Reese Witherspoon has admitted that there was a time when she “couldn’t keep the lights on” at her production company.
The actress founded her company, Hello Sunshine, in 2016, and now she’s recalled the challenges it faced in its early years.
Speaking at her production company’s Shine Away event over the weekend, Reese explained that while it made successful projects, it was still struggling financially.
Recalling her mindset at the time, she said, “Okay, well, Big Little Lies won all these Emmys and Wild and Gone Girl got all these Oscar nominations and we made $600 million in the box office.”
However, she noted that in reality, she had “four employees and I couldn’t keep the lights on”.
“I remember the accountant calling me going, ‘You didn’t make enough money producing those three things to keep four employees,'” she shared, reports People. “I was like, ‘I’m doing something wrong.’ And that’s when I had this aha moment. I was like, I need to have help. I don’t have a business plan.”
Reese subsequently hired Sarah Harden to be the CEO of Hello Sunshine and she helped set up the business side of the company.
“It’s also good to know what you’re not good at, and I know what I’m really good at, but it’s also important to go, I’m not good at something,” she said.
“I’m sure she was like, ‘Oh my God.’ She’d go home and I’d be like, ‘My business partner’s an idiot.’ Like how did she not know? But she was so patient with me and let me be vulnerable. And that vulnerability I think is what led to our success.”
Hello Sunshine has also produced TV shows such as The Morning Show, Little Fires Everywhere and Daisy Jones & the Six.
