withSidney Kimmel Entertainment andDreamWorks Pictures, the latter company then owned byViacom viaParamount Pictures.[54]The Kite Runner was the first collaboration between both Participant and DreamWorks; the two companies would not collaborate again untilThe Help in 2011. That spring, the company took an equity position inAngels in the Dust (2007), a documentary film about children orphaned byAIDS, and paid the filmmaker to update the film and shoot more footage.[7]
In April, it closed a deal with Warner Independent to turnRandy Shilts' biographical book,The Mayor of Castro Street (1982) into a film,[62] but the project entered development hell, as well as the feature-length documentary about the2007 Live Earth concert later.[63] Five months later the company agreed (withBroken Lizard) to co-produce and co-finance the company's first comedy film,Taildraggers, revolving around five pilots trying to stop oil extraction from an Alaskan preserve.[64] As of June 2009, however, the film had not been produced.[65]
Participant then signed a co-production deal with State Street Pictures to finance the biographical drama,Bobby Martinez aboutthe eponymous Latino surfer in November.[66] The film entered development hell for nearly two years but hired Ric Roman Waugh to rewrite and direct in April 2009,[67] with supposed production by the beginning of 2012. By the end of 2007, the company was seen as a key player in documentary production.[68]
In March 2008, Participant Productions changed its name to Participant Media to reflect the firm's expansion into television and non-traditional entertainment media.[69]
The company continued to expand its social advocacy and outreach efforts in 2008. On January 16, 2008, it joined and made a financial contribution to a $100 millionUnited Nations-sponsored fund which would provide backing for films which combatted religious, ethnic, racial, and other stereotypes.[70] Fueling the company's expansion was the creation of a $250 million fund with Image Nation, a start-up film studio based in theUnited Arab Emirates which is a division of theAbu Dhabi Media Company.[71] Each company contributed roughly half of the fund's total (although some funding came from loans).[71] Participant and Image Nation agreed to produce 18 films over the next five years, which would add approximately four feature-length films per year to Participant's existing slate.[71][72] To boost its marketing efforts, the company also hired Jeffrey Sakson as Vice President of Publicity in April 2008.[73] In September 2008, Participant Media andPublicAffairs Books signed a deal under which PublicAffairs would publish four original paperback books designed to expand upon the social messages in Participant's films.[74] The first book to be published under the pact wasFood Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food Is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer—And What You Can Do About It.[74] The company also founded a new Web site,TakePart.com, to promote Participant Media's films as well as make viewers aware of the social advocacy efforts of Participant's outreach partners.[75] In 2009, the company signed a first look deal with Summit Entertainment.[76]
In March, Participant announced a co-financing deal with Tapestry Films to produceMinimum Wage, a comedy about a corrupt corporate executive sentenced to live for a year on aminimum wage salary.[69] It was not produced. A month later, the company announced it and Groundswell Productions were co-financingThe Informant!, a comedy directed bySteven Soderbergh and starringMatt Damon about thelysine price-fixing conspiracy atArcher Daniels Midland in the mid-1990s.[77][78] July saw Participant set up a co-financing deal with three other studios to produceThe Colony, an eco-horror film.[79] It, too, was never produced.
