Provoke- The A24 Issue
Eleven lessons from thirteen years of A24's life
“A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges with a unique vision: to create a studio that prioritizes artistic expression and innovative storytelling. A24 operates as an independent film company, meaning that there is a lack of ties to a major conglomerate with money-hungry boards dictating what can and cannot be created. Therefore, filmmakers working under the studio are granted a level of freedom rarely seen within the industry: A24 is able to produce unconventional, daring projects that other major studios would deem too risky.”
Rowdy Magazine
A24 identity
“A24 approached GrandArmy as they were poised to launch their first big film - Spring Breakers. They needed an identity system that felt modern and progressive, yet aesthetically they were drawn to the golden age of mid-century Hollywood and sought a design solution that would nod to that legacy. We developed a wordmark that plays with the deco typographic forms of that era and a pre-roll animation for their films, and we extended the system across web design and a vast range of internal and external collateral. Over the years, A24 has quickly developed a cult following. The logo has grown to stand for a mark of quality in the film community and has inspired unexpected merch, collaborations, and even tattoos amongst the most die-hard fans.”
“Still, Jenkins resists the idea – propagated by industry folk – of “A24 films” as a kind of genre unto themselves. “Everything that’s happening in the industry right now is about making voices seem the same,” he says. “And so when you say an A24 film is recognisable, it’s kind of a misnomer because you think: ‘Oh, all these things are alike.’ I think instead what those folks have done really well is to allow film-makers to be idiosyncratic within the A24 banner. You go to their films and you expect something fresh, something in the maker’s voice.”
The Guardian
An Astute Understanding of Audiences and Media
“Behind the scenes, A24’s canny, low-key global head of distribution and communications, Nicolette Aizenberg, was assembling a youthful brigade of social media savants, capable of moonwalking past the major studios. A24 quickly proved adept at magnifying interest in its movies by creating memes and metanarratives on social media. “
“They started solely as distributors. Buying films that had already been made and marketing them well. Like, really well. Their breakout success, Spring Breakers went viral when a wildly offensive recreation of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper starring James Franco as a thuggy Jesus alongside the bikini-clad cast got 19,000 likes on Facebook (okay, so, 2012 viral)” And who can forget about the time life imitated art at SXSW Film Festival when festivalgoers perusing Tinder matched with a beautiful user named Ava, who asked thoughtful questions like, “Have you ever been in love?” and “What makes you human?”. There was just one problem. She was never real. Ava was, in fact, the marketing team at A24 posing as the cyborg from Ex Machina with a picture of the then little-known star of the film, Alicia Vikander. Her suitors were eventually sent links to an Instagram page that advertised the movie’s premiere that weekend.
A24’s marketing efforts for the 2019 movie Midsommar included the above promo for a $32 toy bear. According to Adroll for 2015’s movie The Witch- the social strategy including creating social profiles on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. The Twitter effort included creating an account for Black Philip-a goat in the movie, which resulted in Black Phillip becoming something of an internet sensation.
Black Phillip Memes
Backs Creativity
A spread from A24’s Florida Book
“Any dyed-in-the-wool A24 fan will know that it has already told stories about Florida, not through one book – as it does now – but through films like The Florida Project, set in a budget motel in Disney World’s shadow. Zola, Spring Breakers and Moonlight also add to its numerous multifaceted portrayals which, as we find out through Florida!, is the only real way to tell the story of the state. “There were even times when we were asked [by A24] to remove film stills, so it didn’t feel like we were hawking A24 work,” Elana Schlenker, who designed the book alongside Jordi Ng, tells us.”
“A24‘s growing range of books, including its much-loved screenplay collection, will soon be available in physical stores around the world for the first time following a deal with London-based independent publisher Mack. The publishing partnership — the first of its kind between a studio and a publishing house — will see A24’s existing line of film, TV, and creator-driven books sold in bookstores globally from September, distributed via Mack’s network in the U.S., Europe and Asia. They were previously only available in the U.S. and via A24’s online shop. The deal will also see A24 and Mack collaborate on the publication on a range of new soon-to-be-announced titles”.
