LA CALLING
Flying high in Hollywood Packing up to move from Hutton Rudby to Repton Boarding School was his first big move at the age of nine. Fast forward through a law degree and a prized position in the ‘Magic Circle’ of London firms, and Simon Horsman, 53, now finds himself living it up in Los Angeles. A fellow Hutton Rudby native, Elysia Fryer checks in to follow his inspiring journey across the pond...
The last time I saw Simon Horsman was over the bar at The Bay Horse in Hutton Rudby, during what must have been a flying visit back home some years ago. When Christmas comes around, in usual circumstances, it’s a wonderful thing to catch up with familiar faces in the local pub, hearing about how families have grown and flourished, spreading their wings across the country, the continent and beyond. Things were of course a little different this time, but after a chance meeting with Mr and Mrs Horsman, a lovely couple and once ‘locals’ who still live in the village, I’m put in touch with Mr Horsman’s eldest son and we’re catching up over Zoom to talk Hollywood, high-flying businesses and home comforts. Simon’s story is something of a Hollywood blockbuster, which is very fitting given his sparkling career as a successful financier and producer over in The States. I’d heard snippets of his story from his proud parents over the years, but it was great to put a face to the name once again (albeit in a virtual way) to get the lowdown in full. So, I guess it makes sense to start from the very beginning. Simon is pleased to see me sitting comfortably with a cup of Yorkshire tea as he begins to do what he does best tell an engaging story from start to finish. “If we’re going way back to day one, then I’ll start by saying I was born in Middlesbrough and grew up around the area,” he starts. “My family lived at Rudby Hall in Hutton Rudby but have since downsized considerably,” he laughs. “But it’s nice to know that they are settled back in my hometown and I love to visit whenever I can.
“Following my early studies at Red House School in Norton and then Repton in Derbyshire, I did my degree at Manchester University and then moved on to read law at The University of Law - Guildford. After graduation, I moved to London and qualified with Slaughter and May, which was one of the ‘Magic Circle’ firms at the time.” Studying and practicing law seemed like the natural progression for Simon. His father Malcolm Horsman was, until his retirement in 2003, the senior partner of Doberman Horsman Solicitors of Borough Road, Middlesbrough. “But it wasn’t long before I got a little disillusioned with London and decided to be a bit more adventurous, so I moved over to The States.” A pretty spontaneous leap across the pond, but one that has led to an incredibly successful career moving from law into technology and more recently into film and television production, Broadway and a sports agency. Many of us have the itch to travel, to see more of the world, to experience life on a different continent. So what exactly made Simon make the jump? “I was just in search of adventure and wanted to try something new. I always wanted to explore the entertainment industry, so I figured, what better place to do so than the US? “I thought about doing that as a lawyer initially, but when I did the California bar exam and requalified over here, I got into partnership at a law firm when the technology boom was happening, so I ended up taking that path. “The law firm I joined was doing incredibly well, so for 10 years I got sucked into that and represented some of the biggest tech-software companies including Intuit, Microsoft, Autodesk, Adobe and Symantec.
I was attracted to LA for the same reasons a lot of people want to be here. I wanted to be at the centre of something exciting
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I did a lot of their international anti-piracy work, particularly in Brazil for The Business Software Alliance. “Then I went in-house as the General Counsel of an internet company called PriceGrabber, which back in the day was a leading price comparison shopping site. It sounds funny now because Amazon has monopolised the business, but at the time, if you wanted to buy a computer you’d go to a price comparison site and they’d list all of the retailers by price. That was a very successful company; with about $1.5m raised in 2000, we sold it four years later for close to $500m. It was an incredible success story and gave me a little bit of freedom to pursue my other ambitions.” His other ambitions being a route into entertainment - the industry that LA and Hollywood in particular is famed for. We all have our own perceptions of LA ‘the city of angels’, ‘the home of the stars’, ‘la la land’ - whatever it may be. It’s a city I’ve always had a fixation with. The sheer buzz of the place. The fashion, the lifestyle, the success stories. But that being said, it is a place that leaves you to question: ‘what is Hollywood really like?’. Simon tells us... “I was attracted to LA for the same reasons a lot of people want to be here. I wanted to be in the centre of something exciting. “I became a lawyer here, so there was a lot of hard work involved to start with but after a while, it just becomes normal life. “I mean, I’m sitting here in the middle of Beverly Hills - the sun is shining in December - and professionally, I’m at the epicentre of the industry.” For Simon, it’s about enjoying what life throws at you and being open to starting new ventures with the inspiring people that surround you. “My start in the entertainment industry came when I started running a company called Future Films, which was the US arm of a UK-based film finance company. Around this time, I got involved with the UK’s biggest
talent agency called Independent Talent Group. They represent the cream of British talent, everyone from Anthony Hopkins to Daniel Craig to Phoebe Waller-Bridge. I ended up finding a US investor to acquire a large stake in that company. “On the tail end of that deal closing, I met Jeffrey Soros and represented him as his lawyer in the entertainment industry. Jeffrey’s parents have an incredible story of arriving in America as immigrants from Hungary and going on to achieve truly great things in finance, engineering and philanthropy. “Jeffrey is my partner at Los Angeles Media Fund (LAMF), where our core business is financing and producing movies. We’ve produced many movies and documentaries together at this point.” LAMF took off in 2012 and is really where Hollywood comes into the Horsman name. Simon guides me through an exciting timeline of movies and feature films to hit the big screens in recent years. “We did a movie called The Space Between Us with Gary Oldman and Asa Butterfield a young adult sci-fi adventure. We also produced a movie called Juliet, Naked which we shot in England. It’s based on a Nick Hornby novel of the same name. “We did a horror movie called The Bye Bye Man, which did quite well at the Box Office. “We also worked on a dance comedy called Step Sisters, which was fun, as well as a crime movie starring Jim Carey called Dark Crimes. “We were at Sundance Film Festival last year with three movies. One of which has just been released in the UK called Shirley with Elisabeth Moss in the lead role. Elisabeth is on the shortlist to be nominated for an Oscar for her performance.” Other of his films that premiered at Sundance last year include, Some Kind of Heaven, which he and his partner produced with The New York Times and director Darren Aronofsky, which is an irreverent look at America’s largest retirement community in
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