The 2007 awards season saw several more Academy Award nominations for the company's films. Its films had a combined sevenGolden Globe Award nominations, although it won none.[80]Philip Seymour Hoffman was nominated for hissupporting actor role inCharlie Wilson's War,Richard Jenkins was nominated for Best Actor inThe Visitor, andAlberto Iglesias was nominated forbest original score forThe Kite Runner.[81] But the studio won no Oscars that year.[clarification needed] The success during awards season did not extend into 2008. The company had only three films released during the year (Every Little Step,Pressure Cooker, andStandard Operating Procedure), and none of them was nominated for an award from a major arts organization. However, on November 19, 2008, the Producers Guild of America gave Participant founder Jeff Skoll its Visionary Award.[82]
In 2009, it saw the company continue to aggressively produce both feature films and documentaries. In January, it announced that it would producePaul Dinello'sMr. Burnout (about aburned out teacher seeking to rekindle his love of teaching)[83] andFurry Vengeance (a comedy starringBrendan Fraser about anOregon real estate developer who is opposed by animals).[78][84] But onlyFurry Vengeance was produced. That same month Participant signed a five-year production and distribution deal with Summit Entertainment. The agreement, which covered titles financed by Participant's $250 million production agreement with Imagination Media, was nonexclusive (meaning Participant could seek distribution of films by other companies) and was limited to four projects a year.[50] The agreement allowed Summit to charge a distribution fee, and to co-finance titles if it wished.[50] The pact covered home video and pay-television distribution as well.[50]Furry Vengeance was the first picture produced under the agreement.[84] In April, the company hired screenwriter Miles Chapman to pen an untitled environmentally themed action-adventure script about the hunt for a mystical gem in the heart of Africa.[85] The script went into development hell. The same month, the company agreed to co-finance (with Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment) a biographical drama titledHistory on Trial—which was intended to document the true story ofDeborah Lipstadt, a professor ofJewish studies who was sued byHolocaust deniersDavid Irving forlibel.[86][87] The film was not produced, but the company did go on to makeDenial, starring Rachel Weisz, about the same subject in 2016. The company also announced a number of productions in May 2009, including:The Crazies, a remake of the1973 film of the same name;[88]Casino Jack and the United States of Money, a film about theJack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal;[89]Help Me Spread Goodness, a comedy starring and directed byBen Stiller about a banking executive who is caught by aNigerian Internet scam (the film was not produced);[90][91] andThe Soloist, a drama starringJamie Foxx andRobert Downey, Jr. based on the true story ofNathaniel Ayers, a brilliant musician who developsschizophrenia and becomeshomeless.[78]
The company also expanded in non-film production as well. In March, Participant agreed to conduct outreach and social advocacy efforts on behalf of theLionsgate/Roadside Attractions documentaryThe Cove about dolphin slaughters by Japanese villagers in a cove near fishing grounds.[92] The firm's TakePart website also released a newiPhone application, Givabit, which solicits charitable donations for Participant Media's nonprofit advocacy partners from iPhone users once a day.[75] In June, the company established a new book publishing subsidiary, headed by Vice President of Publishing Lynn Hirshfield (who changed titles within the company).[74][93] Liana Schwarz was promoted to Senior Vice President of Campaign Development and Operations.[94]
On January 28, 2010, Participant Media co-presented director Mark Lewis' documentary,Cane Toads: The Conquest at the Sundance Film Festival.[95] The film, according toDaily Variety said, was the "first specialty doc filmed in digital 3D."[95] A month later, Bonnie Stylides left Summit Entertainment to become Participant's Senior Vice-President of Business Affairs.[96] The studio's hit documentary,Waiting for "Superman", garnered media acclaim, and Participant inked a worldwide distribution deal withParamount shortly before its premiere at Sundance.[97] It also sold North American distribution rights for its documentary,Countdown to Zero, toMagnolia Pictures,[98] and distribution rights to its documentaryClimate of Change to Tribeca Film (a division ofRobert De Niro's Tribeca Enterprises).[99]
The company also received a $248,000 grant from theRobert Wood Johnson Foundation to raise awareness about access to quality food and childhood obesity.[100] The studio used these funds to create a campaign linked to its promotional efforts for the documentary filmFood, Inc. and signed a deal with Active Media to help run the campaign.[100] It signed a deal with Planet Illogica (a website collaboratively produced by artists, filmmakers, musicians, and fashion designers) to generate a social action campaign associated with its documentaryOceans (which was released byWalt Disney Pictures).[101] The "Save My Oceans Tour" involved concerts, art installations, and screenings ofOceans on college campuses.[102]
On April 13, Noah Manduke (former president of the consulting firm Durable Good and president of the marketing firmSiegel + Gale) was named chief strategy officer of the Jeff Skoll Group.[103] Skoll created the Skoll Group to oversee his various enterprises, including Participant Media, and Manduke began working with Skoll and Participant Media's top management to begin a strategic planning process and strengthen collaboration between Participant and Skoll's other organizations and companies.[103] The following month, studio executive James Berk was one of only 180 individuals invited to join theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[104]
