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Authentic Studios and Baz Luhrmann are having a little more conversation about Elvis Presley. Luhrmann is directing and producing a new documentary about the King of Rock & Roll, centered on never-before-seen footage and recordings of Presley that he unearthed while creating his film “Elvis.”
That’s one of several projects in the works at Authentic Studios, part of the entertainment division of intellectual property brand management firm Authentic Brand Group. Nearly two years after launching a studio division to produce films and TV series tied to its various intellectual properties, Authentic has already sold 14 projects to various outlets.
The output comes after the team at Authentic realized that they wanted to do more than just license their IP — which includes icons like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali; living legends like Shaquille O’Neal and David Beckham; and hundreds of brands including Sports Illustrated, Reebok, Juicy Couture and Brooks Brothers.
Popular on Variety As the Authentic execs became involved in major Hollywood productions based on those names, brands and titles (including the Warner Bros. film “Elvis”) they decided they should produce them too. Authentic Studios was launched in 2023, and is made up of four production units: David Beckham’s Studio 99 (run by president Nicola Howsen), Shaquille O’Neal’s Jersey Legends, Authentic Productions and SI Films.
“What we discovered is that people really wanted our intellectual property, our brands for various documentaries, feature film projects, you name it,” said Authentic president of entertainment Marc Rosen. “The realization for us was that we should create and take this all in house, instead of licensing our IP to somebody else for them to control the product and make the lion’s share of the economics.”
Among other projects in the works: Jersey Legends is producing a documentary series following O’Neal and fellow NBA vet Allen Iverson as they take over as president and vice president of Reebok’s basketball division, which has just been relaunched under Authentic brand ownership.
Toni Jade “It’s not a commercial,” Authentic Studios president Colin Smeeton said. “It’s really going to be about Shaquille’s journey and his evolution as a businessman. Reebok’s the vehicle, and it’s about his interest level, his passion of wanting to bring Reebok back to, in his mind, its rightful place… That’s an example of the way we view the world here. We’re not just production companies. We don’t need to go out and just make any show. Is it something that Shaquille or David wants to be on camera about? Or is it story they want to tell that they care about?”
Also, Authentic Productions is developing a fictional scripted series surrounding another Authentic retail brand, Barneys New York, as well as a documentary feature about this history of its Quiksilver surf apparel brand. SI Studios is working with Gary Barber’s Spyglass Entertainment on a feature documentary and scripted series around decorated female horse racing jockey Julie Krone.
As previously announced, Authentic’s SI studio has been working with Smokehouse Pictures and 101 studios on a documentary feature about the sexual abuse scandal at Ohio State University, as chronicled by a 2020 Sports Illustrated story.
“We feel like we’re sitting on just a mountain of IP, from an archive standpoint,” Smeeton said of SI Studios. “Maybe 70 years of stories. But some of the best stuff we have developed right now is coming out in the last 12 months.”
Besides Spyglass, Authentic is working with production companies including Skydance, Mandalay, Done+Dusted, Propagate Content and 101 Studios for projects set up at outlets like NBC, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and HBO.
“We are now looking through all of our brands and saying, ‘What is some great, entertaining, compelling storytelling that we can tell about these brands that’s going to keep them relevant, keep the consumer engaged, tell the unknown stories?” Smeeton says. “And then in addition, you have the icons like Elvis Presley. We’re now the second largest IP licensee, coming behind Disney. But we weren’t producing or developing our own content. Now we are. There was a hole there that we needed to fill.”
Beyond production, under Rosen the entertainment division is also looking at various events and experiences tied to the Authentic IP, like an “Elvis Evolution” installation next year in London. “It’s not just TV or films, but we’re also working on immersive experiences, stage experiences, in different parts of the world,” Rosen said. “We were sort of lean back, back in the day, but we’re now very much leaning into opportunities wherever, wherever and they can be across any platform that exists.”
