Megan Ellison Emerges as Cannes Producer to Know

So far Megan Ellison, the 26-year-old daughter of billionaire Silicon Valley master of the universe Larry Ellison, has invested  some $100 million in four projects via Annapurna. They are selling well in Cannes through her foreign sales company Panorama. Many wouldn't have gotten made without her.

CAA has packaged all of Annapurna's projects, helping the neophyte Hollywood producer to put the right ones together. They include  "The Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow's $45-million Bin Laden drama (Sony's "Zero Dark Thirty," December), Paul Thomas Anderson's $35-million "The Master" (TWC, October 12), Randell Emmett ("Catch.44," 2011) and the latest from Spike Jonze ("Being John Malkovich"). John Hillcoat's $22-million period gangster film "Lawless" iand Andrew Dominik's "Killing Them Softly" are competing in Cannes. These are exactly the kinds of projects Hollywood doesn't want to make anymore, the ones Warner Independent and Paramount Vantage used to handle, in that mid-range between $10 and $40 million that aren't pre-sold brand names or tentpoles.

The LAT has done a profile without talking to her. While she has a PR rep (IDPR's ubiquitous Bebe Lerner, who also reps opening nighter Wes Anderson) she doesn't talk to the press. She tweets though---she thought Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" was the best movie of 2011. Her brother David also produces pictures, but bigger ones like "Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol." His sister is thankfully filling a real gap in the marketplace--although she did step up and
grab the rights to a fifth "Terminator" film for $20 million.

My only concern: she may be spending more on these films, which also bring in pre-sales from North America and foreign territories, than they will deliver.