Based on the success of itsTwilight Saga film series, Summit Entertainment announced on March 8, 2011, that it was making a $750 million debt refinancing with cash distribution to its investors, which included Participant Media.[105]
On June 5,The New York Times ran a major story about the studio, declaring: "Participant Media, the film industry's most visible attempt at social entrepreneurship, turned seven this year without quite sorting out whether a company that trades in movies with a message can earn its way in a business that has been tough even for those who peddle 3-D pandas and such."[106] AuthorMichael Cieply noted thatThe Beaver, Participant's latest released, cost $20 million but had garnered just $1 million in gross box-office sales after a month in theaters – making the film a "flop".[106] The company's biggest success to date, the newspaper noted, was 2007'sCharlie Wilson's War ($66.7 million in gross domestic box office revenue).[106] Skoll was quoted as saying that he had poured "hundreds of millions to date [into the company], with much more to follow", and that the studio had yet to break even.[106] Skoll and Berk, however, noted that Participant Media performs slightly above-average when compared to similarly sized peers.[106] The advantage came in three areas: home video sales, the company's long-term attempts to build social movements around its films, and its stake in Summit Entertainment (which allowed it to win more favorable distribution terms).[106]
TheTimes said that audiences may be turned off by Participant's relentless focus on upsetting issues, quoting unnamed sources.[106] The company hoped that it would change this attitude about its films (and make money) with 2011'sThe Help (about racial reconciliation in the American South during the 1960s) andContagion (aSteven Soderbergh picture about the outbreak of a virulent, deadly disease).[106] Skoll also said that Participant had purchased the rights to aNew York Times article about theDeepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, and that the film would likely focus not simply on oil drilling, but on a number of critical issues, such as climate change and the ecological health of oceans.[106]
By year's end, however, there was less concern about the company's financial future. The studio's $25 million film about racial reconciliation (about a third of the production budget came from Participant),[107]The Help, cleared $100 million in late August,[108] and was just short of $200 million worldwide by late December.[109]The Help was the first film since 2010'sInception to be number one at the North American box office for three straight weekends in a row,[110] and was only unseated by another Participant Media film,Contagion.[111]The Help was nominated for fourAcademy Awards: The film for Best Picture,Viola Davis for Best Actress, andJessica Chastain andOctavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress. Spencer won the Oscar for her role.[112]
Participant executives said on October 14, 2011, that the studio would expand its production to make seven to twelve films per year, would begin producing features and series for television, and would expand its online presence.[113] As part of this plan, in November the studio hired advertising executive Chad Boettcher to be executive vice president for social action and advocacy and20th Century Fox executive Gary Frenkel to be senior vice president for digital products and communities.[114]
In January 2012, Participant Media made its first investment in a non-English-language film, the forthcomingPablo Larraín motion pictureNo (starringGael Garcia Bernal).[115] The semi-biographical film tells the story of a man who initiates an upbeat, innocuous advertising campaign that helps to unseatChilean dictator GeneralAugusto Pinochet during the 1988plebiscite that led to theChilean transition to democracy. The same month, however, it lost its president, Ricky Strauss, who departed the studio to become head of worldwide marketing at Walt Disney Pictures.[116]
Three weeks later, on February 2, 2012, Participant Media announced that it was partnering with Summit Entertainment,Image Nation, Spanish production company Apaches Entertainment, and Colombian production company Dynamo to produce a supernatural horror film about an American oil company executive who moves his family into a house in a small city inColombia, only to find the home is haunted. The company announced that Spanish director Luis Quilez would direct from a script by Alex and David Pastor (who developed their script with funding from Participant).[117]
On April 16, Participant formed Participant Television, its television division, naming Evan Shapiro as president.[118] Participant also took an equity stake inCineflix Media Canada-based TV producer and distributor.[119] In December, Participant continued its move into television with the purchase of theDocumentary Channel (USA) andHalogen TV's distribution assets to be combined into a new cable channel within its TV division.[120]
On January 10, 2013, Participant Media'sLincoln received 12 Academy Award nominations. These included Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Supporting Actress (Sally Field), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Tony Kushner).[9]
The following month, Participant Media launched a Latin American production division, Participant PanAmerica, to co-finance Spanish-language films with Mexican producers. The plan calls for 12 films to be made under this division over a five-year period.[121]
