How Participant Stays on the Cutting Edge of Cultural Awareness

Variety

By Brent Lang

October 9, 2018

Participant Media is not a typical Hollywood company. Founded by former eBay chief Jeff Skoll in 2004, Participant aims to back movies and TV shows that inspire social action, not just simply entertain.

“We believe great storytelling can inspire positive change in the world,” says David Linde, Participant’s CEO. “We want to empower our audiences in ways that can have real-life impact.”

Linde is receiving the Empowerment Award at Variety’s Power of Women celebration for his role in supporting female executives and filmmakers. At a time when gender discrimination has become the galvanizing issue in the media business, Participant is leaning into stories about women who are fighting sexism and leading by example. Last summer’s “RBG” and this fall’s “On the Basis of Sex” both celebrate Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court justice who advocated on behalf of women’s rights as an attorney and has ruled to preserve those rights as a jurist. Both films are directed by female filmmakers — “RBG” is the brainchild of directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen, and “On the Basis of Sex” was shot by Mimi Leder. “I feel that David and his company really make films that matter and films that help us think about the world that we live in,” Leder says. Read more.