Emerald City Arts

What Emerald City Arts does

Emerald City Arts LLC is a privately held, founder-led film and media production company established in 2010 and headquartered in Los Angeles. Operating with a team of approximately 9, the company is directed by Ashley Ellis, a working artist currently pursuing a PhD in Film Studies at the University of Cape Town, alongside a collective of international creatives. The company describes itself as a "dream factory" turning histories, fantasies, and radical imagination into stories that inform, entertain, and inspire, with a stated focus on underrepresented voices and communities misrepresented in mainstream media.

The company's core product is a portfolio of original film and book IP. Its flagship asset is the documentary Haiti Speaks, which explores post-2010 earthquake Haiti across five thematic chapters. Additional releases include the documentary For Love, the short narrative films Fixed and If I Had a Son, and the digital photography book Haiti Sun Dried & Illuminated. The pipeline includes the feature film Little Evil Bookshop (a dark comedy in development) and the Botswana-set documentary After We Lost Shima. Content is produced using traditional documentary and narrative filmmaking techniques; there is no proprietary software platform, API, or technology stack beyond standard media production tooling.

Emerald City Arts monetizes through a multi-channel, project-based revenue model rather than recurring enterprise contracts. Films are crowdfunded and self-funded during pre-production, then monetized via festival screenings, per-title streaming licensing (Prime Video, Xumo, Tubi, Alley Oop), direct-to-consumer sales through Vimeo On Demand, and digital book retail (Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple Books). Distribution and credibility are built primarily through the international film festival circuit — Haiti Speaks screened at 8+ festivals including Trinidad+tobago, Montreal International Black Film Festival, and Paris Lift-Off (where it won the 2020 Audience Choice Award). The company has no disclosed institutional funding, no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no enterprise customers; revenue is entirely consumer-facing.

Name

Emerald City Arts

Legal name

Emerald City Arts LLC

Website

https://emeraldcity-arts.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Emerald City Arts is a Los Angeles-based independent film and media production company founded in 2010 by director Ashley Ellis, producing documentaries, narrative shorts, and books that spotlight underrepresented voices, distributed via film festivals and global streaming platforms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Independent Film Production

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812), Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts & Culture Documentaries (MPADADAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Arts Education & Community Arts Programs (BPAGAHAC)

Keywords

• Documentary film production
• Narrative filmmaking
• Independent film studio
• Film festival distribution
• Digital media production

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Streaming Platform Distribution: Revenue generated through licensing content to global streaming platforms including Prime Video, Xumo, Tubi, and Alley Oop. Films are made available for rental/purchase or ad-supported viewing.
2. Creative Works Sales: Direct sales of creative works including photography books such as Haiti Sun Dried & Illuminated available on Barnes & Noble Nook and Apple Books.
3. Crowdfunded Production: Indie documentary films are crowdfunded and self-funded, with revenue models based on pre-production fundraising to support film completion before commercial release.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels10 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Emerald City Arts is a film and media production company that creates documentary and narrative films, turning histories, fantasies, and radical imagination into stories. Its portfolio includes the award-winning documentary Haiti Speaks, the photography book Haiti Sun Dried & Illuminated, and other narrative shorts such as Fixed and If I Had a Son, distributed globally via film festivals and streaming platforms.

Product overview

Emerald City Arts is a film and media production company and 'dream factory' that creates documentary and narrative films. Their portfolio includes documentary films (Haiti Speaks, For Love, After We Lost Shima), narrative short films (Fixed, If I Had a Son), a digital photography book (Haiti Sun Dried & Illuminated), and a feature film in development (Little Evil Bookshop). The company turns histories, fantasies, and radical imagination into stories to inform, entertain, and inspire audiences globally.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Film picked up by 4 major streaming platforms (Prime Video, Xumo, Tubi, Alley Oop)
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Gift of SightcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGift of Sight is an American non-profit that takes annual medical mission trips to Haiti. The organization worked with Emerald City Arts during the Haiti Speaks documentary production, as filmmakers documented their work operating on hundreds of patients in the week following the 2010 earthquake. This collaboration led to the documentary's focus on Haitian resilience and voice.
• Friends of the Children of Lascahobas, HaiticoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVolunteer Medical Team partner that Emerald City Arts artists joined 100 days after the Port-au-Prince earthquake to observe and document their work. The collaboration resulted in the photography book Haiti Sun Dried & Illuminated.
• Global Endowment for SightminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization mentioned in connection with Haiti Speaks and the Haiti Sun Dried & Illuminated book project. The company joined this organization during their artist team's visit to Haiti after the earthquake.
• Liberating CinemaminorOthersLinked as a social impact organization in the footer of the Emerald City Arts website, representing alignment with similar mission-driven film organizations.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• ARRAY: Ava DuVernay's film distribution and production collective focused on works by people of color and women filmmakers. Closely comparable in mission (underrepresented voices), indie scale, and festival-to-platform distribution motion.
• Kartemquin Films: Chicago-based independent documentary production company founded in 1966, known for Hoop Dreams and Minding the Gap. Structurally similar to Emerald City Arts as a mission-driven indie doc producer with a small core team and festival-circuit-first distribution.
• Field of Vision: Non-fiction film production company that commissions short and feature-length documentaries. Directly comparable as a documentary-focused production studio with global subject matter and festival-aligned distribution.
• Film Bridge International: Independent film sales and distribution company representing independent films to global buyers. Comparable in targeting international sales and platform licensing for indie productions across documentary and narrative categories.

Broad incumbents

• A24: Major independent film and television production/distribution company. Comparable as an indie film producer but at vastly larger scale, with both narrative and documentary releases and a broader genre mix.
• Participant Media: Established social-impact media company producing films and series aimed at driving cultural change. Overlaps with Emerald City Arts on mission and documentary output but operates at significantly larger scale with broader portfolio.
• NEON: Independent film distribution and production company that acquires festival-driven titles. Comparable in festival-first GTM motion for socially and culturally resonant films, though at much higher commercial scale.

Others

• Seed&Spark: Crowdfunding and distribution platform built specifically for independent filmmakers. Relevant as an enabling/ecosystem player since Emerald City Arts uses crowdfunding as a key production-funding mechanism.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/emeraldcityarts
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/emeraldcity-arts
• Facebookfacebook.com/emeraldcityarts
• Instagraminstagram.com/emerald.city.arts
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/emerald-city-arts

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Emerald City Arts