Participant Media's new millennial targeted cable channel,Pivot, launched on August 1, 2013.[122]
In December or 2014, US SenatorTom Udall introduced a sense of Senate resolution that would call on all relevant US agencies to locate and declassify and make public all documents concerning the mass killings in Indonesia, a process buoyed forward by the release ofThe Act of Killing and Participant'sThe Look of Silence, both Academy Award nominated documentaries directed byJoshua Oppenheimer.[123]
On January 24, 2015, its documentary3 ½ Minutes', Ten Bullets premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact.[124]
On February 22, 2015, the company won the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary with the filmCITIZENFOUR.[125]
On March 21, 2015, Participant's documentaryThe Look of Silence won the Audience Award: Festival Favorites category at theSouth by Southwest Film Festival.CITIZENFOUR,The Great Invisible,Ivory Tower, andThe Unknown Known were nominated for a total of seven 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards.CITIZENFOUR won for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Film.[126]
On October 13, 2015, the company announcedDavid Linde joined Participant as CEO.[127]
On December 16, 2015, the company andSteven Spielberg withReliance Entertainment andEntertainment One createdAmblin Partners.[128]
On February 4, 2016,Spotlight screened at the Vatican for their newly formed commission on Sex Abuse which was set up in 2014 to find ways to protect children from sex abuse during their 2016 3-day meeting. Pete Saunders, a survivor who was appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and who arranged the February 4 screening, was asked to take a leave of absence shortly thereafter. Shortly after winning multiple Oscars, including Best Picture, the Vatican's newspaper praisedSpotlight for exposing these abuses.[129][130][131] The film, however, did face controversy including some criticism from an author ofThe New York Times calling it, "a misrepresentation of how the Church dealt with sexual abuse cases", arguing that the movie's biggest flaw was its failure to portray psychologists who had assured Church officials that abusive priests could be safely returned to ministry after undergoing therapy treatments.[132] Another criticism was that the film falsely portrayed Jack Dunn, the public relations head and a member of the board atBoston College High School, as a member of the Boston Archdiocesan cover-up (for which the dialogue itself was mythologised).[133][134]
On February 28, 2016, the company won its first Best Picture Academy Award forSpotlight. The acclaimed drama also picked up the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer). Also in February 2016, the company's filmsThe Look of Silence andBeasts of No Nation won a total of threeIndependent Spirit Awards.[135]
On October 13, 2016, the company acquired SoulPancake, a short-form and digital brand, for a price which are yet to be disclosed as of 2024.[136] On October 31, 2016, the company shut down TV networkPivot due to low ratings and small viewing audiences. At the end of 2016, the company shut downTakePart as part of a shifting strategy.[137]
On January 10, 2017, Participant announced its partnership with Lionsgate to distribute films internationally.[138] Soon after, the company's filmDeepwater Horizon was nominated for two Academy Awards in 2017.[139] Later that same year, Participant Media released its filmWonder on November 17. The film, starringJacob Tremblay,Owen Wilson andJulia Roberts, became Participant's highest-grossing film at the worldwide box office.[140]
In 2018, the company's filmThe Post was nominated for two Academy Awards, Wonder was nominated for one Academy Award,[141] and Participant'sA Fantastic Woman won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[142]A Fantastic Woman was credited with helping to change laws in Chile that would give rights to transgender people and transgender actress Daniela Vega was celebrated as a national hero.[143] That same year, Participant's filmRoma was named Best Picture by theLos Angeles Film Critics Association[144] and theNew York Film Critics Circle.[145] The film also won theGolden Lion for Best Film at theVenice Film Festival.[146] The company's filmGreen Book was named Best Film by theNational Board of Review[147] and won the People's Choice Award at theToronto International Film Festival. In 2018, Participant Media also expanded itsvirtual reality experience, "Melting Ice" featuringAl Gore, into a four-part series titled,This is Climate Change.[148]
In 2019, Participant received a company-record 17 Academy Award nominations including ten forRoma, five forGreen Book and two forRBG. Of those 17 nominations, the company won six Oscars including Best Picture forGreen Book and Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film forRoma.[149]
The success ofRoma led to a cultural moment in 2019 called the "Roma Effect," which helped increase visibility and raise awareness for domestic workers in the U.S. and Mexico, where the Mexican Congress voted to pass legislation granting domestic workers access to basic labor rights, such as limited work hours and paid vacation.[150] That year, then-SenatorKamala Harris and RepresentativePramila Jayapal introduced the National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights into the US Congress.[151]
In collaboration with theUCLA School of Theater, Film and Television'sSkoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment, Participant published the "State of SIE" report, similar to what it had done a few years earlier with USC when it published the "Participant Index" report. These reports are rare exceptions to Participant Media usually keeping its impact strategies proprietary.
