Oscar-winning producer Michael Sugar has raised $30 million to turn his boutique management and production company into the next big Hollywood talent shop.
奥斯卡奖得主制片人迈克尔·休格筹集了3000万美元，将他的管理和制作公司变成下一个好莱坞大型人才商店。
Sugar, whose clients include Steven Soderbergh and Cary Joji Fukunaga, raised the money from investors Swan & Legend Venture Partners, which has also backed Jose Andres’s restaurant group, and MRC, the Hollywood studio that produced “Knives Out” and “Ozark.”
Sugar的客户包括Steven Soderbergh和Cary Joji Fukunaga，该公司从Swan & Legend Venture Partners的投资者那里筹集了资金，Swan & Legend Venture Partners也支持过Jose Andres的餐饮集团，以及制作了《刀出》(Knives Out)和《欧扎克》(Ozark)的好莱坞电影公司MRC。
Sugar plans to use this new capital to move his company, Sugar23, into podcasting and book publishing. He also aims to expand its talent-representation business by hiring as many as 20 managers over the next 12 months. Sugar has already identified one new colleague: Meredith Wachtel, who represents “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa of “Aquaman,” is reportedly set to join him.
休格计划利用这笔新资金将他的公司Sugar23转移到播客和图书出版领域。他还打算扩大人才代表业务，在未来12个月雇佣多达20名经理。据报道，《神奇女侠》演员盖尔·加朵和《水行侠》演员杰森·莫玛的经纪人梅瑞狄斯·瓦克特尔将会加入他的团队。
Sugar is a Hollywood rarity — both a manager to top clients and a successful producer. He is now hoping to capitalize on a moment of upheaval in traditional talent representation. Agencies have all cut staff due to the coronavirus, emboldening several top representatives to strike out on their own and form new companies. Many agents are turning to management because managers are able to produce shows under California law, giving them a potentially larger share of their clients’ business.
Sugar是好莱坞的稀罕物——既是顶级客户的经理，又是成功的制片人。他现在希望利用这一传统人才代表的剧变时刻。由于新冠肺炎疫情，各机构纷纷裁员，几名高级代表有了自立门户、成立新公司的勇气。许多经纪人转向经纪人，因为经纪人可以根据加州法律制作节目，这可能会让他们在客户的业务中占有更大的份额。
Longtime William Morris Endeavor agent Theresa Kang-Lowe set up a management company and secured a production deal with , while her colleague Phil Sun joined the studio Macro to run its management business. Former CAA agent Peter Micelli, meanwhile, formed Range Media Partners with backing from hedge-fund billionaire Steve Cohen, and has already poached top agents from across Hollywood, as well as luring clients such as “Watchmen” creator Damon Lindelof.
长期担任威廉·莫里斯公司经纪人的特里萨·康-洛(Theresa Kang-Lowe)成立了一家管理公司，并与之达成了制作协议，而她的同事菲尔·孙(Phil Sun)则加入了宏影工作室，负责其管理业务。与此同时，前CAA经纪人彼得·米塞利在对冲基金亿万富翁史蒂夫·科恩的支持下成立了Range Media Partners，并已经从好莱坞各地挖来顶级经纪人，还吸引了《守望者》的主创达蒙·林德洛夫等客户。
Sugar was early to this trend. Sugar23 has already produced “Dickinson” for Apple TV+ and “Maniac” for Netflix Inc. He formed Sugar23 in 2017 after years at Anonymous Content, where he both represented top filmmakers and produced projects like “Spotlight,” which won the Oscar for best picture. Sugar’s client Josh Singer co-wrote the script.
糖是这一趋势的先行者。Sugar23已经为Apple TV+制作了《迪金森》(Dickinson)，为Netflix公司制作了《疯子》(Maniac)。2017年，他在“匿名内容”(Anonymous Content)工作多年后成立了Sugar23，他在那里代表顶级电影制作人，制作了《聚焦》(Spotlight)等项目，该片获得了奥斯卡最佳影片奖。舒格的客户乔什·辛格参与了剧本的创作。
Sugar closed a deal with Netflix after striking out on his own, giving the streaming service exclusive rights to all scripted TV projects produced by Sugar23 and a first option on all films. He is now building out the team to help expand his company, hiring a chief financial officer and general counsel, and seeking heads of a new publishing imprint and podcast division.
在单打独揽之后，Sugar与Netflix达成了一项协议，将Sugar23制作的所有电视剧的独家版权和所有电影的第一选择权交给Netflix。现在，他正在组建团队，帮助公司扩张，聘请了一位首席财务官和总法律顾问，并物色新的出版品牌和播客部门的负责人。
The idea, he says, is to give any client the opportunity to create something in just about any arena, be it a director who wants to write a book or an actor who wants to produce a documentary.
他说，这样做的目的是让任何客户都有机会在任何领域创作，无论是想写书的导演，还是想制作纪录片的演员。
“Having been in the service of artists for 25-plus years, I saw there was a ton of opportunity across multimedia,” he said. “I’m trying to not be a service business. I’m trying to create a scalable media business with actual assets.”
“在为艺术家服务了25年多之后，我发现多媒体领域有大量的机会，”他说。“我努力不做服务型企业。我正试图用实际资产创建一个可扩展的媒体业务。”
Published on January 6, 2021, 1:00 PM EST
发布于美国东部时间2021年1月6日下午1点