What Is Scott Rudin's Net Worth?
Scott Rudin is an American theatrical and film producer and former casting director who has a net worth of $250 million. Some of Scott Rudin's best known works include "The Truman Show" (1998), "No Country for Old Men" (2007), "There Will Be Blood" (2007), "The Social Network" (2010), "Moneyball" (2011), "Captain Phillips" (2013), "Ex Machina" (2014), "Lady Bird" (2017), and "The Girl in the Spider's Web" (2018). In 2012, he became the first producer in history to join the EGOT club (people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony). As of this writing, Rudin-produced projects have won more than 20 Oscars (out of 150+ nominations). Scott has also produced dozens of Broadway plays and musicals, winning Tonys for "Passion" (1994), "Copenhagen" (2000), "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?" (2002), "Doubt" (2005), "The History Boys" (2006), "God of Carnage" (2009), "Fences" (2010), "The Book of Mormon" (2011), "Death of a Salesman" (2012), "A Raisin in the Sun" (2014), "Skylight" (2015), "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" (2015), "A View From the Bridge" (2016), "The Humans" (2016), "Hello, Dolly!" (2017), "The Ferryman" (2019), "The Boys in the Band" (2019), and "The Inheritance" (2020).
Rudin launched Scott Rudin Productions in the '80s, and he was named President of Production for 20th Century Fox in 1986 at the age of 28. He later entered into producing deals with Paramount Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Disney, and Fox Networks Group. Besides his film and stage work, Scott has also produced television series such as "The Newsroom" (2012–2014), "Silicon Valley" (2014), "School of Rock" (2016–2018), and "What We Do in the Shadows" (2019–2021). In April 2021, Rudin announced that he had "made the decision to step back from active participation" in his role as a producer on Broadway productions after several of his former employees spoke to "The Hollywood Reporter" about his abusive behavior. Later that month, the indie studio A24 terminated its business relationship with Scott.
Early Life
Scott Rudin was born on July 14, 1958, in Baldwin, New York. He grew up in a Jewish household on Long Island with a father who sold menswear and a mother who fostered a love of theater in him. Scott told "The Hollywood Reporter" in 2010, "[She] took me to tons of stuff when I was kid: Took me to ballet, took me to opera, took me to theater." Rudin has a younger brother who is a doctor. As a teenager, Scott took a job as an unpaid assistant to Broadway producer Kermit Bloomgarden before working for producers Emanuel Azenberg and Robert Whitehead. Though Rudin earned a full scholarship to Brown University, a week before he was supposed to leave for college, he told his parents that he was going to stay at his job instead.
Career
After deciding to forego college, Scott began working as a casting director and launched his own company. He cast the films "King of the Gypsies" (1978), "Last Embrace" (1979), "The Wanderers" (1979), "Simon" (1980), "Hide in Plain Sight" (1980), and "Resurrection" (1980) and the TV movies "Sanctuary of Fear" (1979) and "The Lathe of Heaven" (1980). His company also cast Broadway shows such as a 1977 production of "Annie" produced by Mike Nichols. Rudin moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and took a job at Edgar J. Scherick Associates, where he produced the miniseries "Little Gloria… Happy at Last" (1982) and the documentary "He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'" (1983). "Little Gloria… Happy at Last" earned a Primetime Emmy nomination, and "He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'" won both an Oscar and an Emmy. After forming Scott Rudin Productions, he produced the 1984 film "Mrs. Soffel." Scott later began executive producing for 20th Century Fox, and at the age of 28, he was named the company's president of production. Soon after, he moved on to Paramount and TriStar Pictures, and he signed a first-look deal with Paramount that lasted close to 15 years. In the '90s, Rudin produced more than 20 films, including "Regarding Henry" (1991), "The Addams Family" (1991), "Sister Act" (1992), "The Firm" (1993), "Searching for Bobby Fischer" (1993), "Addams Family Values" (1993), "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit" (1993), "Clueless" (1995), "The First Wives Club" (1996), "Marvin's Room" (1996), "The Truman Show" (1998), "Sleepy Hollow" (1999), "Angela's Ashes" (1999), and "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" (1999).
