Margaret Riley Dies: ‘Bombshell’ Producer & Lighthouse Management Partner Was 58

Margaret Riley, the agent, manager and Lighthouse Management & Media partner and producer on the 2019 film Bombshell, died Tuesday of ovarian cancer at her Brentwood home. She was 58.

Her friends Lainie Becky and Matthew Weinberg confirmed the news to Deadline.

Riley’s more than 30-year career in Hollywood began in production on commercials, features and documentaries. In 1992, she served as Director of Development for Tim Disney’s Virtual World Entertainment, a gaming/interactive company. While there, she developed sci-fi properties into films for New Line Cinema.  

In 1995, she began working at production/management company Addis Wechsler and Associates, which later became Industry Entertainment, and was promoted from assistant to manager. In 2002, Riley founded Margaret Riley Management, which was acquired by Brillstein Entertainment Partners three years later. Riley left Brillstein in 2016 to join production/management company Lighthouse Management and Media, with her partners Aleen Keshishian and Zack Morgenroth.  

Riley’s current and past client roster included Bridget Moynahan; Mark Ruffalo; CSI creator Anthony Zuiker; directors Susanna Fogel and RJ Cutler; and screenwriters Margaret Nagle, Charles Randolph and Ann Cherkis.

“She was elegant, well spoken and loved to have fun,” wrote Nagle (The Good Lie, Boardwalk Empire) on Facebook today. “RIP Margaret. You were a gem.”

Riley’s credits include executive producer on the Cutler’s documentary, Billie Eilish: The World is a Little Blurry. She also was an EP on Ryan Murphy’s Ratched (2020), along with Love and Other Drugs (2010) and others. Riley was a producer on Bombshell, which dramatized the story of Fox News onscreen talent Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) and Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) and the sexual harassment they endured from CEO Roger Ailes (John Lithgow).

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Born on December 9, 1965, Riley received a graduate degree from the American Film Institute.

Prior to her work at Brillstein, Riley worked as an assistant at Industry Entertainment, and she founded Margaret Riley Management in 2002.

Riley is survived by daughter Dylan, 14, and son Will, 10; and mother Doris.

Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.