The thrill of the ride: Looking back at AGBO 2023

By: Angela Russo-Otstot, AGBO Chief Creative Officer

Recently, as I walked into AGBO’s headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, I had to stop for a moment to appreciate the dynamic atmosphere of our lobby. It’s a hub of creative energy where you might find wooden crates full of movie props (like Rake’s riot shield from the incredible prison “one-er” sequence in Extraction 2), googly eyes on rocks, or costumes displayed on mannequins. (like the hot red dress worn by Priyanka Chopra-Jonas in Citadel) It’s also a place of serendipitous meetings, like bumping into our illustrious guests from the Pizza Film School who had come in to talk with Anthony and Joe in our studio. In other words, our lobby always reflects the pulse of what is happening at AGBO, and in 2023 that pulse was strong. 

It started in January, when we lovingly cheered on the Daniels and everyone involved in Everything Everywhere All at Once, our Gozie Agbo production that received incredible awards recognition for its utterly beautiful story told through a completely unique lens. Soon after, we launched Citadel on Prime Video (with six global premieres from London to Mumbai) and Extraction 2 on Netflix – both garnering world-wide viewership that placed them as a top title of all time on their respective platforms. Meanwhile, we had multiple crews busy in production for two series that were locally developed and produced in India and Italy, and we headed into post-production for our upcoming film The Electric State.

But as anyone who works in the entertainment industry knows, 2023 was also a challenging year. As a company, we made the most of this time by focusing and amplifying AGBO’s efforts to support the larger community. For us, that meant leaning into our passion for supporting up-and-coming creators with diverse voices. I couldn’t have been more proud – or more inspired – by the workshops and events we held on our campus with partners like Slamdance, Group Effort Initiatives, and Five Acres; we also had events spotlighting women, LGBTQ storytellers, emerging filmmakers, craftspeople, junior executives and assistants, and more. 

Heading into the New Year, the team at AGBO will continue our commitment to transform every challenge into an opportunity for storytelling, growth, and innovation. We are grateful for our AGBOVERSE community and wish all of you a happy and healthy holiday season!

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