Who said the gender gap in comedy is NBD? Certainly not Will Ferrell, who has just launched a new production company, aimed at created female-focused comedies. Well, it’s about time!
The production company is an offshoot of Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez Productions, reports Salon:
Longtime Gary Sanchez executive Jessica Ebaum will head the new
division. “When Jessica came to us with this idea, we thought it was
fantastic,” Ferrell and McKay said in a statement. “She has worked with
some of the great female voices in comedy and has proven herself as a
gifted producer who has a keen eye for material.”
The company’s
namesake, Gary Sanchez, as comedy nerds may know, is a fictional
“Paraguayan entrepreneur and financier” created by Ferrell. Gloria is
his “favorite step-granddaughter,” so of course Gary “loved the idea,”
Ferrell joked.
Deadline reported on the announcement earlier today. Elbaum is a seasoned producer who has some pretty big hits already under her belt.
Elbaum has been with Gary Sanchez since its formation in 2006 and she has been a producer on such films as Step Brothers, The Other Guys, Casa De Mi Padre and Bachelorette,
the latter of which fits the template for the kind of fare Gloria
Sanchez wants to make. She also guided Ferrell’s 2008 stage show You’re Welcome America, to Broadway for its limited run and was exec producer of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and is in post on the Shira Piven-helmed comedy Welcome To Me, which stars Kristen Wiig, Wes Bentley, James Marsden, and Tim Robbins.
Ferrell has dabbled in female-focused comedy; Gary Sanchez Productions was behind last year’s Bachelorette and is involved with an upcoming Melissa McCarthy vehicle called Tammy at New Line Cinemas.
This move is another good sign that Hollywood is starting to sit up and pay attention to the fact that yes, funny women DO exist (shocking) and they actually do put the coveted assess in seats they’re always looking for. The mega box office successes of Bridesmaids and The Heat aren’t just flukes the establishment can write off while they go look for the next Sylvester Stallone-Arnold Schwarzenegger ego project to film. (FYI, the latest one was called Escape Plan. And I watched it. It was as awful as you can imagine, you guys. Please save me from my own on-demand viewing choices.)
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