LOS ANGELES – One of the most enduring Hollywood double acts of corporate life is quitting.
Steve Gilula and Nancy Utley, senior executives at Searchlight Pictures for 21 of 27 years, shaping global culture with Oscar-winning hits like ’12 Years a Slave ‘,’ Black Swan ‘,’ The Grand Budapest Hotel ‘and’ Slumdog Millionaire ‘, ”Announced their surprise retirement Tuesday. They will be leaving Disney’s special studio at the end of June, contributing to a notable changing of the guard at the Walt Disney Company.
“You don’t want to be the show that stays on the air for two seasons too long,” said Ms. Utley. “Get away while everything is still going well.”
She was joking – usually. Searchlight has long been the gold standard for art film studios, packing its slate with diverse offerings long before Hollywood got the memo, and thriving in a changing market – the DVD’s collapse, the rise of streaming competitors – even as once formidable competitors like the Weinstein Company. If the latest searchlight success “Nomadland” wins the Academy Award for Best Picture on Sunday, as many expect, Mr. Gilula, 70, and Ms. Utley, 65, will have won the top prize in four of the last eight ceremonies. That’s unmatched by any dedicated studio, even Miramax, which won three Best-Picture Oscars at its peak.
Searchlight’s previous winners include “The Shape of Water” (2018), “Birdman” (2015) and “12 Years a Slave” (2014). “Slumdog Millionaire” won in 2009.
At the same time, however, Sunday could mark a symbolic shift in Hollywood: if Searchlight loses, it will likely be up to Netflix that could win its first Academy Award for Best Picture for ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’. Netflix has been chasing such a win for years as the ultimate symbol of Hollywood supremacy.
Searchlight has taken up the challenge of streaming. “Nomadland” by Chinese-born filmmaker Chloé Zhao, was released in theaters and on Hulu, a Disney streaming service. But competition with Amazon, Apple and Netflix – and their seemingly bottomless purses – for talent and content has become increasingly difficult. That has made the art film market more uncertain for traditional studios such as Searchlight, which are now run by David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield, the current presidents.
“Every time my contract expired, to be honest, I always wondered if I had the strength to fight through the next set of changes,” said Mr Gilula. “In the end, pride and loyalty kept me going. And there is always a fantastic movie in the pipeline. Well, maybe after “Shape of Water,” maybe after “Three Billboards.” But this is it. With ‘Nomadland’, which has shown that we have not lost our lead at all by adapting quickly to the pandemic, there is a great sense of satisfaction. “
Mr. Gilula and Mrs. Utley leave amid a wider brain drain at Disney. Robert A. Iger, executive chairman, will leave the company in December after 26 years. Alan F. Horn, the best creative director at Walt Disney Studios, is about to retire, as is Alan N. Braverman, Disney’s best attorney. Jayne Parker, Disney’s powerful human resources officer, will step down in June after 33 years with the company.
“The people you mentioned have made a huge contribution – myself excluded; I’m not talking about myself in this regard – about the company’s success, and in doing so, I’ve cared for the people behind them who will take over, ”said Mr Iger. “I try to take away people’s concerns as much as possible. It is certainly far too premature to express concern. “
Searchlight was one of the assets Disney acquired from Rupert Murdoch in 2019. Mr. Iger, who orchestrated the deal, praised Mrs. Utley and Mr. Gilula. “It takes a really nimble hand to bring these smaller, but extremely high-quality films to the market, and they have Ph.Ds in them,” he said.
Will their retirement mean a change of course for Searchlight? The mini-studio, which has about 100 employees, is loved by adult cinema fans, especially as Hollywood leans more towards franchise movies for all viewers.
“No, not at all,” said Mr. Iger. “We haven’t really talked about this, but we plan for Searchlight to play a major role in delivering content not just for theaters, but for our streaming platforms as well. We are going to invest more and more. Expect more output than less. “
Searchlight’s upcoming films include “Summer of Soul,” a 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival documentary by Ahmir Thompson, better known as Questlove; Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” a comedy-drama romance; and Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley”, about a manipulative carnival worker. Searchlight also has six television shows with stars and directors, including Keira Knightley, Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favorite”) and Darren Aronofsky.
They have all worked with Searchlight before.
“When I started in the American movie industry in ’93-96, I often heard the word ‘family’ to describe movie studios: ‘We’re a family here,’” said Mr. del Toro. ‘In my experience they must have meant the Manson family. But not with Searchlight. It is a real family, a family that you cherish. “
Mr. del Toro, who wrote and directed “The Shape of Water” continued, “I remember throwing them the story – it was a huge gamble! Not something most studios would make! – and towards the end it was I weepy, and then they got weepy, and they said, “Go make your movie.” ”
Ms Zhao said she was impressed that Mr Gilula and Ms Utley had been meeting her for an hour every week ‘for months’ while Searchlight worked on a pandemic-appropriate distribution and marketing plan for ‘Nomadland’, in which Frances McDormand stars as a by grief stricken van occupant.
“I always hear horror stories about how in some studios, once you’re done with your movie, you don’t know where it’s going – what happens to it,” said Ms. Zhao. “Not only was I informed every week at Searchlight, I was also allowed to be a big part of making all decisions.”
Mr Gilula and Ms Utley agreed to a theatrical release, even though it was a proposal to lose money due to the pandemic. “They don’t say, ‘We have a system that works for us, so that’s how you’re going to work,’” said Ms. Zhao. “They really listened to us and trusted us.”
Searchlight was founded in 1994 by Thomas E. Rothman, who is now Sony’s film director. Back then, specialty movies – author-focused cinematic trinkets – made money at the box office. Released by Searchlight in 1997, “The Full Monty” cost $ 3.5 million to earn and took in $ 258 million worldwide (nearly $ 430 million in today’s money). Over the years, market conditions have changed significantly, especially in the late 2000s, when an economic downturn dried up production funding.
While competitors like Rogue Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Picturehouse and Miramax faded, Ms. Utley and Mr. Gilula kept Searchlight alive. Her specialty is marketing, scripting and casting. He is a distribution ace who co-founded the Landmark Theaters chain in 1974.
“There’s never been a spreadsheet that Steve didn’t like,” Mrs. Utley said dryly.
Aside from exquisite cinematic tastes, the two executives, who are both from the Midwest, are the rarest kind in Hollywood: really nice people. Neither craves the spotlight. They are well known in the movie industry for campaigning for awards with integrity.
“Hopefully we’ve set an example,” said Mr. Gilula, “and show that you don’t have to be the other to be successful in this industry.”
Both insisted that Disney’s acquisition of Searchlight (called Fox Searchlight while owned by Mr. Murdoch) had played no part in their decision to retire.
“We were frustrated at Fox because Fox simply didn’t have a streaming strategy and was very slow to respond to changes in the market,” said Ms. Utley, adding, “I think the transition to Disney has been very smooth, which is one of the reasons why I have every confidence in the world about Searchlight’s future. “