An Oscar-winning producer is taking on Hollywood's biggest managers

Mr Michael Sugar is a Hollywood rarity - both a manager to top clients and a successful producer. PHOTO: MICHAELSUGAR23/INSTAGRAM

LOS ANGELES (BLOOMBERG) - Oscar-winning producer Michael Sugar has raised US$30 million (S$39 million) to turn his boutique management and production company into the next big Hollywood talent shop.

Mr Sugar, whose clients include directors Steven Soderbergh and Cary Joji Fukunaga, raised the money from investors Swan & Legend Venture Partners, which has also backed celebrity chef Jose Andres' restaurant group, and MRC, the Hollywood studio that produced the movie Knives Out (2019) and television series Ozark (2017 to present).

Mr Sugar plans to use this new capital to move his company, Sugar23, into podcasting and book publishing. He also aims to expand its talent-representation business by hiring as many as 20 managers over the next 12 months.

Mr Sugar has already identified one new colleague: Ms Meredith Wechter, who represents Wonder Woman (2017) star Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa of Aquaman (2018), is reportedly set to join him.

Mr Sugar is a Hollywood rarity - both a manager to top clients and a successful producer. He is now hoping to capitalise on a moment of upheaval in traditional talent representation.

Agencies have all cut staff due to the coronavirus pandemic, emboldening several top representatives to strike out on their own and form new companies.

Many agents are turning to management because managers are able to produce shows under California law, giving them a potentially larger share of their clients' business.

Longtime William Morris Endeavor agent Theresa Kang-Lowe set up a management company and secured a production deal with Apple, while her colleague Phil Sun joined the studio Macro to run its management business.

Former Creative Artists Agency agent Peter Micelli, meanwhile, formed Range Media Partners with backing from hedge-fund billionaire Steve Cohen, and has already poached top agents from across Hollywood, as well as luring clients such as Watchmen (2019) creator Damon Lindelof.

Mr Sugar was early to this trend. Sugar23 has already produced Dickinson (2019 to present) for Apple TV+ and Maniac (2018) for Netflix.

He formed Sugar23 in 2017 after years at entertainment company Anonymous Content, where he both represented top filmmakers and produced projects like Spotlight (2015), which won the Oscar for Best Picture. Mr Sugar's client Josh Singer co-wrote the script.

Mr Sugar closed a deal with Netflix after striking out on his own, giving the streaming service exclusive rights to all scripted TV projects produced by Sugar23 and a first option on all films.

He is now building out the team to help expand his company, hiring a chief financial officer and general counsel, and seeking heads of a new publishing imprint and podcast division.

The idea, he says, is to give any client the opportunity to create something in just about any arena, be it a director who wants to write a book or an actor who wants to produce a documentary.

"Having been in the service of artists for 25-plus years, I saw there was a ton of opportunity across multimedia," he said. "I'm trying to not be a service business. I'm trying to create a scalable media business with actual assets."

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