Michelle Hooper is leaving Searchlight Pictures as executive vice president of marketing after two decades with the company. Since joining in 2006, Hooper’s work on publicity, awards and creative marketing helped earn the studio nearly 200 Oscar nominations and more than 130 Golden Globe nominations. Of those 200, Searchlight took home 49 wins, including best picture winners “Nomadland,” “The Shape of Water,” “Birdman,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Slumdog Millionaire.” Searchlight also received best picture nominations at the Golden Globes for the aforementioned titles, in addition to 15 others.
This awards season, Hooper was leading campaigns for “Wild Horse Nine” and “Behemonth!,” among other titles. It’s a loss for the studio, but I guarantee you it will be another’s gain.” Earlier in her career, Hooper worked at CBS Entertainment as the director of entertainment communications and aided in the “Survivor” publicity strategy; she also spent four years at Fox Broadcast as the company’s VP of entertainment publicity, where she worked on campaigns for shows like “The Simpsons,” “Arrested Development” and “American Idol.” Hooper was featured in Variety’s 2025 Women’s Impact Report alongside fellow Searchlight executives Rebecca Kearey, DanTram Nguyen and Katie Goodson-Thomas, whose work to ensure the studio had a stellar year at the Oscars was highlighted. In a joint statement, the team explained that Searchlight’s adventurous choices and deep filmmaker relationships help the company weather the challenges of the business by “trusting [that] audiences still want films that entertain, challenge and provoke.”
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