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After Paramount chairwoman Sherry Lansing resigned in 2004, Scott left and signed a five-year first-look deal with Disney that would allow him to produce projects for Walt Disney Pictures, Miramax Films, Touchstone Pictures, and Hollywood Pictures. Since 2000, Rudin has produced more than 70 films, such as "Zoolander" (2001), "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001), "Iris" (2001), "The Hours" (2002), "School of Rock" (2003), "Team America: World Police" (2004), "No Country for Old Men" (2007), "There Will Be Blood" (2007), "The Darjeeling Limited" (2007), "Doubt" (2008), "Revolutionary Road" (2008), "The Social Network" (2010), "True Grit" (2010), "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (2011), "Inside Llewyn Davis" (2013), "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014), "Steve Jobs" (2015), "Fences" (2016), "Lady Bird" (2017), "Eighth Grade" (2018), "Isle of Dogs" (2018), "Uncut Gems" (2019), and "The Woman in the Window" (2021). "No Country for Old Men" earned Scott an Oscar for Best Motion Picture of the Year. He signed a TV production deal with Fox in 2015, and from 2019 to 2021, he produced the Emmy-nominated vampire comedy "What We Do in the Shadows" for FX. Rudin has produced over 70 Broadway productions, and he earned EGOT status after winning a Grammy for "The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording" (he also won his eighth Tony for "The Book of Mormon").
Personal Life
Scott is married to Broadway publicist John Barlow. John formerly owned a Broadway communications firm called Barlow-Hartman Public Relations, which was in business from 1999 to 2009.
Controversies
Before "To Kill a Mockingbird" opened on Broadway, Harper Lee's estate sued the production company, alleging that the play deviated too much from the 1960 novel. Scott countersued the estate for breach of contract, and the dispute was "amicably settled" in May 2018.
During the Sony Pictures hack in 2014, email exchanges between Rudin and SPE Co-Chair Amy Pascal that were racially insensitive to President Barack Obama were released. Scott apologized for the emails, stating, "I made a series of remarks that were meant only to be funny, but in the cold light of day, they are in fact thoughtless and insensitive — and not funny at all. To anybody I've offended, I'm profoundly and deeply sorry, and I regret and apologize for any injury they might have caused."
Scott has earned a reputation as one of the entertainment industry's most abusive bosses, and "Page Six" called him "Hollywood's biggest a-hole." In April 2021, several former employees spoke to "The Hollywood Reporter" about Rudin's abusive behavior, including an incident in which he smashed a computer monitor on the hand of one of his assistants because the employee couldn't get him a ticket for a sold-out flight. Caroline Rugo, who was hired by Scott in 2018, said that he fired her "for having Type 1 diabetes." She told the publication of her time working for Rudin, "He threw a laptop at the window in the conference room and then went into the kitchen and we could hear him beating on the napkin dispenser. Then another time he threw a glass bowl at [a colleague]. It's hard to say if he threw it in the general direction or specifically at [the colleague], but the glass bowl hit the wall and smashed everywhere. The HR person left in an ambulance due to a panic attack. That was the environment."
Awards and Nominations
Rudin has earned 10 Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Motion Picture of the Year for "No Country for Old Men" in 2008. His other nominations were for Best Picture for "The Hours" (2003), Best Motion Picture of the Year for "True Grit" (2011), "The Social Network" (2011), "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" (2012), "Captain Phillips" (2014), "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2015), "Fences" (2017), and "Lady Bird" (2018), and Best Animated Feature Film for "Isle of Dogs" (2019). Scott won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program for "He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'" in 1984, and he received nominations for Outstanding Drama Special for "Little Gloria… Happy at Last" (1983), Outstanding Children's Program for "School of Rock" (2017), and Outstanding Comedy Series for "What We Do in the Shadows" (2020). He has earned 15 Golden Globe nominations, taking home the prize for Best Motion Picture – Drama for "The Hours" (2003) and "The Social Network" (2011) and Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2015) and "Lady Bird" (2018). The PGA Awards named Rudin Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures for "No Country for Old Men" in 2008 and honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Motion Pictures in 2011. In 2012, he won a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album for "The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording."
Scott earned Best Picture awards from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists for "No Country for Old Men" (2007) and "The Social Network" (2011), and he won Best Motion Picture awards from the Awards Circuit Community Awards for both of those films as well as "The Truman Show" (1998). He received Christopher Awards for "Marvin's Room" (1997), "Iris" (2002), and "Lady Bird" (2018) and Gold Derby Awards for "No Country for Old Men" (2008) and "The Social Network" (2011), and in 2011, he won an Online Film & Television Association Award for "The Social Network." Rudin has also earned Gotham Independent Film Awards for Best Feature for "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012) and "Inside Llewyn Davis" (2013) and a Western Heritage Award for Theatrical Motion Picture for "True Grit" (2011). He has won several awards for the plays he has produced as well, including 18 Tonys, 16 Drama Desk Awards, 14 Drama League Awards, and 15 Outer Critics Circle Awards.
Real Estate
In February 2019, Scott paid $15 million for a home in New York City's West Village; the seller was Graydon Carter, the former editor of "Vanity Fair" magazine. In August 2021, Rudin sold his NYC co-op for $13.1 million.
