Anonymous Content
Founded in 1999 by CEO Steve Golin, Anonymous Content is a production and management company where talent comes first. We manage exceptional directors, writers, actors, and comedians, and work closely with them to achieve their goals, whether in feature films, television, commercials, music videos, or brand integrated content. We guide careers with confidence, relying on our experience in every area of the changing media landscape. Alongside our distinguished clients, we continue to grow our outstanding reputation in the entertainment and advertising industries.
Founded: 1999
Set for a September release by Simon & Schuster‘s Scribner, Sleeping Beauties takes place in the near future in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women’s prison. Something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent. And while they sleep they go to another place. Meanwhile, the men are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?
Oscar-winning producer Michael Sugar (Spotlight) and Ashley Zalta will executive produce the series for Anonymous Content. Sugar and Zalta also are executive producing Netflix’s mystery drama series The OA,recently renewed for a second season, and the high-profile upcoming Netflix series Maniac, starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill with Cary Fukunaga directing, which is set to go into production at the end of summer. Sugar’s series credits also include Cinemax’s The Knick and Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why.
Stephen King has published more than 60 novels, books and short-story collections, which have sold 350 million-plus copies. Many have been adapted for film and television, most recently features It and The Dark Tower, limited series 11.22.63 and the upcoming horror series Castle Rock, both for Hulu with J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot.
Owen King and his brother, fellow writer Joe Hill, are developing their original feature script Fade Away as a television series for Miramax and Miguel Sapochnik. Owen King is also co-writing with Mark Poirier Alien Invasion for Constantin Film based on their graphic novel.
Stephen King is repped by Paradigm. Owen King is repped by the Lynn Pleshette Literary Agency and Thruline Entertainment.
Anonymous Content, Element Pictures and Film4 have optioned the Dean Kuipers book Burning Rainbow Farm, and will develop it as a directing vehicle for Room helmer Lenny Abrahamson. Playwright Cory Finley, who made his directing debut with the Sundance pic Thoroughbred, will write the script. It is the true story of two marijuana advocates who were gunned down by the FBI after a five-day standoff. Anonymous Content’s Adam Shulman and Mad Dog Films’ Alix Madigan will produce with Element’s Ed Guiney and Abrahamson. Steve Golin and Andrew Lowe will be exec producers alongside Film4’s Daniel Battsek.
Rainbow Farm was a peaceful, pot-friendly haven in rural Michigan, hatched in the 1990s by life partners Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm. Their annual hemp and music festivals led them toward becoming a catalyst for marijuana legalization in the state. Their festivals were well attended and High Times magazine judged the farm one of the top stoner travel spots in the country. But Crosslin and Rohm grew increasingly bold with their cultivation of marijuana plants. After an accident involving a teen attendee of one of their festivals who crashed his car and died, the farm was raided and the hippie couple was charged with possession of a firearm and for cultivating 200 plants. Their son was removed from their home and placed in foster care.
In an act of defiance, Crosslin and Rohm skipped their appointed court date on their criminal case, and torched Rainbow Farm. County officials called the FBI. A five-day standoff erupted, with shots fired, and the couple was eventually shot dead. The siege might have created more of a public outcry, but it happened days before the 9/11 terror attacks. The book was published in 2006.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the tension in U.S. political discourse between various ideals of personal liberty and the perceived threats against them from the state,” said Abrahamson, who was Oscar-nominated for his last film, Room. “The intensely moving and tragic story of Tom and Rollie and the fate of Rainbow Farm, brilliantly captured and contextualized in Dean Kuiper’s excellent book, is a vivid and compelling way of dramatizing a fundamental fracture which continues to define U.S. society today. I’m delighted to be working with such great producers as Alix and Adam, alongside my partner Ed Guiney and very excited to be collaborating with Cory Finley, who is an exceptional talent.”
Finley’s Sundance debut Thoroughbred was acquired by Focus Features after its premiere.
Abrahamson is represented by WME and Casarotto Ramsay; Finley by ICM Partners. Element previously teamed with Film4 on Room and also The Lobster, and Anonymous Content’s credits include Spotlight and The Revenant.
Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective has bought a minority stake in powerhouse management-production company Anonymous Content.
Anonymous, founded by producer Steve Golin in 1999, has been shopping for a minority investor in the company for the past few months. With the investment, Anonymous and Emerson will focus on developing “socially-relevant” film, TV and digital content.
Anonymous has come on strong on the production side during the past few years with high-profile TV shows such as “True Detective,” “Mr. Robot” and “The Knick.” The company was also behind the two heatseekers of the 2015-16 film awards cycle, “Spotlight” (which won the best picture Oscar) and “The Revenant.”
“It is an honor for Anonymous Content to be partnering with Laurene Powell Jobs and the Emerson Collective team,” said Golin, who is CEO of Anonymous. “Emerson Collective shares our commitment to creating high-quality content that both entertains and inspires, and we are eager to help further their bold initiatives. Our partnership will expand opportunities for our clients and Anonymous Content to highlight issues of social justice and produce projects that can serve as agents of change.”
Golin and his partners Michael Sugar, Doug Wald, Eric Stern and Diane Janicki will continue to run the privately held Anonymous, which is based in Culver City. Emerson will have representation on its board of directors.
The success with TV series has revved up the financial momentum at Anonymous. The company retained Guggenheim Securities earlier this year to shop for investors to allow the company to further expand its scope and capitalize on the insatiable demand for high-end content. In addition to management, TV and film production, Anonymous has a prosperous commercial and branded content division that works with blue-chip advertisers such as Coca-Cola, Prada and Nike.
Endemol Shine, Paramount Pictures and ITV are among the traditional entertainment companies that took a serious look at investing in the company. But Anonymous was asking for $100 million for a 49% minority interest — which translated to a sky-high earnings multiple. And that made it an uphill climb for getting a deal done.
Reps for Anonymous and Emerson would not discuss financial terms. But a source close to the situation said the valuation of Anonymous in the deal with Emerson came in considerably higher than $100 million.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based Emerson Collective, a philanthropy-focused LLC, has been moving into the media and entertainment arena. Last year it invested in Macro, the production venture launched by former WME agent Charles King. Powell Jobs is the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
“Emerson Collective believes in the power of storytelling to shape our culture and improve lives,” said Powell Jobs, who is president of Emerson Collective. “We’re thrilled to partner with Steve and his talented team at Anonymous Content to create films, television and digital content that can inspire change.”
Emerson Collective is named after the 19th century Transcendentalist writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. The org’s goal is to “remove barriers to opportunity so people can live to their full potential.” Emerson’s focus to date has been on education and immigration reform, as well as environmental concerns.
In addition to Guggenheim, Anonymous was advised in the sale by a team led by Robert Haymer at Latham & Watkins.