Whew! We made it! Finally climbed to the top of the power mountain. And what a shock to find, sitting atop it all: Menahem Golan! Apparently, he never retired – or passed away – and has been running the industry with an iron fist from an office park in Reseda this whole time. Who knew?!
As for the rest of THR’s Top 50, here is our learned, consideration of the annual power 100.
49. Kathleen Kennedy
IF YOU COULD CONTROL ONE PIECE OF IP, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Star Wars
If she can submit this answer with a straight face after a decade mired in Skywalker lore and Force piousness, she’s either the greatest company woman Hollywood has ever produced, or she’s been staring into the lightsabers for way too long.
GO-TO PODCAST FOR A LONG DRIVE
The Daily
Do all the people who gave this answer live in an attic above their office? Have any of them ventured on the roads of Los Angeles since 1983? Since when does 30 minutes count as a LONG drive here anymore.
DELETED CATEGORY:
SIGNATURE ACCOMPLISHMENT: Exited 2019 with the directors she came with.
48. Dick Wolf
IF YOU COULD CONTROL ONE PIECE OF IP, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Star Wars
Actually, Law and Order: The Dagobah System is not the worst idea. Where are the Disney+ geniuses on this?
DELETED CATEGORY: SIGNATURE ACCOMPLISHMENT:
Resisting the urge to summon Reed Hastings, Brian Roberts, Tim Cook, and John Stankey and making them play Boar on the Floor to see who gets the rights to his library.
47. Leonardo Dicaprio
“The 44-year-old is a prolific producer.”
Yes, between pictures he’s pursuing his great love: working with financiers to put together a package to move a script forward, haggling on tax rebates, and talking to agents to coordinate talent schedules. One of the great producers of our time!
46. Chuck Lorre
Answer Most Likely to Get a Mega-Zillionaire mogul slapped in 3, 2 . . . . :
LAST BIG SPLURGE
“I bought a nice sweater.”
45. Dwayne Johnson
“but Johnson, 47, has more than 20 other projects in the pipeline”
DELETED LINE: “But his team insists they are taking a careful, deliberative approach to his career, waiting to line up the right projects rather than cashing out on his fame by taking the first 20 things offered him.”
44. Ellen DeGeneres
LAST BIG SPLURGE
“When I was at Taco Bell last week, I got extra salsa. YOLO!”
Hilarious, I’m sure. And relatable! But The Ankler would like to offer a million-subscription bounty to anyone who has seen Ellen DeGeneres in a Taco Bell—or any fast-food restaurant since 1990.
43. Josh Sapan and Sarah Barnett
Euphemism of the Week: “a unique and sprawling streaming strategy (Acorn TV, Sundance Now, UMC and Shudder).”
Unique and sprawling! That’s definitely a description of it!
“Expected to start turning a profit in 2020.”
Oh that! We didn’t worry our little heads about something like that on a Power List do we? When there are potential supporting actor nominees walking astride the landscape like demi-gods! But profit expected in 2020. Good enough for us, and don’t worry: We won’t hold you to that.
Why They Make a Great Team Award:
IF YOU COULD CONTROL ONE PIECE OF IP, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Sapan: “Everything William Shakespeare wrote.”
Barnett: “Star Trek is pretty epic.”
41. Lorne Michaels
When power starts to phone it in is it still power? Or does the ability to phone it in and stay on everyone’s power lists make you all the more powerful?
40. Steven Spielberg
We may be putting you seven slots below Reese Witherspoon . . . but we’ll give you two pictures!
Saddest ‘But’ of all:
“But Spielberg, 72, remains an industry giant with massive influence”
Please, when THR tells me, but you’re still an industry giant with massive influence, just roll me straight into the grave and cover me with dirt before I can read it.
36. Jeremy Zimmer/David Kramer/Jay Sures
Omitted their most important accomplishment of the year: Sures became a co-owner of Nate n’ Al’s, as part of the rescue group that saved the deli led by Irving Azoff.
Fortunately, divorce from a huge swath of their clients doesn’t seem to have registered much of a speed bump in the UTA rise to power, other than noting that solving the dispute is a “Key priority” as the article phrases it. Good to have key priorities!
