XYZ Films co-founder Nate Bolotin exits after 18 years

Nate Bolotin, one of the three founders of XYZ Films, is leaving the company after 18 years.

Variety reported the exit as an exclusive on 6 October. Bolotin founded the Los Angeles company in 2008 with partners Nick Spicer and Aram Tertzakian.

Spicer and Bolotin first met as graduate students at UCLA, according to an earlier Variety profile of the young company. The trio built XYZ into a global film studio spanning production, financing, international sales and distribution.

International sales means selling a film's rights territory by territory to local distributors around the world. It is the part of the business that gets independent films onto screens far from Hollywood.

In a statement, XYZ said Bolotin had been a trusted partner and friend since inception. It recognised his contributions over the past eighteen years.

The company will now be overseen by Spicer as chief executive, Maxime Cottray as chief operating officer and Tertzakian as head of creative. Bolotin is still listed as a partner at XYZ Films and XYZ International.

Bolotin's recent credits include serving as a key producer alongside Spicer and Tertzakian on 'Something Beautiful by Miley Cyrus', as reported by Variety. The company has also pushed into releasing its own films in the United States, hiring former Neon executive James Shapiro in 2021 to launch a domestic distribution arm, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

That arm was set to kick off with 'Something In the Dirt', from filmmaking duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Domestic means the United States and Canada, the home market for US releases.

What makes this stand out is tenure. Eighteen years is a long run for founders to stay together in independent film, where companies often change shape quickly. For fans, this means the name on the credits will stay the same, but one of the people choosing those films is moving on.