Variety
A24 also owns a theater and a make-up brand
Outsider Sensibility
“I really like those guys [at A24]. They don’t have the personality of movie executives.”
Sofia Coppola
“They then confirmed that A24 did not take a very Hollywood approach to self-promotion or, indeed, anything. That New York, “outsider”, status is engrained in the way A24 operates, they said. While the firm has grown exponentially in the past 10 years, employees still work in an open-plan office where the co-founders mix with the interns and there are no job titles, just colleagues. Ultimately, the source says, they want the focus to be on the work they’re putting out, not the people responsible for doing so.”
“A24 declined interview requests. Its founders — David Fenkel, Daniel Katz and John Hodges, all of whom have extensive art film experience — seem to see a sense of mystery as part of their branding and competitive strategy, or at least they don’t want A24 to fall into the trap of a Weinstein-style cult of personality. “Frankly, nobody outside the tent has the slightest understanding of what they do, which is very, very smart,” Mr. Rudin said.”
New York Times
It’s inconceivable to imagine a traditional Hollywood movie studio being able to cultivate legions of fans and even a membership club, A24’s made of different stuff and manages to charge members over $100 a year- that does include movie tickets for the privilege of being a member.
“A24 trailers never give too much away, just enough to get you interested. For better or worse, this is exactly what being in the club is like, too. It’s an augmented reality game for film fandom where winning means an exclusive opportunity to buy a shirt with A24’s logo in fun colors, or finding out before anyone else that the sold-out Hot Dog Finger Gloves from Everything Everywhere All At Once have restocked. (They sell out again immediately.) Being this invested in a boutique film house feels kind of silly and extremely consumerist, but nobody would be doing it if the films didn’t reliably deliver on the company promise.”
Fast Company
“Apparently a common accusation leveled against A24 is that it is pretentious, or its films are, or its fans are. But “pretentious” is a word used freely, depending on the tastes of the person using it. Many of the great filmmakers of cinema history are thought of as pretentious by some. The strengths of A24 are that it is surviving in an industry context where films with modest budgets are struggling in the theatrical market and franchise.”
David Bordwell’s Website on Cinema
Financial Growth
Over a decade into its life- A24 continues to be able to grow as this chart shows.
The Next Chapter
“In 2022, with Sonar on the prowl, Stripes and a crew of other investors made the $225 million investment in A24, creating a seldom-seen creature in the ornate zoology of indie filmmakers: an art-house unicorn. To this day, the $2.5 billion valuation still seems bonkers to some industry observers. Consider Lions Gate. In 2023, the studio released 12 movies and grossed $579 million domestically (four times A24’s haul of $138 million, according to the website The Numbers). It has a collection of more than 20,000 films and TV shows (a library at least 100 times larger than A24’s) and several franchises, including John Wick, The Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games. (A24 has nothing comparable.) In December, Lions Gate announced it would be spinning off its TV and film studios into a publicly traded company with an initial value of $4.6 billion. How could A24 be worth more than half as much?”
In June 2024, A24 closed an investment around with Thrive Capital at a valuation of $3.5bn
There’s no shortage of warning signs in the media concerning the company’s next chapter.
“As A24 expands, it risks becoming the type of studio it was founded in reaction against – a purveyor of sequels and spin-offs, a peddler of revivified IP. Though it might render these stories in different color, it would still no longer be a champion of original voices and original ideas. More than anything else, A24 must protect against becoming like everyone else.”
Perhaps this recent news is a good indication of where A24 is headed.
“While there’s still much unknown, the plan is for the movie to tackle poignant, intimate themes, particularly touching on “the level of disenchantment within the generation” that grew up on Barney & Friends. That premise sounds like it would be a strong fit for A24;”
Comicbook.com on A24 and the plan for a Barney movie with Mattel