Dan Lin’s Rideback Launches Rideback Rise Accelerator Focused On Development Of BIPOC-Created Content

Matt Grobar
·6 min read
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Dan Lin’s production company Rideback, known for producing The Lego Movie and It franchises, such tentpoles as Disney’s Aladdin, and series television including The CW’s hit Walker, today announced the launch of Rideback Rise, a new non-profit accelerator that will support BIPOC writers, filmmakers and entrepreneurs in the development of film, television, digital and audio content.

The Rideback Rise program will consist of two groups. The first, known as the Rise Circle, will be a growing community of more than 500 diverse writers, filmmakers and creative talent supported through career-oriented programming and networking events. The second, under the banner of the Rise Fellowship, will be a cohort of BIPOC creators and entrepreneurs selected each year for financial support in the development of market-ready film, television, digital and audio entertainment.

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While Rideback Rise will operate as a separate organization from the Rideback production entity, program participants will benefit from the association to Rideback, including the use of the Rideback Ranch creative campus and performance space in LA’s Historic Filipinotown and access to Rideback’s ongoing educational and networking events and programming. Rise Fellows will receive a $50,000 annual stipend and are eligible to access an Intellectual Property Fund for underlying rights to material as well as a Visuals Fund to create presentations and reels for their projects. They will work closely with each other, using a collaborative writers’ room approach, and will additionally be able to access senior executives and creative professionals from throughout the Rideback community. Once they complete the program, Fellows are free to set up their projects with the producing and/or financing entity of their choice. Rise will remain a passive participant in the life of the project, and all fees generated from projects will be reinvested in the Rise program to support future cohorts.

The registered 501(c)(3) is launching with more than $1 million in commitments from leading philanthropic institutions, including the Ford Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Zelnick Belzberg Charitable Trust, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, and UTA Foundation. Rideback is at the same time seeking additional funders to close out its 2022 Rise funding goal as it begins selecting Fellows for a Fall 2022 start, having itself injected $150K and 1000+ hours of time into the development of the initiative.

BIPOC-identifying creators may apply directly to become Rise Fellows through http://www.ridebackrise.org, which will begin accepting applications on September 1. The program will formally kick off on October 15 with the announcement of the first cohort.

Dan Lin will serve as Chair of the Rise Board of Directors. The initial Board at launch includes Brickson Diamond, Partner at Spencer Stuart and Founder of The Blackhouse Foundation; Alice Rhee, Chief Communications & Partnerships Officer at Skoll Foundation; and Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take Two Interactive and Managing Partner at Zelnick Media Capital.

“When I started my career, first as a creative executive and then as an entrepreneur, I benefited from the mentorship and generosity of leaders in both a formal and informal way,” said Rideback’s founder and CEO Lin. “Industry leaders such as Alan Horn, Lorenzo DiBonaventura, Jeff Robinov and Peter Roth guided me in an era long before the industry’s recent racial reckoning. But they took a bet on helping a 25-year-old intern from Taiwan who had no connections in Hollywood. With Rideback Rise, We are building a system of support and mentorship for creators and entrepreneurs alike, to help the next generation of leaders who are creating content and businesses that will help build bridges and advance racial equity.”

Continued Lin, “Though we’ve seen an incremental improvement for diversity on and off screen, people of color remain massively underrepresented, and this inequity perpetuates the racial divide in American society. Rise is dedicated to lifting up those exceptional creative voices that get fewer chances, whether they are Asian, Black, Hispanic and Indigenous, for example, or whether they are Muslim or another underrepresented group. Our goal is to empower these creators to make popular entertainment that reflects our multicultural society so we can help improve racial equity in America.”

Said Lin in closing: “At Rideback, we’ve built a strong community of like-minded creators who believe in giving back and helping the next generation. It’s a natural next step to contribute all that we’ve learned and to partner with the non-profit sector to establish Rise. We are very grateful to our friends at the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Zelnick Belzberg Charitable Trust, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art and UTA Foundation who share our vision for combating ‘otherness’ and creating a more empathic world.”

“We are thrilled to work with Rideback Rise and other creative partners in entertainment and philanthropy who share our mission of advancing equity,” said Chi-hui Yang, who serves as senior program officer for JustFilms at the Ford Foundation. “The work that creatives do, both on screen and off, help color our understanding of our communities and the world at large. It’s essential that production teams, studios, and more reflect the diversity of our society.”

“The rapidly changing media ecosystem, including entertainment, requires an infrastructure and professional creatives that reflect the democratic ideals of a multiracial, multiethnic America,” remarked the MacArthur Foundation’s Director of Media and Journalism, Kathy Im. “Rideback Rise will help build the community, collaboration, and support necessary to center equity in the entertainment industry.”

“For far too long, mainstream media has overlooked the rich perspectives and representation of culturally diverse creators,” added Zeyba Rahman, who serves as program director for the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art’s Building Bridges Program. “We are excited to support Rideback Rise and their goal to elevate the voices that have often been minimized and provide resources to those creators to tell stories. We look forward to how they will advance racial equity and social change, deepen cross-community connections and truly embody what the U.S. looks like today.”

Founded by Lin in 2007, Rideback’s films have grossed more than $5B worldwide. The company is currently in post on Easter Sunday for Amblin Partners, starring Filipino-American comedian Jo Koy; and on Disney’s film Haunted Mansion based on the popular theme park attraction, which stars Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield and Danny DeVito. In television, it’s currently in production on Walker Season 3 and the first season of the new CW prequel series Walker: Independence. Both titles made with CBS Studios are set to air on Thursdays this fall. Rideback is also currently shooting the new, live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender film for Netflix, and is in pre-production on the Hulu series Interior Chinatown, based on Charles Yu’s acclaimed novel of the same name.

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