Relativity 2.0: The Plan To Save Hollywood's

A year ago, the company’s epic meltdown ended in bankruptcy. Now, in an exclusive interview, Ryan Kavanaugh reveals his relaunch strategy along with his new Oscar-nominated man about town, Dana Brunetti, who asks, ‘What the f— were they thinking?’ as they take stock and promise this time (really!) things will be different.

- Tatiana Siegel

ON A BALMY EVENING SEPT. 9, Dana Brunetti was making the rounds at the Chase oyster bar in Toronto. Wearing a maroon blazer, jeans and Gucci low-top sneakers, the new Relativity Media president looked the picture of L.A. casual as he hosted the company’s first event since it emerged from bankruptcy in April. Despite Brunetti’s $500plus footwear, it was a modest affair. No private helicopter idled on the roof, as one often did at the Relativity headquarters in Beverly Hills during its heyday just a few years ago. Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler wasn’t there to entertain, as he was at Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh’s Malibu wedding in 2015. In fact, Kavanaugh wasn’t even at the party; he was back in Los Angeles that night due to the death of his uncle. But a respectable number of film executives and agents showed up, including UTA’s Charles Ferraro and Voltage Pictures’ Zev Foreman. Brunetti, 43, played the face man — “waving the flag and showing that we’re here,” he explains — making the case that the relaunched Relativity is a “lean and mean” version of its formerly bloated self and, yes, is ready to do business again.