[9], The company began its distribution of films in 2013. [17] In April, the company acquired all foreign rights to Swiss Army Man, distributing the film in all territories, and partnering with distributors who previously acquired rights to the film, a first for the company. Aizenberg: That first private plane didnt make it to Austin. The company has laid the groundwork to evolve from just another upstart distribution label into a multiheaded ministudio capable of developing its own contentand so far theyve done it by releasing movies that tend to earn more cultural cachet than they do money. And The Place Beyond the Pines. Dont get left behind. You walk through that office, and there arent a lot of people that look like theyre from Liberty City, Miami. The exceptionand basically the only part of A24 that has any public profile at allis the companys social media presence. A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. Like Get Out, or Baby Driver. In pretty decent seats, actually. By surgically inserting each release into the zeitgeist, it has paved a new road for provocative, modestly sized cinema, bridging the gap between microbudget indies and monolithic studio products in much the same way Italys Autostrada A24 connects Rome to Teramo. Katz: David and I are sitting next to each other. But what happens when the titles involved in this deal get bettera lot better? SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER, FIRST TAKE, Sundance, SXSW Comedy 'Never Goin' Back' Sells to A24. That was a thing. Fenkel: We test-screened [Spring Breakers] in downtown Manhattan. [16] The company, with cooperation from Bank of America, J.P. Morgan & Co. and SunTrust Banks, also raised its line of credit from $50 million to $125 million a month later to build upon its operations. The question with any company that lavishes attention and resources upon a modest amount of product is, of course, where does the money come from? Selena and Ashley had no issue with this. No way., Katz: It was just like, Wait. When an A24 acquisitions exec pitched the story to me, excitedly laying out the plot in broad but heartbreaking strokes, he asked if it sounded like an A24 film. Annapurna Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection, Moonlights Mahershala Ali Picks His Own Oscar Winners. For the company's filmography, see, 20142017: Television and later productions, 2018present: Management changes, partnerships. Over the past six years I have been fortunate to work with a diverse group of talented storytellers across film and TV and look forward to continuing those collaborations in my future endeavors.. And we still have a great relationship now. Katz: I was very concerned that people were gonna think Room kind of stepped into shit and got lucky with awards. That company and the old Miramax and Fox Searchlight had a real brand and a hold on their audience. He also produced . We spoke with the companys friends, collaborators, and employees to make sense of how A24 became the most interesting, creative, and reliable film company of the 21st century. When I arrived at A24s office, in an anonymous building so close to the western lip of lower Manhattan that it can practically taste New Jersey, my fears that the company might be growing too fast werent exactly assuaged by learning that within weeks it was moving to an enormous office closer to midtown. Were passionate. The company may be a lovely acquisition target for a buyer seeking an arthouse pipeline,but A24 is still building itself as a brand one that is synonymous with quality. Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day. Dede Gardner (producer, Plan B, Moonlight): When we and Barry said it was absolutely critical that we shoot in Miami, they said, Of course it is. And you know, many, many others wouldve said, Well, you can get the rebate if you go to Atlanta. But anyone whos read it knows that Liberty Square and that particular light and that particular culture was a character. Thats the chief message of an A24 campaign, really, from elegant design to sharp social media to clever co-branding choices: This is a company that gets it. IFC earned a raft of Oscar nominations when it decided to put its muscle behind Boyhood and transform it into a phenomenon, but dumping all of its eggs into one beautifully textured basket helped to underline the paucity of love that most indies receive from their distributors, who ferry them from festivals to home video with all the solemn purpose of Charon taking passengers across the river Styx. Jon Hodges CEO at Evergreen North America Industrial Services League City, Texas, United States 2K followers 500+ connections Join to connect Evergreen industrial services and GEM mobile. A24 was founded on August 20, 2012, by film veterans Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges. A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. John Heavey (distribution, A24): Especially the first two years, we fell in love with every movie. No Comments Yet Be the first to comment on John Hodges! Theyre super-smart people. They became better known after picking up the U.S. rights to Ex Machina and Room, and worldwide rights to The Witch, growing substantially since then. But if it is, a monastic degree of focus will be required to recognize which A24 titles might fare better on VOD. Franco: I remember the South by Southwest festival, the screeningit was like a rock concert. I liked the fact that they had never made a doc. Saulnier expertly contains conflict, depth and gore within small confines. You lost. