This story first appeared in the May 25 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
With offices throughout the world, including London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Shanghai, Ridley and his brother Tony's privately held RSA Films makes movies, TV and commercials as well as branded entertainment, music videos and animated shorts. Headed by Jules Daly, the company's units include:
Scott Free Productions (film) Created in 1995, the film division grew out of Ridley Scott's Percy Main Productions (named for the English village where his father grew up). Headed by former Columbia Pictures exec Michael Costigan and London-based Liza Marshall, films range from Gladiator to smaller pictures such as 2009's Cracks, directed by Scott's daughter Jordan. Current projects include The Counselor, Scott's next film; and Out of the Furnace, from Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart), starring Christian Bale as a former convict haunted by his criminal brother.
PHOTOS: Ridley Scott: His Life and Work
Scott Free Productions (television) Since David Zucker joined in 2003 as president of the TV division, productions have expanded from miniseries and TV movies -- HBO's Winston Churchill-themed The Gathering Storm (2002) and RKO 281 (1999) -- to six seasons of the CBS series Numbers and the CBS legal drama The Good Wife. Among upcoming projects: The Man in the High Castle, a BBC miniseries that returns Scott to sci-fi author Philip K. Dick (whose Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was the basis for Blade Runner). Also in the works: I'm Dying, a nonfiction TV series about death for National Geographic, created by Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck.
RSA Films Scott has never abandoned the 44-year-old company that remains one of the premier makers of TV commercials and whose revenue tops $100 million worldwide a year. Helmers include Kathryn Bigelow (Chanel), Hugh Hudson (Silverjet), Martin Scorsese (Freixenet champagne), Tony Scott (BMW) and Scott's three kids (Jordan, Jake and Luke; the latter shot the TED conference-style trailer for Prometheus). Its most memorable creation was Ridley's $1.5 million 1984 commercial, which introduced the Apple Macintosh computer. The division is headed by Daly and Kai Hsuing. Photographer Steven Klein just completed a commercial for Lady Gaga's new fragrance, Fame.
Black Dog Films Founded by Jake Scott, Black Dog has made videos such as "Everybody Hurts" for R.E.M., "Jump" for Madonna, "S&M" for Rihanna, "Don't Think" for Chemical Brothers and "The One That Got Away" for Katy Perry.
Paul Bond contributed to this report.
