Enjoy a lunch with legendary financier and CEO of Relativity Media, Ryan Kavanaugh.
Ryan Kavanaugh is the Chairman and CEO of Relativity, a next-generation studio. The company is engaged in multiple aspects of entertainment, including film and scripted television production and distribution; music publishing; sports management and digital media. Kavanaugh is a highly successful producer and global expert in film finance. Under his leadership, Relativity has produced, distributed or structured financing for more than 200 motion pictures generating more than $17 billion in worldwide box-office revenue and earning 60 Oscar® nominations.
Relativity productions include Safe Haven, directed by Lasse Hallström; Immortals, which grossed more than $225 million worldwide; Neil Burger’s thriller Limitless, starring Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper; David O. Russell’s The Fighter, which earned seven Oscar nominations and won two; and David Fincher’s The Social Network (executive producer), which received eight Oscar nominations.
Kavanaugh began his entertainment industry career as the architect of innovative slate-financing arrangements for a number of major studios. He crafted feature-film funding structures for Sony, Universal, Warner Bros. and others, introducing more than $10 billion in capital to the sector. Relativity evolved from a finance and production company into a full-fledged movie studio after Kavanaugh led its acquisition of Overture Films’ marketing and distribution operations in 2010. He further strengthened the studio’s distribution network by negotiating a first-of-its-kind television deal with Netflix and overseeing the studio’s early expansion into China.
Kavanaugh’s work has garnered numerous accolades. In 2011 he was named Variety’s Showman of the Year. The Hollywood Reporter honored him with its 2010 Leadership Award and he was honored with the 2009 Hollywood Producer of the Year Award at the 13th Annual Hollywood Awards Gala. In a special issue dedicated to him, Variety recognized Kavanaugh as a “Billion Dollar Producer.”
In addition, “Forbes” named Kavanaugh as one of the youngest billionaires to the magazine’s annual Billionaires issue. In 2016, he was named in The Los Angeles Business Journal’s 500 Most Influential People in Los Angeles.