A24 (company)

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A24 Films LLC
FormerlyA24 Films (2012–16)
TypePrivate
IndustryEntertainment
FoundedAugust 20, 2012; 9 years ago (2012-08-20)[1]
Founders
  • Daniel Katz
  • David Fenkel
  • John Hodges
Headquarters31 West 27th Street,
New York City
,
U.S.
Number of locations
2 (2016)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Daniel Katz
  • David Fenkel
ProductsMotion pictures
Television programs
Services
  • Film distribution
  • Film production
  • Television production
Number of employees
124[2] (2019)
DivisionsA24 Television
Websitea24films.com

A24 is an American independent entertainment company founded on August 20, 2012,[3] by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City.

Katz, Fenkel, and Hodges, prior to A24, worked in film and production before leaving to eventually co-found the company, originally A24 Films, which specialized in film distribution. Starting off moderately in 2013 with A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, the company's growth started with the release of Spring Breakers later that year. 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. They entered into deals with DirecTV Cinema and Amazon Prime in late 2013, with some films distributed through them, and the name was shortened to A24 in 2016.

As of 2019, the company has received a total of 25 Academy Award nominations. In 2016, films distributed by A24 won Academy Awards for Best Actress (Brie Larson in Room), Best Documentary Feature (Amy), and Best Visual Effects (Ex Machina). In 2017,[4] Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture (the first such award for the company), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali).

A24's television division has produced The Carmichael Show, At Home with Amy Sedaris, Ramy, and Euphoria.

History[]

2012–2013: Founding and early years[]

A24 was founded on August 20, 2012, by film veterans Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges. Katz formerly led the film finance group at Guggenheim Partners, Fenkel was the president, co-founder and partner at Oscilloscope, and Hodges served as Head of Production and Development at Big Beach.[3] The name "A24" was inspired by the Italian A24 motorway Katz was driving on when he decided to found the company; coincidentally, the motorway is also renowned in Italian film history as the setting of many small Abruzzan towns and rural landscapes employed in the films of neorealist and surrealist masters.[5]

Guggenheim Partners provided the seed money for A24. The company was started to share "movies from a distinctive point of view".[6] In October 2012, Nicolette Aizenberg joined as head of publicity from 42West where she was senior publicity executive.[7]

The company began its distribution of films in 2013.[8] The company's first theatrical release was Roman Coppola's A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, which had a limited release. Other 2013 theatrical releases included Sally Potter's Ginger & Rosa, Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, and James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now.[9][10]

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.[11] That same year, A24 entered a deal with Amazon Prime, where A24-distributed films would be available on Amazon Instant Video after becoming available on DVD and Blu-ray.[12]

2014–2017: Television and later productions[]

In May 2015, A24 announced that it would start a television division and began producing the USA Network series Playing House, as well as working to develop a television series that would later become Comrade Detective, produced by Channing Tatum. The company also announced that they would also finance and develop pilots.[13]

In January 2016, Sasha Lloyd joined the company to handle all film, television distribution and business development in the international marketplace.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16] In June, the company, along with Oscilloscope and distributor Honora, joined BitTorrent Now to distribute the work of their portfolio across the ad-supported service.[17]

In January 2017, the company acquired the United States and Chinese distribution rights for their first foreign language film, Menashe.[18]

2018–present: Management changes, partnerships[]

On February 20, 2018, A24 launched a podcast titled The A24 Podcast.[19][20] Episodes are based around a discussion between two members of the film industry. Notable guests on the show have included Bo Burnham, Paul Schrader, Sofia Coppola, Alia Shawkat and Martin Scorsese. Despite lacking any pre-defined structure, episodes generally contain discussions around recent works of the two guests, allowing for branching discussions to other areas. As of February 2021, eighteen episodes had been released.[21]

On March 26, 2018, co-founder John Hodges announced that he was exiting the company.[22]

