Last year, Sundance was the first in-person film festival since the pandemic forced the bastion of American independent filmmaking online for two years. It’s also the unofficial debut of 2AM, the upstart production and management outfit led by Christine D’Souza Gelb, producer David Hinojosa and manager Kevin Rowe.
At the festival, 2AM premiered works including Celine Song past life and the name of the competition starling girlwhile patrons screened first-run films like AV Rockwell One thousand and oneultimately winning the festival’s top prize. “This was our first real return to Sundance, and our client, this little company, this little thing we built during the pandemic, won the Grand Jury Prize,” D’Souza Gelb recalled. That moment.
2AM was brainstormed in 2020, when the entire industry, especially the independent film market, was being disrupted. About three years after its founding, the company has a stable of working talent, from Jeremy O. Harris to Lukas Gage, and the roster now includes Oscar nominated past life. For the first time since 2AM’s formation, the trio have spoken about their tumultuous origins.
“Independent films have been decimated because the business model cannot account for COVID-19. There is no place to offset that risk, mechanically or financially, so you have to adapt. hollywood reporter. “We are building an independent company and we want it to stand out.”
2AM also supports Oscar nominations past life.
Jon Parker/A24
Before 2 a.m., D’Souza Gelb, Hinojosa and Rowe have worked together for most of their respective careers. In time, D’Souza Gelb becomes a partner with WME and Endeavor Content, packaging and selling the independent project at every major film festival and market, while Hinojosa is produced under the direction of New York-based indie stalwart Killer Films, led by Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler , whose works include works by Paul Schrader first reformed church. Law began his career managing production company Odenkirk Provissiero before starting his own company, Elia, where he helped mentor filmmaking talent such as horror prodigy Ari Aster.
“We had both been doing things in our own territory and collaborating on projects with each other for the past decade or so and knew there was an opportunity to build something new,” Luo said.
Eventually, the three were brought together by A24. D’Souza Gelb has long sold movies to A24 (witch, subcutaneous), while Hinojosa is busy working on a Twitter topic steering feature Zolaco-written and directed by Rowe client Janicza Bravo. A24 provided initial financial support, paving the way for them to incubate 2AM and launch it in 2021. Rowe is responsible for the management of operations.
Production management agencies are not a new concept in Hollywood—think Brillstein Entertainment, which sold to Wasserman last year, or Range Media, which launched in 2020—but the trio wanted to consider an arrangement that best suited the context of the independent film space They are operating.
“In an agency, you have to provide services. You can choose what you like, but you also have to provide services for everything else,” D’Souza Gelb points out. “If we’re going to take the time to build [a film at 2AM]we prepare it from the earliest stages of finding a project and talking to filmmakers, knowing that on the other end, how are we going to sell it or how are we going to find a home for it.
When forming the company, they decided that 2AM’s production arm would exist not just to serve the company’s clients; instead, Hinojosa would keep his team separate from the company, working with Luo’s talent when appropriate. Each founder leveraged existing relationships they had working in the independent space for their entire career to make the deal. Hinojosa speculated, “Our credibility is our brand.”
Industry insiders have questioned the connection between 2AM and A24, given the initial financing and subsequent production partnership. “We have no obligation to prioritize. Our project has no visibility. It is very independent,” D’Souza Gelb said.
Rowe added, “In terms of client management, if we feel like we have a relationship or owe them something, then it’s not going to work. As much as we have a lot of love and respect for them, we do a lot of great work together. As for production, Most of their released and announced work has been done with A24, and Hinojosa explained that many of their long-gestating projects are in collaboration with other studios, and that A24 is a big part of the markets they serve: “The creative overlap is very consistent. “
From 2020 to 2022, just when 2AM is getting started, production and management agencies can take advantage of increased investor interest in entertainment, which is at an all-time high as interest rates fall to historic lows – And often it is. But 2AM does not want to enter the financing field.
“We don’t need to check with other boards. We are changing our beliefs,” D’Souza Gelb said, noting they have been approached about being acquired and also asked about acquiring smaller companies. 2AM has grown over the past three years and now has 15 employees, including support staff in offices in New York and Los Angeles.
Through management, Law’s team signed more on-screen talent like Sonoya Mizuno and helped Harris and examine Director Elegance Bratton has established her own production banner. As for production, with help from Dan Magnante, recently hired from Feigco, and soon to expand into TV series, 2AM’s upcoming slate includes Song’s expected next project and materialist;and we are all strangers TV series directed by Andrew Haigh Let the record show.
Nicole Kidman’s erotic thriller baby girl“”, which bowed in Venice, was produced by 2AM’s Hinojosa.
Courtesy of Venice Film Festival
Half of 2AM’s upcoming films come from filmmakers the trio have worked with before. “We’ve spent our entire careers working with and supporting first- and second-time filmmakers, betting on our tastes and projects we think will work. We don’t just work with these filmmakers on a project; Grow with them.
2AM produces Halina Reijn’s horror comedy in first year of operation body, body, body, English debut. Hinojosa was on hand at the Venice Film Festival last week to film Lane’s film baby girlanother 2 a.m. production. The erotic thriller starring Nicole Kidman was a breakout hit, currently sitting at a 94% on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
Hinojosa noted that 2AM now serves as executive producer on the project, working with young producers to help mentor them. “It’s an ecosystem that’s drying up,” he said of apprenticeships in the independent field. “We’ve had help along the way.” D’Souza Gelb added: “We’ve all picked up a lot of knowledge from different relationships, different mentors about how we operate as people in this industry. We feel like we have the tools to be All the tools and capabilities of this industry leader.
This story appears in the September 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
