Jon Stojan
Image credit: Findlay Brown
Findlay Brown may have started in the independent film industry in Canada, but he has propelled himself to the forefront of Hollywood, and is now working on big-budget projects across numerous platforms and genres with Authentic Studios.
Formed in 2023, Authentic Studios was created to leverage the intellectual property of Authentic, holder of one of the largest IP catalogs in the world, including over 50 fashion and retail brands like Nautica, Reebok and Forever 21, as well as the estates to legends like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Muhammad Ali. Authentic also owns Sports Illustrated, and has joint ventures with David Beckham and Shaquille O’Neal.
However, after following traditional Hollywood methods when they licensed the Elvis estate for the 2022 biopic starring Austin Butler, Authentic changed course. They broke trends and pivoted to keeping all their IP in-house, creating film and tv shows around that IP through a new division called Authentic Studios – a small, elite team of only 7 members including Brown. It comprises four labels: Shaquille O’Neal’s Jersey Legends, David Beckham’s Studio 99, Sports Illustrated Studios, and Authentic Productions.
Image credit: Findlay Brown
Success was immediate – despite this new division forming in the historically difficult year for Hollywood that was 2023, Authentic Studios sold 9 projects that year. Brown hopes they’ll continue that success through 2024 and beyond: “We’ve established a really solid foundation to build on through a difficult time for the industry. I think we’ve showed Hollywood the level of quality and quantity we’re able to produce, and from there we’ll only be able to go on to bigger and better things.”
A graduate of the American Film Institute, the top-ranked film school in the country with an admission rate of less than 5%, Brown had already found success as a filmmaker before joining Authentic. Brown co-wrote and produced the haunting and poignant Caroline, which premiered at 2023’s AFI Fest, alongside Bradley Cooper’s film Maestro and Sam Esmail’s Leave the World Behind, starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali. The honors for Caroline continued when it was selected as a nominee for the prestigious BAFTA Awards.
As a scholarship athlete attending Montreal’s McGill University, Brown learned his first lessons about film when he directed, wrote and produced a short film called The Flexed Arm Hang that won more than a dozen awards and was selected to numerous Oscar-qualifying festivals.
Brown’s previous work experience includes production companies like Valhalla Entertainment, Toluca Pictures, and XYZ Films. Now that Brown is at the forefront of Hollywood, he works through Authentic Studios, striving to drive change in how productions are made.
Image credit: Findlay Brown
“When I heard about Authentic’s stable of IP, I got really excited,” Brown says. “The opportunity to create fresh, compelling content with some of the world’s best-known icons and athletes was obviously very compelling for me”
Authentic Studios’ releases include the PGA-award-winning and chart-topping Netflix docuseries Beckham, the live NBC special Christmas at Graceland, and the Netflix animated series Agent Elvis. Upcoming releases include a definitive Allen Iverson documentary, the scripted Muhammad Ali drama series The Greatest, the college sports docuseries The Money Game (both on Amazon Prime Video), and the game show Lucky 13 on ABC.
As more than just a successful production company, Authentic Studios is leading a revolutionary change in how Hollywood operates, and Findlay Brown is at the heart of that change. With an impressive slate of upcoming projects, Brown’s creative imprint will only be seen more and more in the coming years.