Ryan Kavanaugh - Los Angeles, California

CEO

Los Angeles, California

Media

5-20

Prominent Hollywood film producer Ryan Kavanaugh established himself as a leader in the film industry by developing innovative solutions to finance films. Founding Relativity Media, LLC in 2004 and leading the firm as Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Kavanaugh leveraged an innovative singles/doubles strategic model toward financing deals that maximized profit while minimizing risk. Through major deals with industry giants such as Marvel Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Warner Brothers, Kavanaugh led Relativity to early success. Over the course of his tenure with the company, Ryan Kavanaugh has injected over $10 billion in capital to production companies, studios, and producers.

Following the success of the firm’s early financing business, Relativity transitioned into a full-fledged studio in 2010 when it launched its film distribution business. To kick off its entry into the distribution industry, the leadership at Relativity secured a cutting-edge output agreement with Netflix. Through this deal, Relativity gave Netflix the rights to stream its movies via the Netflix Instant service during the time when these films were airing on pay television. Relativity followed up this success with a major 2011 agreement with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, which involves the distribution and marketing of Relativity films on Blu-ray and DVD. At present, Relativity distributes films through 15 distribution agreements that cover the United States as well as over 100 foreign markets.

One of the key players in Relativity’s success as a studio, Ryan Kavanaugh has garnered many prestigious awards for his contributions to the motion picture industry. At the 13th Annual Hollywood Awards Gala in 2009, Kavanaugh received the Producer of the Year Award. In 2010, he won The Hollywood Reporter’s Leadership Award, which included a special issue honoring his work. The following year, Variety named Kavanaugh “Showman of the Year.” Ryan Kavanaugh has also appeared in Forbes’ “Future 400: Ones To Watch” and Fortune’s “40 Under 40 Most Influential People in Business.”