On September 8, 2019, Participant debuted its rebrand and logo at the Toronto Film Festival which coincided with the company's 15th anniversary.[1] The company's rebrand was followed by the announcement thatDavid Linde extended his contract as CEO of the consumer-engaged brand with a multi-year deal.[152]
Participant's 2019 filmDark Waters, starringMark Ruffalo in the true story of a corporate defense lawyer waging an environmental lawsuit against a chemical giant, and Participant's accompanying impact campaign influenced water protection legislation at the state and federal level in the U.S., as well as the E.U.’s pledge to ban “forever chemicals” in 2020 and 43 multinational companies’ pledges to stop selling them. Via theDark Waters campaign, Mark Ruffalo became an outspoken advocate against forever chemicals. He testified in front of Congress[153] about the harms of PFAS and met with North Carolina government officials[154] to ask for stronger action. In 2024, theUnited States Environmental Protection Agency announced a first-ever drinking water standard[155] to limit forever chemicals and Mark Ruffalo issued a statement saying to the communities affected by pollution: “Your voices have been heard."[156]
On November 30, 2020, Participant terminated its equity stake in Amblin Partners, ending its relationship with the company.[157]
In March 2021,Collective directed byAlexander Nanau became the second film nominated in both the Best International Feature and Best Documentary categories for the 93rd Academy Awards.[158]
Laura Poitras’ documentaryAll the Beauty and the Bloodshed became the second documentary in the history of theVenice Film Festival to win theGolden Lion in September of 2021.[159] Participant's impact campaign for the Academy Award-nominated 2022 documentary, about artist and activist Nan Goldin's personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the opioid crisis, raised more than $130,000 for harm reduction organizations.[160]
In October 2021, after a two-year delay due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Participant's 15th anniversary was celebrated at theMuseum of Modern Art (MoMA) with a retrospective screening of 15 of the company's films, entitled “Participant at MoMA: Film and Activism.”[161]
In November 2021, Participant was honored with the inaugural Power of Cinema Award from theAmerican Cinematheque.[162]
In February 2022, Participant's animated documentaryFlee, directed byJonas Poher Rasmussen, about an Afghan refugee's death-defying escape from persecution, made history as the first feature ever to receive Academy Award nominations in the documentary, international, and animation categories.[163]
Participant launched an Impact Advisory Council in July 2022. Composed of leaders in the impact and entertainment space, the council is designed to provide feedback and guidance on social impact strategy and strengthen connections to those with shared goals.[164]
On April 16, 2024, founder Jeff Skoll informed Participant's staff of his decision to shut the company down. The decision was attributed to changes over time in content creation and distribution, especially difficulties in developing successful streaming business models and suspension of production on multiple projects due to the2023 Hollywood labor disputes. Sources state almost all of the company's staff would be laid off, with a holding company owning Participant's interests in its library of 140 titles. Participant would continue to be involved in certain projects in stages of completion, although it would no longer develop any new content.[13]
| Year | TV series | Director | Distributor | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | America to Me | Steve James | Starz | |
| 2019 | When They See Us | Ava DuVernay | Netflix | |
| 2020–2022 | Noughts + Crosses | Koby Adom[218] | BBC One | |
| 2020 | City So Real | Steve James | National Geographic | [219] |
| 2022 | Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey | Rachel Dretzin Grace McNally | Netflix | |
| 2024 | Interior Chinatown | Charles Yu | Hulu |
The scene depicts a fairly common exchange involving reporters who have unpleasant questions to ask and a skilled public relations person doing his best to frame a story in the most favorable way possible for the institution he is representing. That's what Jack did that day.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
