Movies

The Businesses Behind the Show Business

The awards for best film-production-company name go to …

The names of actors and directors are as famous as their faces, especially during movie-awards season, which culminates this year on March 10 with the Academy Awards ceremony. One set of names, however, remains largely unknown to filmgoers: the names of production companies, the businesses that raise the money, supervise the filming, and take legal and financial responsibility for the finished product. And yet those names are often as noteworthy — even award-worthy — as those of the other players.

I say it’s time to give production-company names their due. So let’s open the envelopes for …

Best location-inspired name

A24. The production company behind Best Picture and Best International Feature nominee The Zone of Interest was founded in 2012 by American film veterans Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges. Katz happened to be driving on the A24 highway in Italy when he got the idea for the company, and adopted the three-character name for his new venture. (All Italian highways are marked with the letter “A” for “autostrada” followed by a number.)

Best student-film reference

Amblin. Steven Spielberg directed his first commercially released film, a 26-minute feature called Amblin’, in 1968 when he was a 21-year-old student at California State…