First Look Media is Passionflix’s largest investor, but its CEO, Michael Bloom, has refused to reveal the size of its stake. (Ms. Musk remains the majority owner of Passionflix.) Founded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar, FirstLook consists of several disconnected entities.I have Non-profit organization Focused on research journalism and documentary filmmaking. Entertainment studio, topic, “Spencer”, “Spotlight”, “Mauritanian” and other prestige movies. Relatively new divisions include niche streaming services such as Topic.com and Passionflix, which focus on crime.
“We fully understand that we are walking at the feet of elephants,” Bloom mentioned streaming services for all viewers, such as HBO Max and Netflix. “But we’re not trying to be them. Professional services like Passionflix have the opportunity to oversee a particular audience in ways that large mainstream retailers don’t.”
Romantic escapism was once a staple of television. It was driven by a 1980s miniseries (“Stab Bird”, “Hollywood Wife”) and a 1990s weekly movie (all adaptations of Danielle Steel’s moaning). However, the network almost abandoned these formats in the 2000s. Cost was one reason. The network has also begun to endorse repeatable criminal proceedings and reality shows, including a romance-led “Bachelor’s” franchise.
In the last decade, only a few adaptations of romance novels have made it on television. Fewer hits (Starz’s “Outlander”, Netflix’s “Bridgerton”).
Passionflix wasn’t considered a cynical way to take advantage of the streaming boom, Musk said. Rather, she and her two friends, Gina Panebianco and Joanie Kane, couldn’t find a buyer in Hollywood because they wanted to make a spicy romance television.
“So we had to create a distribution solution,” Musk said.
Named after Puccini’s opera, Musk studied film at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. After graduating in 1997, he worked for the Canadian production company Alliance before moving to Los Angeles, where he directed, wrote and produced the film “Puzzled” (2001) with the support of Elon. She finally started producing and directing TV films for Hallmark, Lifetime, and ION Television.
But she was frustrated. “I continued to confront network executives who weren’t interested in talking about women who were empowered to embrace their sexuality.”
