Social Redeemer
Word association time: Hollywood. Chances are you just thought of really bad sequels, or surgically enhanced starlets, or some combination thereof. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
But Jeff Skoll is trying to change that image of Hollywood as the source of pretty but meaningless drivel. Skoll's Participant Productions is releasing a number of feature films in coming months, each with the modest goal of changing the world. "We have a double bottom line," says Skoll, a slight and energetic type who looks younger than his 40 years. "We want to do entertaining and compelling films that would reach an audience, but we also want to bring about social change."
Sound crazy? Maybe. But when you're worth around $5 billion, you're allowed to be pretty crazy. Skoll, after all, was the first employee and first president of eBay. In fact, he drew up the original business plan the firm still follows. While no longer directly involved with eBay--he serves on the board of its foundation and is now just a "happy customer and shareholder" --he does find himself sitting on more resources "than I ever dreamed of." Forbes pegs him as the 94th-richest person in the world, and Canadian Business magazine says that makes him the third-richest Canadian (he grew up in Toronto and Montreal).
He now has so much cash that he's uncomfortable with it and seems intent on giving much of it away. A lot goes to his Skoll Foundation, whose kitty is approaching $600 million, and funds projects around the world. But a $100 million bet has been placed on his Participant Productions experiment, to explore whether Hollywood and socially relevant content can peaceful-ly coexist. "If an executive is wrong on a superhero movie, they won't lose their job," says Skoll. "But if they're wrong on a socially redeeming film, they might."
An Oscar? Participant Productions tries to take some of that risk away, by putting up millions and then partnering with studios for promotional campaigns and a wide release. One of the first projects out of the gate and in the theaters now: Good Night, and Good Luck , the George Clooney-directed tale of famed journalist Edward R. Murrow's battle with Sen. Joe McCarthy. It's already gathering Oscar murmurs, both for Clooney's gentle direction and for David Strathairn's intense incarnation of Murrow. Also out is North Country , a tale starring Charlize Theron about the first class-action sexual harassment case. Then comes Syriana on November 23, a riff on Mideast geopolitics and America's crippling dependence on oil.
For Hollywood, an industry that churns out dreck like Gigli and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Skoll's barrage of redeeming fare is something of uncharted territory. This year's top-grossing movies: Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, Wedding Crashers, Batman Begins . According to Participant's president, Ricky Strauss, it's the unconventional approach that makes Skoll's venture so exciting. "When I met him, I thought he was wildly optimistic," says Strauss, a longtime movie exec with Columbia Pictures, who came on board in March. "And that was a turn-on, because there's not enough of that in Hollywood today."
A turn-on, maybe, but also a huge financial risk. "Whenever a movie has a political element, it's a tricky situation to sell it," says Brandon Gray, president and publisher of tracking service Box Office Mojo. "Sometimes it can capture the zeitgeist, like Fahrenheit 9/11 . But for the most part, people just don't like to be preached to." While Gray predicts Good Night, and Good Luck could become a modest success because of its awards potential, North Country could be a tougher challenge of the public's appetite for heartier themes. "It looks so serious, and sexual harassment is such a tired subject matter by now," he says. "It's grungy looking--and people prefer glamour."
Idealist. Just releasing movies wasn't enough for Skoll, though. Instead of simply writing checks to the Red Cross or United Way, Skoll is using business methods to solve society's problems. An example: Martin Fisher, whose Skoll-funded program KickStart is bringing technologies to rural Africa, like getting innovative pumps to poor farmers. "In 10 years' time, KickStart's technologies have helped account for one half of 1 percent of Kenya's annual GDP," says Sally Osberg, president and CEO of the Skoll Foundation. "They're not just idea people; they're doers."
In movie terms, that philosophy of social entrepreneurship means getting people to act. For Good Night, and Good Luck , the accompanying "action campaign" is called Report It Now; it encourages citizen journalists to report on unfair practices in their own towns. Partners in the venture include PBS, Salon.com, the American Civil Liberties Union, and XM Satellite Radio. "I don't think there's a company in Hollywood that has done something like this before," says Strauss, who was executive producer of the Cameron Diaz vehicle The Sweetest Thing .
But will it make money? "Every year there are films which executives would never think would make any money but do--like March of the Penguins ," says Gitesh Pandya, industry analyst and editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com. "If he focuses on the key ingredients--good stories, good filmmaking, good marketing, star power, and offering the audience something different--there's no reason why he can't succeed."
Skoll will re-evaluate the situation if and when the original $100 million is used up. And if Participant turns out to be a sustainable moneymaker, those funds will be plowed into future projects.
Think he's a little too trusting in human nature? Just check out another of his recent projects: dubbing the movie Gandhi into Arabic, and screening it in the Palestinian territories to seed the idea of nonviolent resistance. The Skoll people brought along Ben Kingsley for good measure, partnered with about 75 local nongovernmental organizations to spread the message, and even got Israeli and Palestinian soldiers to watch it together. Now that's optimism. Says Skoll, simply: "That's the power of film."
This story appears in the November 7, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.