Variety’s Producers to Watch list is back.
Hosted in 2025 by Arkansas’ Bentonville Film Festival, the annual impact list, which identifies notable up-and-coming film producers, is seeking submissions for 2025. Past honorees include Tom Ackerley (“Barbie”), Jordan Fudge and Jeremy Allen (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”), Youree Henley (“Priscilla”), Nikkia Moulterie (“Nanny”), Alex Saks (“It Ends With Us”), Karina Manashil (“MaXXXine”), Elisabeth Moss and Lindsey McManus (“Shining Girls”), Rishi Rajani (“Being Mary Tyler Moore”) and more.
As the entertainment industry’s publication of record, Variety seeks to highlight creatives who are making waves across a spectrum of disciplines. Like similar lists for actors, animators, screenwriters and directors, Producers to Watch looks at recent, current and upcoming work from young producers working primarily in film. (Television showrunners are honored separately with their own list.) In some cases, selected producers secure or facilitate projects with high-profile talent; in others, their slate cultivates ambitious, eclectic voices and helps bring those projects to life.
After coordinating the publication and presentation of Producers to Watch in 2023 in Sun Valley, during American Film Market’s 2020 virtual session and before that for several years at the Cannes Film Festival, Variety is proud to partner with the Bentonville Film Festival, held June 16-22. Where possible, the festival not only will host the honorees for a conversation about their path into the industry but showcase some of their work.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, April 18. Candidates or their representatives can find more details and submit their relevant qualifications by clicking on this link.
