Phenomenal, the media and merchandising company founded by Meena Harris, is making a move into the entertainment space, hiring former Universal executive Juliet Liu as head of content and entertainment, and Regina Lee as head of development for film & TV.
Phenomenal was founded with a clothing and merchandise line, and subsequently expanded into impact marketing campaigns with the launch of Phenomenal Productions last year.
With its move into entertainment, Phenomenal will continue to focus its lens on content and partnerships that center women and historically excluded communities.
“It is honestly happening much more quickly than we planned, which is very exciting,” Harris tells The Hollywood Reporter.
Harris, who is the niece of Vice President Kamala Harris, added that they are making the move now because they have built a “consumer-facing brand with a loyal, engaged built-in audience that is waiting for the next thing, and has come to be this amazing, vibrant community.”
At Phenomenal, Liu will be tasked with developing the company’s content slate, which will include scripted and unscripted programming across film, TV, podcasts and digital media, as well as its just-launched book club, which counts Nikole Hannah-Jones’ The 1619 Project and its kids’ companion Born On The Water as its first picks.
Phenomenal already has existing partnerships with some entertainment companies as well, with a Recent example being a partnership with Netflix on Bridgerton-themed apparel.
An attorney by training, Harris launched Phenomenal with apparel bearing slogans like “Phenomenal Woman” (based on Maya Angelou’s poem), and with books like Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea, about her mother and aunt’s childhood. The company at one point also sold apparel bearing slogans related to Harris’ aunt, though Harris and the company have since de-emphasized that personal relationship.
At Universal Filmed Entertainment, Liu oversaw the studio’s creative innovation department, including Universal’s partnership with Epic Games.
“The role that I occupied at Universal really gave me a bird’s eye view of all the rapid disruption that is happening in the media landscape. There are a lot of shifts happening, both in how content is getting created and distributed, and also consumer behavior,” Liu says. “I think that there is a real opportunity on the content creation side to build out a company that is uniquely prepared for that changing landscape.”
Lee, meanwhile, previously led development for Mandy Moore’s Roll with the Punches Productions based at 20th Television before joining Phenomenal earlier this year.
But it will be Phenomenal’s focus on equity and featuring underrepresented voices that Harris and her team hope will differentiate their offerings from other production companies in the marketplace.
“We are going to be bringing that lens in everything we do,” Liu says. “Trying to think about equity along every aspect of the value chain, as it related to Hollywood as an industry, as it relates to who we collaborate with, how we are making films or TV shows, whose voices we are amplifying.”
“It’s the opportunity to build out a media company that has this specific mission in mind that I am really excited about, and I don’t see a lot of it in the landscape at the moment,” she added.
Netflix capped off a two-day promotional event in Tokyo Wednesday with the news that it has enlisted Hirokazu Kore-eda, arguably Japan’s most esteemed contemporary auteur, to direct both a series and a feature film. The projects, still in development, will be the director’s first works for a streaming platform.
Kore-eda’s films, characterized by their subtle drama and social commentary, have been earning plaudits on the international festival circuit since the early 2000s, but his career hit new heights in 2018 when his latest Japanese-language feature Shoplifters won both the Cannes Palme d’Or and was nominated for an Oscar.
Kore-eda noted that his Netflix projects will mark a creative departure from his past filmmaking. “Netflix and I are teaming up to create a drama series and a big-budget movie that is different from my previous works,” he said during the event in Tokyo. “You still need to wait for a bit before they’re finished and delivered to you. I incorporate different elements from those in theater movies and try to create exciting works.”
“Our next big bet is expanding feature films,” said Kaata Sakamoto, Netflix’s vp of content in Japan. “Japan is home to extraordinary talent who shape the cinematic history of the world. With creators as diverse as the ones we work with today, we’re excited to play a role in the history of great local talent finding their voices and delivering them to audiences everywhere.”
Netflix’s newly announced Japanese film titles include romantic drama Love Like the Falling Petals from director Yoshihiro Fukagawa and fantasy mystery Once Upon a Crime by filmmaker Yuichi Fukuda. Both titles are based on popular Japanese books.
Netflix also unveiled a wide collection of live-action Japanese series, including a second season of its popular death game fantasy show Alice in Borderland; romantic drama First Love from female writer-director Yuri Kanchiku; supernatural mystery series Yu Yu Hakusho, based on the hit manga of the same name; Queen of Villains, a show set in the world of 1980s Japanese women’s wrestling; and a Japanese production of the hit Love is Blind format, among several other titles.
You must be logged in to post a comment.