On November 15, 2018, A24 and Apple announced that they had entered into a multi-year partnership where A24 will produce a slate of original films for Apple. This was not a first-look deal, meaning that A24 can continue to produce and acquire films to release outside of the deal, and that it would not affect previous deals that A24 had signed with other companies. It is currently unknown if this slate of films will have a theatrical release or be exclusive to Apple's Apple TV+ streaming service.[23]

On November 13, 2019, A24 entered into a premium cable television broadcast deal with Showtime Networks, covering all film releases through November 1, 2022. The deal excludes films that are already part of the Apple partnership.[24]

In July 2021, A24 reportedly explored a possible buyout for between $2.5 billion to $3 billion.[25]

Filmography[]

A24 distributes and produces around 18 to 20 films a year.[6][26] Their five highest grossing films are Hereditary ($81 million), Lady Bird ($79 million), Moonlight ($65 million), Uncut Gems ($50 million), and Midsommar ($47 million).[27]

Short films by A24, listed by initial release date
Release Date Title
January 19, 2017 Toru
September 2017 Men[28]
May 10, 2020 The Fall
July 21, 2020 Strasbourg 1518
Television programs by A24, listed by initial air date
Year Title Air date Number of seasons Number of episodes Network
2014 Fireside Chat with Esther January 1, 2014 – January 1, 2018 5 23 N/A
Playing House[29] April 29, 2014 – July 14, 2017 3 26 USA Network
2015 The Carmichael Show[30] August 26, 2015 – August 9, 2017 3 32 NBC
2016 Reggie Watts: Spatial December 6, 2016 N/A 1 Netflix
2017 Jerrod Carmichael: 8[31] March 11, 2017 N/A 1 HBO
Comrade Detective[32] August 4, 2017 1 6 Amazon Prime Video
2018 2 Dope Queens[33] February 2, 2018 – March 1, 2019 2 8 HBO
Random Acts of Flyness[34] August 4, 2018 – present 1 6
Drew Michael[35] August 25, 2018 N/A 1
Pod Save America[36] October 12, 2018 1 4
2019 I'm Sorry[a] January 9, 2019 – May 19, 2019 1 10 TruTV
At Home with Amy Sedaris[a][37] February 19, 2019 – July 29, 2020 2 20
Ramy[38] April 19, 2019 – present 2 20 Hulu
Fire in the Maternity Ward April 30, 2019 N/A 1 Netflix
Euphoria[39] June 16, 2019 – present 1 8 HBO
The Confession Tapes[a] June 21, 2019 1 4 Netflix
Exhibit A June 28, 2019 1 4
Ramy Youssef: Feelings June 29, 2019 N/A 1 HBO
Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein July 16, 2019 1 Netflix
My Favourite Shapes by Julio Torres August 10, 2019 1 HBO
John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch December 24, 2019 1 Netflix
2020 Whitmer Thomas: The Golden One February 22, 2020 N/A 1 HBO
Eric Andre: Legalize Everything June 23, 2020 1 Netflix
Moonbase 8 November 8, 2020 – present 1 6 Showtime
2021 Ziwe[40] May 6, 2021 – present 1 6
Mr. Corman[41] August 6, 2021 – present 1 10 Apple TV+
TBA
Beef[42] TBA 1 10 Netflix
The Curse TBA TBA TBA Showtime
Earthsea[43] TBA TBA TBA TBA
Hazbin Hotel[44] TBA TBA TBA TBA
Irma Vep[45] TBA 1 TBA HBO
Memorial[46] TBA TBA TBA TBA
Outlawed[47] TBA TBA TBA TBA
Rivkah[48] TBA TBA TBA Showtime
Shuggie Bain[49] TBA TBA TBA TBA
The Sympathizer[50] TBA TBA TBA HBO

See also[]

References[]

