22 Facts About Participant Productions

Company was originally named Participant Productions and went on to become a well-known independent financier.

Participant Productions, which earned B Corp certification in 2017, is the largest company that exclusively produces and finances social impact entertainment.

Participant Productions provided an undisclosed amount of financing in February 2005 to film distributor Emerging Pictures to finance that company's national network of digitally equipped cinemas.

Participant Productions began its first socially relevant outreach project, helping to finance screenings of the biographical film Gandhi in the Palestinian territories for the first time as well as in the countries of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

In March 2008, Participant Productions changed its name to Participant Media to reflect the firm's expansion into television and non-traditional entertainment media.

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Participant Productions had only three films released during the year, and none of them was nominated for an award from a major arts organization.

That same month Participant Productions signed a five-year production and distribution deal with Summit Entertainment.

Participant Productions announced a number of productions in May 2009, including: The Crazies, a remake of the 1973 film of the same name; Casino Jack and the United States of Money, a film about the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal; Help Me Spread Goodness, a comedy starring and directed by Ben Stiller about a banking executive who is caught by a Nigerian Internet scam ; and The Soloist, a drama starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr.

In January 2010, Participant Productions Media co-presented director Mark Lewis' documentary, Cane Toads: The Conquest at the Sundance Film Festival.

The studio's hit documentary, Waiting for "Superman", garnered media acclaim, and Participant Productions inked a worldwide distribution deal with Paramount shortly before its premiere at Sundance.

Participant Productions hoped that it would change this attitude about its films with 2011's The Help and Contagion.

Skoll said that Participant Productions had purchased the rights to a New York Times article about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, and that the film would likely focus not simply on oil drilling but on a number of critical issues.

Participant Productions executives said in October 2011 that the studio would expand its production to make seven to twelve films a year, would begin producing features and series for television, and expand its online presence.

Three weeks later, in February 2012, Participant Productions Media announced that it was partnering with Summit Entertainment, Image Nation, Spanish production company Apaches Entertainment, and Colombian production company Dynamo to produce a supernatural horror film about an American oil company executive who moves his family into a house in a small city in Colombia only to find the home is haunted.

Participant Productions announced that Spanish director Luis Quilez would direct from a script by Alex and David Pastor.

Participant Productions took an equity stake in Cineflix Media Canada-based TV producer and distributor.

On January 10,2017, Participant Productions announced its partnership with Lionsgate to distribute films internationally.

In 2018, Participant Productions Media expanded its virtual reality experience, “Melting Ice” featuring Al Gore, into a four-part series titled, This is Climate Change.

In 2019, Participant Productions received a company-record 17 Academy Award nominations including ten for Roma, five for Green Book and two for RBG.

In collaboration with the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television's Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment, Participant Productions published the "State of SIE" report, similar to what it had done a few years earlier with USC when it published the "Participant Productions Index" report.

On September 8,2019, Participant Productions debuted its rebrand and logo at the Toronto Film Festival which coincided with the company's 15th anniversary.

In November 2020, Participant Productions terminated its equity stake in Amblin Partners, ending its relationship with the company.