Searchlight Pictures Marketing EVP Michelle Hooper Leaving Studio

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Michelle Hooper, Searchlight Pictures EVP of Marketing, who delivered the specialty label numerous Oscar nominations and wins during her two decade tenure, is exiting.

During Hooper’s run at Searchlight she led publicity, awards and creative marketing operations, earning the studio 21 Best Pictures Oscar nominations — including five Best Picture winners: Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, The Shape of Water, and Nomadland; a total of 183 Oscar nominations and 49 wins. As far as Golden Globes go, her work delivered 32 awards from 133 nominations, including 20 Best Pictures noms and 8 wins.

Hooper was respected by her peers for her taste, whip-smart instincts, creativity and ingenuity in marketing, and was internally known as “the closer,” bringing a film’s campaign home in its final stretch. Hooper’s campaigns for various Oscar winners often dialed into the cultural zeitgeist, from understanding how Nomadland would resonate in the context of the pandemic, to spotting the cultural relevance of Slumdog Millionaire in the Obama era and appreciating the historical significance of 12 Years a Slave, closely followed by Birdman. This season, Hooper’s awards campaign include Martin McDonagh’s critically acclaimed Wild Horse Nine (93% certified fresh) as well as Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! (87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes).

Prior to joining Searchlight Pictures in 2006, Hooper spent four years at Fox Broadcasting where she was the VP of Entertainment Publicity. While at Fox Broadcasting, Hooper spearheaded the implementation of national publicity campaigns for multiple series such as launching American Idol, 24, Arrested Development, Family Guy, and The Simpsons. Prior to joining Fox, Hooper was the Director of Entertainment Communications at CBS Entertainment in New York where she was part of the team that launched and created the publicity campaign for Survivor. After Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in March 2019, Hooper made the jump. I understand that Hooper’s departure is part of the cuts which occurred at the Disney studio earlier this month.

Other notable releases during Hooper’s Searchlight administration include James Mangold’s eight-time Academy Award-nominated A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan; Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain which won an Academy Award for Supporting Actor for Kieran Culkin; Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch starring Amy Adams; Yorgos Lanthimos’ 4-time Academy Award winner Poor Things, starring and produced by Emma Stone; Lanthimos’ follow-up Kinds of Kindness, also starring Stone with Jesse Plemons, Hong Chau, and Margaret Qualley; and Andrew Haigh’s critically-acclaimed romantic drama All of Us Strangers starring Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, and Claire Foy.

She also oversaw the marketing on streaming originals such as Tina Mabry’s The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat starring Uzo Aduba, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, and Sanaa Lathan; Karrie Crouse and Will Joines’ Hold Your Breath starring Sarah Paulson; and Eva Longoria’s Academy Award-nominated Flamin’ Hot, which became the first original film to debut simultaneously on both Hulu and Disney+ and Searchlight’s most-watched streaming motion picture of all time.

Other past successful films during Hooper’s reign include The Favourite, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Isle of Dogs, Super Troopers 2, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Gifted, Jackie, Brooklyn, Wild, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Descendants, The Tree of Life, Black Swan, 127 Hours, Crazy Heart, 500 Days of Summer, The Wrestler, Juno, Once, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Last King of Scotland.

Hooper shared the Publicist Guild of America’s Maxwell Weinberg Showmanship Award for her work on Survivor. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).