The more that companies decide to go woke, the broker they seem to get.
And the go woke, go broke problem doesn’t just include popular beer brands or famous fitness gyms.
Now one extremely woke studio just got the hammer laid down on it, and it’s shutting its doors once and for all.
Participant Studios announces closure
Movie studio Participant Studios, founded by left-wing billionaire Jeff Skoll, is allegedly shutting down operations and eliminating most of its staff.
The studio was founded in 2004 and typically finances projects with strong social justice, woke, and globalist themes.
One of its most widely recognized releases was former Vice President Al Gore’s climate change documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, and the film’s sequel.
The studio also financed the Obama Netflix documentary American Factory and the Ruth Bader Ginsberg documentary, RBG.
Participant Studios also bankrolled two popular best-picture Oscar winners, Green Book and Spotlight.
Skoll reportedly told the staff of roughly 100 employees that most of them will be set to lose their jobs, and there will be no new content development or production moving forward.
A skeleton crew will stay to help oversee the studio’s library, which consists of approximately 135 titles.
In a memo obtained by Variety, Skoll wrote, “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.”
The move to shift much of Hollywood’s content to streaming entertainment took a massive toll on many studios, particularly those like Participant with a specialty movie model.
These niches heavily relied on theatrical distribution to help with word-of-mouth marketing and to create a buzz during awards season.
Most specialty films used to receive a theatrical release, but now, most of them end up on streaming platforms before they ever hit the cinemas.
The studio also had some high-profile flops at the box office, including Dark Waters, an environmentally-themed film starring Mark Ruffalo, and the thriller Stillwater, which featured actor Matt Damon.
Going woke is going broke
Participant Studios was led by former Universal boss David Linde, who helped the company with several high-profile releases, including the Steven Spielberg film The Post and Steven Soderbergh’s film Contagion.
Contagion portrayed the World Health Organization as a heroic entity during a global pandemic.
The studio was also behind a documentary called Page One: Inside the New York Times, a behind-the-scenes look at the Grey Lady.
Several Hollywood studios have taken a hit over the past year, forcing them to make deep budget cuts amidst a struggling economy.
Those studios include big names like Amazon MGM, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and the Walt Disney Company.
Many Americans are canceling their cable TV services and channel subscriptions as TV advertising declines.
Streaming platforms have also seen losses in the billions of dollars, and the industry is still trying to recover from the Hollywood writer and actor strikes.
Informed American will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
