Jason Blum Encourages Producers to Stay Hopeful About the “Impossible” While Accepting PGA Milestone Award
Jason Blum Accepts Milestone Award at the Producers Guild Awards
At the 37th annual Producers Guild Awards held at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, producer Jason Blum received the prestigious Milestone Award, acknowledging his impactful contributions to the entertainment industry. In his acceptance speech, Blum expressed gratitude to several key figures, including his longtime friend Barry Diller, chairperson of IAC, who presented him with the award.
Humbly identifying himself as “this lowly middle-aged producer,” Blum highlighted his admiration for Diller, stating, “he’s been a friend of mine for a long time and a mentor of mine, and someone I admire so, so much, and he’s changed my life in a lot of ways.” He went on to thank others who have supported him, including his wife Lauren, CAA’s Bryan Lourd, and Universal’s Donna Langley, as well as James Wan, whom he described as “one of the greatest artists I’ve worked with in my life.”
Central to Blum’s speech was a poignant story about his father, who, while managing The Ferus Gallery decades ago, convinced Andy Warhol to keep his iconic 32-piece Campbell soup can series intact and sell it for just $2,000. “That story has stayed with me and it’s in my bones,” Blum remarked. He emphasized the lesson it taught him: “good taste doesn’t come from consensus. That belief has to come before validation.” Reflecting on the challenges faced, he stated, “what my dad did seems easy. But it wasn’t, it was impossible.”
Continuing with his theme, Blum pointed out the difficulties of producing, describing it as “impossible” and asserting that producers themselves are “impossible.” He articulated the role of producers as uniting “all of us impossible people together” to maintain team cohesion and vision.
Blum also commented on the current landscape in the entertainment industry, stating, “we’re living in this time where machines are very confident that they can pick what will work.” He argued, however, that machines lack the human qualities of instinct and emotional connection. “If you had asked an algorithm a few months ago to predict how a low-budget gay hockey romance with zero known stars would perform, I promise you the algorithm would’ve been like ‘Do not make that show,’” he noted, highlighting the unique necessity of human producers.
Commending the creative team behind the show Heated Rivalry, including Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady, Blum recognized their belief in the project when few others did. He emphasized that such faith in talent and narrative is what producers excel at.
Reflecting on his growth, Blum acknowledged that he previously overlooked stories about those who believed in ideas before they gained traction. He concluded with an encouraging message: “Keep believing in your stories, and in your impossible directors and impossible actors and impossible writers, and most of all, impossible producers, even when we are at our most impossible.”
The Milestone Award is a significant honor recognizing individuals or teams who have made historic contributions to the entertainment industry. Past recipients include iconic figures such as Louis B. Mayer, Walt Disney, and Alfred Hitchcock, with more recent honorees like Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy.
As the founder of Blumhouse Productions—now merged with Wan’s Atomic Monster—Blum’s recent projects include Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Black Phone 2, and the USA Network series The Rainmaker, based on John Grisham’s novel. Other notable awards presented this year include the David O. Selznick Achievement Award to Amy Pascal and the Norman Lear Achievement Award to Mara Brock Akil.
