Hollywood's reigning theory of Relativity: If you want your film to succeed, get in business with Relativity Media and its president of worldwide production, Tucker Tooley. With scores of recent creative and commercial hits, Tooley and CEO Ryan Kavanaugh follow a winning production formula— one part top-tier talent relations and one part bottom-line business savvy.
Tooley, an LA native, venturedinto producing in his 20’s—naively, he insists. “The first movie went off without a hitch,” he says. “I was like, This is a no-brainer! But if I knew then what I know now, I probably never would’ve taken a stab at it.”
At Relativity, Tooley applies the same principles to potential blockbuster fare (such as director Tarsem Singh’s upcoming, eyepopping Immortals) as he does to low-budget acquisitions (like the Hitchcockian Sundance favorite Catfish). Through partnerships, presales and output deals, “We
cover our bets [on the budget],” says Tooley. And as far as how Relativity works with talent, he says, “We’re unique in that we really make them part of the solution— and part of the family.”
“If it makes financial and creative sense, there’s no such thing as ‘too big,’” he says of Relativity’s ascent. “As long as we’re still in the same risk ratio and love a film creatively, we’re probably going to do it. The sky’s the limit.”
For this entertainment exec, the sweetest spot is in the theater, watching a finished film for the first time. “You immediately remember the first meeting, the first pitch or the first script, and it’s so much more than you initially imagined, so much more thorough an experience visually and emotionally,” says Tooley. “There’s no more satisfying feeling in the world.”
