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Jessica Biel – Says Her Production Company Saw Little To No Success During Its First Ten Years Of Operation
Even as a successful actress, finding success for the production company she co-founded with business partner Michelle Purple, Iron Ocean, was a 20 year process. In fact it was so hard for Biel sometimes that she thought of quiting the whole thing altogether.
“Doors did not open at all, even being in the business for so long,” Biel said on the May 15 episode of The Bright Side podcast. “I’ve had this production company with my partner, Michelle Purple, for 20 years. I started it with her when I was 22 and for the first 10 years, we had almost no success at all.”
After 10 years of experiencing “almost no success at all” with the production company – and while the company was able to make the 2012 film ‘The Tall Man’ – it wasn’t until they were introduced to “The Sinner” that the company got its first big forage into TV.
“When we were actually selling [The Sinner], Michelle and I looked at each other and she said, ‘If we don’t sell this show, I’m quitting.’ And I said, ‘Me too,’” recalled the 7th Heaven alum. “[I thought] ‘I’m quitting. I’m not doing this. If this show doesn’t sell, I don’t know what people want. I don’t know what to bring them. I don’t understand this business anymore.’ And then we sold it in the room.”
Biel, who earned an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination for her season one role as Cora Tennettia and has continued to executive produce the anthology series through its four seasons at USA, confessed that the show changed a lot of things for her.
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Jessica Biel – On Why Her Production Couldn’t Land A Hit In Its Earlier Days
According to Biel, the reason her company found little success in its earlier days had a lot to do with Hollywood’s landscape at the time.
“It was a time when nobody cared about women’s stories,” she explained. “It was before we had this amazing runway for powerful, complex female stories. So, it just wasn’t the right time either, and we were fighting against all the elements. It was a very humbling experience, and it still continues to be humbling.”
Following the success of ‘The Sinner,’ Iron Ocean produced the Hulu original miniseries Candy in 2022, which also starred the 42-year-old actress.
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