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  2. ^ "A24". LinkedIn. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b McNary, Dave (August 20, 2012). "Katz, Fenkel, Hodges launch A24". Variety. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  4. ^ "A24 Teams With Plan B & Adele Romanski To Produce And Finance Barry Jenkins' Moonlight". Deadline Hollywood. August 24, 2015. Archived from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  5. ^ Nast, Condé. "Hollywood, Disrupted: Inside the Scrappy Film Company that Made "Moonlight" and "The Witch"". GQ. Archived from the original on 2019-07-22. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Doster, Adam (January 11, 2016). "Upstart Distributor A24 Is Making Indie Films Exciting Again". Fast Company. Archived from the original on July 23, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016 – via Mansueto Ventures, LLC.
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  9. ^ Ehrlich, David (2015-09-30). "The Distributor as Auteur". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Archived from the original on 2018-01-25. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  10. ^ Baron, Zach (2017-05-09). "Hollywood, Disrupted: Inside the Scrappy Film Company that Made "Moonlight" and "The Witch"". GQ. Archived from the original on 2018-01-25. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
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  22. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (March 26, 2018). "A24 Founder John Hodges To Part Ways With The Company". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
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  33. ^ Boucher, Ashley (2018-07-23). "HBO Orders 4 More '2 Dope Queens' TV Specials". TheWrap. Archived from the original on 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  34. ^ Otterson, Joe (2018-08-20). "'Random Acts of Flyness' Renewed for Season 2 at HBO". Variety. Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  35. ^ Kozell, Isaac (2018-08-24). "Why Drew Michael Dropped the Audience for His HBO Special". Vulture. Archived from the original on 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
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  38. ^ Petski, Denise (2018-05-02). "Hulu Picks Up Mindy Kaling's 'Four Weddings And A Funeral', Ramy Youssef Comedy To Series". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2018-05-03. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  39. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2018-07-30). "'Euphoria' Pilot Starring Zendaya Picked Up To Series By HBO, Drake & Future the Prince Join As Executive Producers". Deadline. Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  40. ^ Greene, Steve (February 23, 2021). "'Ziwe': Showtime Sets Premiere Date for New Variety Series". IndieWire. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  41. ^ Otterson, Joe (March 10, 2020). "Arturo Castro Joins Joseph Gordon-Levitt Apple Series 'Mr. Corman' (EXCLUSIVE)".
  42. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 24, 2021). "Netflix Wins A24 Series Package 'Beef' With 'Minari' Oscar Nominee Steven Yeun & Ali Wong From Creator Lee Sung Jin". Deadline.
  43. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (September 3, 2019). "'Earthsea' TV Series Based On Fantasy Books In The Works By A24 & Jennifer Fox". deadline.com. Deadline.
  44. ^ Miligan, Mercedes (August 7, 2020). "A24 Checks in to VivziePop's Hellish 'Hazbin Hotel'". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  45. ^ White, Peter (December 14, 2020). "Alicia Vikander To Star In TV Adaptation Of Olivier Assayas' Feature Film 'Irma Vep' For HBO". Deadline. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  46. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 13, 2020). "A24 Wins Hot Novel 'Memorial' By Bryan Washington For TV Division". Deadline. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  47. ^ Dry, Jude (January 26, 2021). "A24 Sets Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams Reunion, Plus Amy Adams TV Project".
  48. ^ Petski, Denise (June 4, 2021). "Robby Hoffman Comedy 'Rivkah' In Works At Showtime". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  49. ^ Kroll, Justin (December 3, 2020). "A24 And Scott Rudin Productions Land The Rights To Douglas Stuart's 'Shuggie Bain' With Plans Develop For TV". deadline.com. Deadline.
  50. ^ Kroll, Justin (July 15, 2021). "Robert Downey Jr. To Co-Star In Drama Series Adaptation Of Viet Thanh Nguyen's 'The Sympathizer' For HBO And A24; Park Chan-wook Directing". deadline.com. Deadline.

Notes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Signed on as producer beginning on the second season.

External links[]

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