“In the summer of 2023, Ian Orefice exited as the president of Time Studios to launch his own venture: EverWonder Studio. The production company had the backing of Jeff Zucker’s RedBird IMI, but it was an enormous risk: At a moment when it seemed like every network and streaming service was pulling back on content”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
The production company had the backing of Jeff Zucker’s RedBird IMI, but it was an enormous risk: At a moment when it seemed like every network and streaming service was pulling back on content spend, what would the market look like for a new entrant?
“We had just launched, and I was sitting in the office,” Orefice recalls of those first few weeks. “It was me and literally one other person, and I had gone from a very big company and a very big ecosystem to me and one other person and thinking, ‘We have a lot of good building blocks, but how are we going to really make this happen? How long is that going to take?’”
A little over a year later, and Orefice’s company finds itself at the intersection of some of the biggest pop culture moments of the year.
EverWonder produced Netflix’s blockbuster Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight, which shattered streaming viewership records, and executive produced Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL games. It produced the Crypto.com Showdown golfing match that ran on Warner Bros. Discovery’s cable channels and Max streaming service, and created the college sports-focused Players Era Festival, which debuted on the WBD networks in November.
Along the way it also set up a Tyson docuseries at Netflix, produced the streaming giant’s New Year’s roast Torching 2024, and announced plans on multiple other doc series and films focused on Chris Evert-Martina Navratilova, presidential parodies and Princess Diana.
“Ian and the team have built a powerhouse studio at mach speed,” says Zucker. “In just one year, EverWonder has established itself as one of the premier producers of premium nonfiction programming as well as live events. Their creativity and versatility have quickly established them as a trusted partner across the industry.”
“I just feel really amazed slash fortunate,” Orefice adds. “It’s a surreal moment to have all that’s going on almost a year to the day when it was me and one other person sitting in an empty conference room wondering how long this journey would take.”
But that success only came after a quick pivot. EverWonder’s original pitch was built around nonfiction features, documentaries and series, as well as developing new IP (like Players Era) that it can exploit across platforms. But there is no question that its push into producing live events, driven in no small part by the hiring of Michael Antinoro as its president last year, changed the trajectory of the company.
“Live events are a much bigger focus of the company that we originally conceived,” Orefice says, calling out the lineup of productions EverWonder produced last year. “When we first spoke in 2023 I would not have told you that we would have done nearly 20 live global tentpole shows and projects this year. So we’re really excited about that pivot and our ability to be where the industry is leading there.”
To hear Orefice explain it, his company was responding to the demand from networks and streaming services.
“I think every distributor, every network, is looking to drive subscriber value and advertiser value to where their ecosystems are,” he says. “Compare the cost of Tyson-Paul for Netflix versus the cost of a high-powered scripted project. So I think there’s a lot of value that streamers and distributors are still seeing in live sports. And then if you take the traditional broadcast and the linear side, they’re obviously going through existential changes in the industry at large, too, but live sports and a live content specifically, I think, is the best way to drive immediacy from a viewership perspective.”
That’s not to say EverWonder has abandoned its original ambitions.
The company’s IP ambitions are apparent with Players Era, which combines college athletics with NIL (name, image, likeness) opportunities for the athletes.
“We’re very thankful that RedBird IMI and Jeff Zucker have supported us the way they have, but we obviously don’t have unlimited capital,” Orefice says. “So when we choose to invest in a project, it’s not about whether that project will sell or not. It’s about whether, once that project is out in the world, what else can you potentially do with it? So if you look at Players Era, we have the ability now with a brand that can go in so many different avenues within college basketball.
“There is untold potential, or almost unlimited potential, for what we now can do with Players Era,” he adds. “Can we create podcasting for Players Era? Can we create other documentary series for Players Era. Can we create an apparel and apparel line? We’ve already launched a women’s extension of Players Era. We’re going to announce a global event series as well.”
And EverWonder is continuing to invest in the documentary space, with the Tyson Netflix series (which Tyson will participate in), and the Navratilova-Evert doc, for which Orefice notes the company also has the scripted rights.
“I think the documentaries in the sports space that will succeed are going to be these big, tentpole, massive, undeniable stories. And I think the stories that are maybe a little bit smaller will have a harder time succeeding in this marketplace than they maybe did a couple years ago,” he says. “We’re trying to use truth-based storytelling that is entertaining and impactful around the world to be the genesis of new IP.”
The company’s other big pivot has been in its role as a studio versus an incubator. EverWonder may have launched as a studio within the RedBird IMI portfolio, but is now building a portfolio of investments of its own.
Last year the company announced a partnership with NBA on TNT analyst Charles Barkley to launch Round Mound Media, which has a slate of around a dozen projects in the works, including a doc on Barkley’s life; and it invested in Next of Kin Content, the production banner of Era’s Tour film director Sam Wrench; it also inked a first-look deal with live entertainment specialist BZ Entertainment.
“We offer a very successful, proven track record of building IP and building brands and building companies, and we’re trying to bring that model to people like Sam and like Charles Barkley, so they don’t have to do this by themselves, they can do this with a trusted partner that has the ecosystem and the infrastructure,” Orefice says. “Jeff Zucker…his whole career has been about building brands. My career at Time and then Sports Illustrated before that was also about building brands. So we are really excited that a lot of the world’s top creatives are looking to EverWonder again, not simply for doing a project together, but building a home together, and that that gives us a lot of pride and optimism for the future.”
And 2025 will see the company double down on that strategy. Orefice says EverWonder is primed to make some M&A moves this year, including into newer areas like podcasting and conferences.
“I think IP is only worth anything if people care about it, and some of the greatest ways to get people to care is to have a more intimate relationship,” Orefice says. “So if you look at people’s interactions with some of the most successful podcasts that are out there right now, they have a real connection with the hosts and with the guests and with the subjects. So that inherently builds great value in IP. If you think of the connections that people make at conferences or live events around the world, they have a really personalized and intimate experience. So I think we’re going to continue to go deeper in ways that we can find valuable, ways to create impactful IP.”
It’s a strategy that EverWonder will be executing at a fraught time for entertainment, with TV and streaming budgets flat or in decline. But Orefice and his team have leaned into the areas that are still growing, and are betting that the swings that they are taking can become bigger than the sum of their parts, as the demand for new IP, particularly IP that touches on sport, continues to be strong.
And rather than build something within a legacy brand like SI or Time, Orefice and Zucker are building their own thing.
“I hear a lot of people talk about the challenges of the industry and the potential contraction of the industry. I’ve never been more bullish and optimistic about the industry,” Orefice says. “I think great creative will always win, and innovative business models now have a better place for producers to succeed than they’ve ever had before. So there are certainly challenges, but I also think for the right projects, with the right models, there’s never been a more exciting time to be a producer.”