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. How A24 is Disrupting Hollywood. Garland: I would say that if Ex Machina had been distributed by a big studiothis isnt actually a criticism of studios; its actually just a statement of factthe film would not have been remotely as well received or successful as it was. Put it on screens. A24 is responsible for such films as Lady Bird, Moonlight, Eighth Grade, Hereditary, The Witch, The Lobster, Ex Machina & more. The company said he will exit to focus on "future opportunities," but did not clarify beyond that statement.. And weve been so consistent about thanking them. Nathan (Oscar Isaac) and Kyoko (Sonoya Mizuno). It is based in New York City . Beyer: Alicia VikanderI think she read about it, or she saw this photo of her that was being used. A24 co-founder John Hodges is exiting the indie company to "focus on future opportunities," he and the company jointly announced on Monday. When your audience does the work for you. Whoa! Because theyd made a curated, awesome, crafted film. Over the past six years I have been fortunate to work with a diverse group of talented storytellers across film and TV and look forward to continuing those collaborations in my future endeavors.. How do we get Spring Breakers? And then Noah got Spring Breakers. A24 has also been nominated and won many Golden Globes, British Academy Film Awards, and Critics' Choice Movie Awards. And someone was like, Where did those images come from? And I was like, Google? But then when we started to screen the film at Sundance and saw the audience reactions, it was clear that there was a much larger audience for this movie than any of us thought. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Under the Skin reintroduced Scarlett Johansson as a killer alien from outer space (and, more jarringly, a shockingly brave improv performer). Send us a tip using our annonymous form. A24 Founding Partner John Hodges to Exit Daniel Katz and David Fenkel will continue to oversee the NYC-based indie Thom Geier | March 26, 2018 @ 10:08 AM A24 founding partner John Hodges. People want to see movies. She looked great. Sacco: I used to think seeing people faint was what happened in movies. Or a screenwriter. Fenkel: Id love to say from the first cut we knew. Well handle it! And if it works, its them; if it doesnt work, its all your fault anyway. And then we drank a huge amount of red wine. I was thrilledwhen the news broke that A24 had acquired the domestic rights, and then gutted to learn that it was part of the DirecTV pact. Over the past six years I have been fortunate to work with a diverse group of talented storytellers across film and TV and look forward to continuing those collaborations in my future endeavors, added Hodges. You prepare like for your dissertation at Harvard. A24, which was founded in 2012, said that no additional changes in management will be made. It was social media. Aizenberg: I remember that Sunday we all got on the phone and were like, Were going over a thousand screens.. Fenkel: We knew we were releasing the movie. Asif Kapadia (director, Amy): I suppose most filmmakers have had bad experiences in the past where you do all the hard work, and then these guys in slick suits come along and theyre like, We know what were doing now! Katz: We broke the record that weekend. It wasnt disrespectful. With Hodges leaving, the. Since its inception in 2012, A24 has become one of the hottest destinations for indie filmmakers, ushering such edgy films to theaters as The Bling Ring and Spring Breakers. Which, if you look two years back, theres just no way in hell anybody would have thought that A24 would finance a film like Moonlight and release it in the way they did, to the tune of a Best Picture and $55 million in international box office. Four short years later, the companys first original production, Barry Jenkinss Moonlight, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He later left A24 on March 2018 to focus on future opportunities. And they even never uttered the words, What would it be like in a cheaper state? [11][12], In September 2013, A24 entered a $40 million deal with DirecTV Cinema, where DirecTV Cinema would offer day-and-date releases 30 days prior to a theatrical release by A24; Enemy was the first film to be distributed under the deal. The outfit is new enough that the same people have been working there from the very beginning, and the consistency of their titles reflects that of their tastes. I was like, I think I need to find another job., Aizenberg: They were basically like, Dont release this movie.. As Korine told Rolling Stone: I want to do the most radical work, but put it out in the most commercial way. A24 just took him up on it. They just seem like theyre the first company thats really abandoned a lot of the old models. When the film comes out in early 2016, it will arrive exclusively in theaters, and its trial by fire will be exclusively in theaters. Beyer: I remember when we had Room, like, six months after Ex Machina or something, Fenkel was like, Whats the Tinder for Room? And I was like, No, no! Were gonna put it in theaters, and were gonna find a way to keep it there. Now, look, at that point, none of us were thinking, Hey, were gonna win Best Picture! But we wanted to give the movie the chance to have as much of a life as we possibly could. And that takes time. Its not remarkable that A24 had set such a goalits remarkable that the company is accomplishing it. I think what theyve understood is theres a sufficient number of people out there who want more challenging or different material. Animated photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Fenkel: It actually went very well, for what the movie was. A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. And I think that really helped the movie. So I suppose the question now surrounding A24 is what Fenkel and Katz plan to make of it. Pattinson: I mean, with Twilight, the first tour we did was literally going to suburban shopping malls and doing local-news stuff. Fenkel: And we had a booker at the time, this big old school guy, gentle giant, hes a sweet guy, but kind of a gangster, but levels of, like, cool