Publications
Publications
- March 2024
- HBS Case Collection
Ava DuVernay's Array: Disrupting the Hollywood Film Industry
By: Anita Elberse and Morgan Brewton-Johnson
Abstract
In February 2023 acclaimed filmmaker Ava DuVernay is filming her latest movie, Origin, a daring adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. With Origin, DuVernay is pioneering a method to finance the endeavor—through a combination of investors and grantors—that is unheard of for a film of its size. A group of charitable institutions and individual donors have brought in around $35 million needed to acquire the adaptation rights, develop and produce the film; Array, DuVernay’s company, which she describes as “a narrative change collective dedicated to the disruption of inequitable systems in Hollywood’s film and television industry,” has invested another $5 million. Is Origin on a path to success? What challenges await the filmmaker and her team further down the road, as their focus shifts from producing to distributing and marketing the film? And is DuVernay, with this new financing model, changing the game in Hollywood?
Keywords
Financing and Loans; Intellectual Property; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Disruption; Motion Pictures and Video Industry
Citation
Elberse, Anita, and Morgan Brewton-Johnson. "Ava DuVernay's Array: Disrupting the Hollywood Film Industry." Harvard Business School Case 524-071, March 2024.