By John Klyce
LOS ANGELS, CA — BLP tapped Ane Weathersby to lead its West Coast office and assist in the final development stage of naming rights, tenant use, and sound stage management. Most recently, she worked as the senior director of studio finance and planning for Hudson Pacific Properties, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment trust that owns and manages studio lots and office space in Hollywood.
“From the moment we officially announced BLP in June 2021, our plans have been clear. We knew this would be more of a journey than a sprint, especially amid a global pandemic,” Jason Farmer, founder and CEO of BLP Film Studios, said in a press release. “Hiring Ane is a major milestone for BLP and one of the final legs of our marathon preparation.”
Weathersby worked at Hudson Pacific for more than a decade. Her LinkedIn page shows that she started as a studio operations coordinator in 2010, before working her way up through the ranks and scoring the senior director role in December 2021. According to Hudson Pacific’s latest annual report, it made $896.83 million in FY 2021, and has about 15.8 million square feet of office properties, as well as 1.5 million square feet of studio properties.
During her tenure with the company, she helped develop its ample Hollywood media portfolio, which the global investment firm Blackstone purchased a 49% stake in, valued at $1.6 billion, in June 2020. At the time, MBJ’s sister publication, the Los Angeles Business Journal, reported that the media portfolio totaled 2.2 million square feet of studio facilities and offic buildings.
Weathersby also oversaw the financial planning and analysis, strategy, and investments portfolio for 36 sound stages at Hudson Pacific. Those sound stages have been featured in productions by Disney, Netflix, and ABC — including the 2022 Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg film “Me Time,” and multiple TV shows created by the major production company Shondaland.
The hiring of Weathersby comes about 11 months after MBJ reported that the total cost of BLP’s studio, located in Whitehaven, would range from $300 million to $500 million. The latest release pegs the cost at $400 million, and notes that the team is continuing to move toward breaking ground on the project.
“We have been quietly yet actively moving our work forward in recent months,” Farmer said in the release. “Now, with Ane as part of our team, we can pick up the pace toward the finish line, and national, Hollywood-level exposure for Memphis.”
Weathersby is the niece of Tennessee Tribune Los Angeles journalist Ron Weathersby.