35. Sean Bailey and Emma Watts
Equally powerful! Really!
One the decade-long overseer of the Disney live-action juggernaut; the other, the arriviste merger survivor overseeing the semi-orphaned works in the can and the awkward absorption into the Disney way.
There’s a psychiatric dissertation to be written about which working pairs THR decides to break up and which individuals they make sit together. But given the reputation for collegiality, I’m sure Watts is happy to share the berth.
A TOP TALENT (NOT ON YOUR PLATFORM) WHOM YOU ADMIRE
Bailey: Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Watts: Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Now I’m as big a Flea-head as anyone, but Jesus H., is there any other actor and/or writer working in entertainment today? Have the people in charge of Hollywood run out of other people to take meetings with?
I think if someone could steal the Amazon numbers, we would find fewer people actually watched Fleabag than named it on this list.
LAST BIG SPLURGE
Bailey: “New electric guitar.”
Watts: “A Theragun.”
34. The Lionsgate Four
Novel definition of “jumping”:
The 2016 acquisition of Starz has shown positive signs, with subscribers jumping from 23.5 million to 24.7 million in 2019.
Man of the People Alert:
LAST BIG SPLURGE
Feltheimer: “We had my son’s bar mitzvah in Paris followed by a family trip to Lake Como.”
33. Shonda Rimes
Not limited to just Shonda, but all the streaming deal showrunners . . . . So a person making some shows for Netflix that might or might not get anyone to watch them is more powerful than the entire management of a minor-major studio?
Company Lady Alert
YOU FIND BOB IGER’S IPHONE. WHICH CONTACT DO YOU CALL?
“His contacts? Who cares? I want to find out what shows he’s watching on Netflix.”
Also note that after Shonda, slots 1 – 32 will contain exactly one non-white power player.
30. Jason Blum
Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night Award:
Another priority: “I’d love to see The Hunt get back on the release schedule.”
29. Greg Berlanti
the most prolific producer in TV history with 19 series airing across seven outlets.
Which means he devotes 14 minutes a week to each of his children, like any good producer would.
28. Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch
This entry looks so sad without Kendall.
27. Eddy, Jamie and Zack
That is the most screwed up triptych of powerful people portraits I’ve ever seen. In the middle, Jamie looks fine, but he’s flanked by Eddy doing the no-neck thing and Zack looking like he was just told that Steve Jobs’s ghost saw the first season of The Morning Show and would like a word with him.
That said, impressive work on the comedy responses by Zack!
26. Jim Gianopolus
Yeah But Award:
he also oversees TV (Jack Ryan and 13 Reasons Why). And he’s making movies for Netflix.
25. Endeavor Trio
When did every agency sign on to the rule of three in leadership? Is there something about agenting that requires three partners to keep an eye on each other in a full circle?
24. CAA
Funny how the two agencies landed just one apart.
DELETED CATEGORY FROM CAA/ENDEAVOR/UTA LINES:
Biggest Occupational Risk: Knives in the back from partners sick of waiting for its leaders to move it along already/owners who want to know when in all eternity they are going to be able to cash out on this ridiculous business.
22. Mark Lazarus
THR Power Bio Understatement of the Year.
has taken a hands-off approach to his profitable news assets. That may change as Ronan Farrow’s new book has news execs mired in questions about their handling of claims against fired Today host Matt Lauer.
21. Vinciquerra/Hopkins/Rothman
While Vinciquerra, 65, continues to focus on restoring fiscal responsibility across the company
Oh, that’s where he’s been. Glad he’s keeping busy!
He also renewed pacts with the likes of Phil Lord and Chris Miller as well as Norman Lear.
The “likes of” Lord and Miller and Norman Lear, you say. Just get me six more, the likes of them. You know, those Lord and Miller/Norman Lear types.
LAST BIG SPLURGE
Rothman: “I bought a first edition of The Great Gatsby.“
A serious (and impressive) splurge from a man not known for splurges! Did he go into the bookstore with Margot Robbie’s character when she bought her first edition Thomas Hardy?
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