David Ellison dropped out of college to work in film

Per The New York Times, David, 41, always had a love for movies and studied film at the University of Southern California. But he eventually dropped out of university, choosing to act in a US$60 million film, Flyboys, starring alongside James Franco. But according to the Hollywood Reporter, the 2006 film made less than US$18 million at the box office.

It was widely speculated that David dug into his own bank account to cover the film’s massive losses, which kicked off the idea that he had “dumb money” – a term described by Forbes as “rich people throwing their vast wealth around to finance expensive films”.

How David Ellison pivoted from “dumb money”

David then sold parts of Skydance for around US$275 million, while at the same time raising US$1 billion in revolving credit, per The New York Times. He leaned into streaming, which proved beneficial with the pandemic. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that he was “the first Ellison to arrive in Hollywood and defy the town’s dumb-money expectations”.

His possible Paramount deal

Who are David Ellison’s wife and kids?

In 2011, David got married to Sandra Lynn Modic. The couple have two children together. In between social media posts about his new films, David shares pictures of his wife and their family getaways to Lana’i, the Hawaiian island that his dad “mostly” owns.

Megan Ellison’s mum introduced her to the film world

It was Megan’s mother Barbara Boothe who introduced her to films, with The Hollywood Reporter writing that Boothe would watch movies with her children growing up. Per the Financial Times, Megan attended film school at the University of Southern California – but dropped out, just like her brother.

Her first film credit was as a boom operator in When All Else Fails, a thriller that her brother David wrote the screenplay for, directed and starred in.

Putting the family billions into Hollywood

In 2011, backed by her billionaire dad’s money, Megan founded Annapurna Pictures when she was just 24. According to its website, Annapurna is a media company involved in film production, television production and video games.

When she turned 25, Larry gave his daughter US$1.8 billion, per the Financial Times. It was that financial backing that saw her involvement in several big-name films including Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty and True Grit by the Coen brothers.

In 2014, she cemented her power in Hollywood after becoming the first woman (and the first openly lesbian woman) to receive two Academy Award best picture nominations in the same year at just 28 years old – one for David O. Russell’s American Hustle and for Spike Jonze’s Her.

Her extended hiatus

Described by Financial Times as an “enigma in Hollywood” and “always prone to bouts of absence” by Variety, Megan disappeared from Hollywood in December 2019, famously retreating to Hawaii after multiple mishaps at Annapurna. These “mishaps” almost cost her her business and, per Variety, her father stepped in, appointing external advisers to establish a way forward.

A triumphant return with an Oscar-nominated film

In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Megan revealed that the film was about to get axed from Disney, so she made the decision to purchase it. “I needed this movie when I was a kid and, quite frankly, I needed it right then and there,” she said.