Participant, studio behind 'Spotlight,’ ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ shutters after 20 years

Participant, the activist film and television studio that has financed Oscar winners and socially conscious documentaries, is closing its doors after 20 years. Billionaire Jeff Skoll told his staff in a memo shared with The Associated Press Tuesday that they were winding down company operations. Since Skoll founded the company in 2004, Participant has released 135 films, 50 of which were documentaries and many of which were tied to awareness raising impact campaigns. Their films have won 21 Academy Awards including best picture for “Spotlight” and “Green Book,” best documentary for “An Inconvenient Truth” and “American Factory” and best international feature for “Roma.”