Chris Meledandri Helps Fulfillment Fund Raise Over $1.8 Million at Annual Dinner
UPDATED: The fundraising event also welcomed top studio execs, including Universal's Donna Langley and Fox's former film chief Tom Rothman, as well as a performance by Pharrell Williams and an appearance by Steve Carell.
At September’s Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, NBC Universal vice chairman Ron Meyer was asked how the studio went so quickly from fourth place to first at the box office. His answer was: “We hired Chris Meledandri.”
The same answer could be given for how the Oct. 23 Fulfillment Fund dinner at the Beverly Hilton raised more than $1.8 million. They got Meledandri as honoree. That brought in financial support from Universal, where the Illumination Entertainment CEO made the Despicable Me films, and from Fox, where he’d founded the animation department that brought in more than $2 billion during his tenure.
A fundraising dinner is lucky to have the support of one studio’s execs; to have two is rare. The Fulfillment Fund dinner had Universal’s Meyer, Steve Burke, Jeff Shell, Donna Langley and former film division chairman Adam Fogelson on hand as well as Fox’s Peter Chernin, James Gianopulos and former film head Tom Rothman. Other guests included Berry Gordy, Rich Ross, Ryan Kavanaugh and George Schlatter.
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“Chris is the real deal,” said Meyer. “He really cares about this organization. Some people help a charity by being honored, but he really works for the organization.”
The evening began with remarks by emcee Ed Helms, who noted that 90 percent of L.A. high school students in the Fulfillment Fund’s mentoring program go onto college as opposed to 50 percent among those who are not. The fund’s founder Dr. Gary Gitnick with wife Cherna then came on stage to thank Tom Sherak, Josh Klinefelter and Sidney Poitier for the their help with the fund.
Afterward, the stage was taken over by Pharrell Williams and 25 backup dancers from Hamilton High School’s music academy who had the crowd up and singing his "Blurred Lines" hit. Meledandri had hired Williams to write songs for the Despicable Me films, and this was payback. “Chris is all about the work and the work speaks for itself,” said Williams before dinner. “Look at the execution.”
A live auction that went on a bit too long (but did raise a sizeable amount of cash) came before Meledandri was presented with his award. There was a truly clever piece of animated drawing that sketched out the honoree’s career and played before Steve Carell came on stage. He joked that he’d agreed to make the presentation out of “love, respect and an intense fear of personal retribution.”
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Most of Meledandri’s speech was taken up with thanking those who’d made the evening possible, but afterward he said he’s agreed to help the Fulfillment Fund because “after 25 years of honing their system they’ve got a program that works.”
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