Jeff Skoll closing socially-conscious producer Participant after 20 years

Shirley (Source: Netflix)

Jeff Skoll’s Participant, the socially conscious producer & financier behind Waiting For Superman and An Inconvenient Truth, is shutting down after 20 years.

Staff were informed about the closure on Tuesday, with almost all employees expected to be dismissed, with US reports suggesting that a skeleton team will remain to oversee the company’s content library.

Skoll founded Participant in 2004 with the goal of creating content that inspired positive social change. In his memo to staff, he said that since this time “the entertainment industry has seen revolutionary changes in how content is created, distributed and consumed.”

The founder wrote that “This is not a step I am taking lightly,” adding: “But after 20 years of groundbreaking content and world-changing impact campaigns, it is the right time for me to evaluate my next chapter and approach to tackling the pressing issues of our time.”

David Linde has served as chief executive at the company since 2015, after Skoll stepped back from day-to-day operations.

Over the past two decades, the company has released 135 films, and won 21 Academy Awards, with its produced or financed titles including the documentaries Descendant and American Factory the recent scripted biopic Shirley for Netflix, as well as feature films such as Spotlight, Lincoln, Green Book and Judas And The Black Messiah.

Its TV output has also included Noughts + Crosses for UK pubcaster the BBC, City So Real for National Geographic and both When They See Us and Keep Sweet: Pray And Obey for Netflix.