Laurene Powell Jobs Invests in Davis Guggenheim’s Concordia Studio

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim and Jonathan King are launching Concordia Studio in partnership with Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective.

Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, founded social change organization Emerson Collective in 2004. Emerson Collective became the majority owner of the Atlantic in 2017 and made an investment in 2018 in Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine.

Guggenheim’s credits include “An Inconvenient Truth,” which won the Best Documentary Academy Award in 2006, along with “He Named Me Malala,” “Waiting for Superman” and “Inside Bill’s Brain: Decording Bill Gates.” King has come on board Concordia after a dozen years at Participant Media, overseeing a slate that has included “Roma,” “Green Book” and “Spotlight.”

Concordia made the announcement Monday, noting that it will premiere four films in U.S. competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival: “Boys State,” directed by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine; “Time,” directed by Garrett Bradley; “A Thousand Cuts,  directed by Ramona S. Diaz; and “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets,” directed by Bill Ross and Turner Ross. Concordia produced and financed Laura Nix’s “Walk Run  Cha-Cha,” which Oscar-nominated last week in the documentary short category.

“We’ve been working hard for two years and waiting for the right moment to announce our new studio,” said Guggenheim. “Our strength is a small group of executives committed to great storytelling with the very best filmmakers. Now with four films at Sundance and Jonathan King joining as co-founder, the timing could not be better.”

Guggenheim is the chief creative officer of non-fiction while King is the chief creative officer of fiction.

“Audiences worldwide are more hungry than ever for high-quality films and television that mean something in their lives,” said King. “We want to produce ambitious, impactful stories in all genres and formats, delivering to established distributors and the growing ranks of new platforms. Having the extraordinary support of Laurene and the ability to collaborate with Emerson is invaluable.”

The nonfiction division is led by Jonathan Silberberg as president with Nicole Stott and Shannon Dill as exec VPs.