Participant, Maker of ‘Spotlight’ and ‘Roma,’ Shutting Down After 20 Years

Brian Welk
·2 min read
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Participant, the media company behind films like “Spotlight,” “Green Book,” “Roma,” and many more, is shutting its doors after 20 years in operation.

Jeff Skoll, who founded the company in 2004, informed the staff in a memo (obtained by IndieWire) that Participant would “wind down company operations.”

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Nearly all of Participant’s roughly 100 staffers are being let go with no new content or production in the works. Only Participant’s library of 135 films remaining.

“I founded Participant with the mission of creating world-class content that inspires positive social change, prioritizing impact alongside commercial sustainability,” Skoll wrote. “Since then, the entertainment industry has seen revolutionary changes in how content is created, distributed and consumed.”

Participant’s 135 titles, half of them documentaries and also including five series, have earned $3.3 billion at the global box office. Participant has produced two Best Picture winners and earned 21 Oscars total from 86 nominations, as well as 18 Emmys on 62 nominations.

Other titles have included “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Contagion,” “Good Night, and Good Luck.,” “Waiting for Superman,” “Lincoln,” “Food, Inc.,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “RBG,” “Just Mercy,” “American Factory,” and the series “When They See Us.” Participant is behind the upcoming release of Sony Pictures Classics’ “We Grown Now” and the recently released “Shirley” on Netflix.

Participant’s mission has been to make movies designed to create social change and be an “impact media company” with a “double bottom line.” (The second bottom line refers to the social ambitions.) Particularly, the company has worked not just to fund and finance movies but to lobby federal and local governments to enact change and policy based on the messages conveyed in the films.

Jumping off of “Roma,” there was the passage of legislation to enact labor protections for 2.4 million domestic workers in Mexico. The company worked with the EPA and EU to address forever chemicals after the release of “Dark Waters.” They sponsored Get Out the Vote campaigns for the 2020 election in Georgia after the release of “John Lewis: Good Trouble.” And IndieWire reported on how Participant supported the community of Africatown during the filming of the documentary “Descendant.”

David Linde, who has led the company for the last eight years after Skoll largely stepped away from day-to-day operations, previously told IndieWire he believed “everything that we make should be not just part of a conversation, but should elevate that conversation.”

The market for those types of films however has been strained since the COVID-19 pandemic, with audiences not returning as strongly for midbudget movies for adults designed to appeal to an activist and awards crowd.

GREEN BOOK, Mahershala Ali, 2018. © Universal /Courtesy Everett Collection
Mahershala Ali in “Green Book”©Universal/courtesy Everett / Everett Collection

Read Skoll’s full memo below:

Dear Participant Team, 

For 20 years, Participant has stood as the leading global media company focused on timely and emotionally transformational stories which speak to the world’s most pressing issues. When I founded this company in 2004, I set out to maximize impact. It was a groundbreaking philanthropic venture that was the first – and for a long time, the only – of its kind. 

As many of you have heard today, after much reflection, I have made the very difficult decision to wind down company operations. This is not a step I am taking lightly, but after 20 years of groundbreaking content and world-changing impact campaigns, it is the right time for me to evaluate my next chapter and approach to tackling the pressing issues of our time.  

I founded Participant with the mission of creating world-class content that inspires positive social change, prioritizing impact alongside commercial sustainability. Since then, the entertainment industry has seen revolutionary changes in how content is created, distributed and consumed. 

Although I have not been active in the day-to-day management of Participant for some years, this is a farewell to one of the most gratifying ventures of my career and there is much to be proud of. We succeeded in creating something truly one-of-a-kind: an impact media company with a double bottom line. This was intentional, and by all measures, we have been incredibly successful in driving the impact we set out to create. We have achieved the highest levels of critical and commercial success. We have released 135 films and 5 series, won 21 Academy Awards, including 2 Best Pictures, 4 Best Documentaries and 2 Best International Features, won 18 Emmy Awards, earned more than $3.3 billion in global box office revenue and partnered with the greatest storytellers and changemakers of our time. Together, we have built a category-defining media pioneer with an iconic, globally recognized brand whose legacy will live on through our people, our stories and all who are inspired by them. 

The global conversations sparked by films and series like “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Contagion,” “Good Night, and Good Luck.,” “Waiting for Superman,” “Lincoln,” “Spotlight,” “Roma,” “Food, Inc.,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “RBG,” “Just Mercy,” “American Factory” and “When They See Us” gave all of us a new roadmap to engage – earnestly and meaningfully – in the unending pursuit of a better world. It’s not an overstatement to say that Participant films changed the way we think and talk about impact-driven films, building a new lexicon for the power of transformational storytelling. 

Our titles drove tangible real-world change. We got out the vote and championed investigative journalism. From the passage of landmark legislation to enact labor protections for domestic workers in Mexico, to spurring state and federal action to address forever chemicals in the United States and Europe, to driving increased global awareness and willingness to act on climate change – Participant content has made the world a safer, more just place for millions of people.   

I am so grateful to our global community of Participants, who remind me every day that even one person can change the world with the right tools and enough determination. That community includes you all – I can’t thank you enough for everything you have given to this incredible company in your time here. I’d also like to thank David for his vision, leadership and continued growth of the company over the past 8 years. Whether you have been with us for months or years, if there is one thing you take from your experience, I hope it’s that sense of purpose we have cultivated among our community. 

As this chapter of Participant comes to a close, I am emboldened by the efforts of the next generation of storytellers and content creators who are building upon and reimagining this work. From philanthropists, to producers, to distributors, to social impact agencies, more and more individuals and organizations all over the world are recognizing and adopting impact models as core to their approaches. The ripple effects of Participant can be felt far and wide – what we have started together is just the beginning. 

Thank you all for your hard work and unwavering dedication to Participant. I have nothing but respect and admiration for each and every one of you, and I know you will continue to carry the legacy of what we built together far into the future.   

Sincerely, 

Jeff

Variety was first to report the news.

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