gangster. I Was Like, Fuck Yeah!Barry Jenkins. Beyer: It was all about this tension between, like, trying to legitimize ourselves as a real company that can handle working with, like, big. I think that was Nicolette, actually: Consider This Shit.. Key grip. January, February, we didnt know we had The Lobster. And there are studio subdivisions, like Fox Searchlight, that have consistently guided films like 12 Years a Slave and Birdman to Academy Awards and box office success over the past twenty years. All the actors had taken the risk. So everything had to be explained to me, and by the time it was explained, it was over. Karyn Kusama is a rapidly rising female director, and for good reason. [laughs] I remember I had to have a conversation with Alicia about it, where she was saying, What the hell? and I was saying, I dont know. Radcliffe (actor, Swiss Army Man): I could see them saying, like: Weve got a reputation now, and have money now. A lot of people in that position would then go, Okay, lets become quite conservative in our choices. And whats lovely is they are choosing to still channel that stuff back into supporting weird, different, ambitious ventures. But youre like, Why didnt other people see that? I have no idea. Harvey Weinstein (via email): A24 is a great company. A24 is an American independent entertainment company founded on August 20, 2012, by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges and based in New York City. All rights reserved. So it was strange, if you were a moviegoer in 2013, to see the A24 logo pop up again and again before movies as varied and weird as Harmony Korines Spring Breakers and Sofia Coppolas The Bling Ring, James Ponsoldts The Spectacular Now and Roman Coppolas A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III. The companys best known movies include Ex Machina, Room, The Witch, Amy and Moonlight, which won the 2016 Academy Award for best picture, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali. We tried to get the Union Square movie theaterwe didnt have a theatrical booking yet. Although A24's actual net worth is not known. in the past 3 years a24 has managed to make from 90 - 110 million at the yearly box office. A24 is an American independent entertainment company founded on August 20, 2012, by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges and based in New York City. Im dying. You know what? Trench coat was enough. I remember the thing that got him was like, Listen. Jenkins: I just would never allow myself to believe that something I made could win Best Picture. BREAKING: John Hodges, one of the founding members of A24, has announced his departure from the production and distribution studio to focus on future opportunities. No additional changes in management will be made, said A24, which will continue to develop and produce a growing slate of content across film and television. 2023 THE TRACKING BOARD. Beyer: And respect them and treat them the way they would by any other company. For a medium-size film to succeed without a marketing blitz twice the size of its production budget, its not enough for it to be goodit has to have a hook. And Im not saying theyre magicians. And even this public face represents the companys nonhierarchical structure: Thats only funny, Beyer once observed, because youre not quite sure whos saying it. They entered into deals with DirecTV Cinema and Amazon Prime in late 2013, with some films distributed through them, and the name was changed to A24 in 2016.[3]. That was the first time it screened for U.S. audiences. John has been a trusted partner who helped conceive A24 and for that we will always be grateful, noted A24. Sacco: Gun bongs. Earlier this year I was drinking in a hotel bar with the head of another distribution company at a film festival. A24 took Ex Machina to the 2015 South by Southwest festival and built a Tinder chatbot with the face of Alicia Vikander to help promote the film. Sasha Lane (actress, American Honey): They were like, You guys are who you are and were not going to change that. No one had to be perfected for anything. More recently, it expanded from being an acquisitions-only distributor to producing home-grown fare as well as branching into TV. Aizenberg: Yeah. Their hair and makeup people, actually, are the people that had an issue with this. You look at the underdog story, I think thats not by accident. Rather than carpet-bomb the whole country with prohibitively expensive television ads, A24 partnered with a social marketing agency called theAudience in order to more precisely reach its target demographic. Kleiner: They had the movie, I want to say, 22, 23 weeks in theatrical release? I dont even look at him. And then it was consolidation. Fenkel: Charlie Sheen was in this interesting place where maybe he was on the verge of a comeback, and Im saying that with a straight face. IP & Literary Intern, Literary & IP Acquisitions at Amazon Studios, Assistant, Physical Production at Lionsgate, Executive Assistant/Production Office Coordinator for iONE Digital (NY), Manager, Scripted Film and Television, Cond Nast Entertainment. Fenkel: I stare straight ahead. Logo by GrandArmy Photos via A24. Beyer: I think the operating principle was, Dont ask for permission. Heading into production nearly a decade after the premiere of Jenkins only other feature (the excellent Medicine for Melancholy), the film has been waiting a long time for a company with the confidence required to finance it. The monster at the center of The Babadook is a personal demon, not a literal one. Photos courtesy A24, by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images, and Janette Pellegrini/WireImage/Getty Images. . They didnt have a ton of movies, you know? John Hodges will be leaving A24 to pursue other opportunities, the indie distributor announced Monday. 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