“Is it something hard?” says Elle Woods, the character played by Reese Witherspoon in Revenge of the Blonde, referring to the fact that she had just gotten into Harvard Law School. Woods, a seemingly “superficial” girl, in all her pink and sequins, decides to teach her partner, who thought she could never get into an Ivy League university, a lesson.

For women

The role that made Reese Witherspoon famous in 2001 seems almost prophetic, as she went from Hollywood darling to one of the most important producers in the American film industry, who broke the “glass ceiling” by paving the way for women. Today, her fortune that counts, an astonishingly successful production company, Hello Sunshine, the most influential book club that increases book sales by 700%, podcasts, sites, social media, app, etc., is estimated at $400 million.

It all started when Reese Witherspoon launched a Book Club, recommending books she personally enjoyed. Over time, it gained a devoted following, now counting 3 million followers! Needless to say, any book added to her list skyrockets in sales. Reese took it a step further: she founded her own production company and began acquiring the rights to the books.

So, if you find yourself humming Cold Little Heart by Michael Kiwanuka—the title song from Big Little Lies (HBO)—or if you remember the house that went up in flames in Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu, also on Disney+), or the marsh girl from Where the Crawdads Sing, you may not have realized that all of these began as books. And more importantly, they came to life thanks to Witherspoon’s instinct that they would become massive successes on the big or small screen.

“Authors have always been my rock stars,” said the actress in an interview. A bookworm and nerd from a young age, she recalls a moment when an author whose book had been featured in her Book Club sent her a photo of the house she bought with the proceeds—her family’s first home. “I was moved,” she said. “My goal is to bring a lot of money to a lot of women,” she emphasized.

A $400 Million Media Empire Built from Nothing

F1: The Academy, a Netflix documentary series produced by Reese Witherspoon and her company Hello Sunshine.

Toward an Equal Hollywood

The female perspective was undoubtedly missing in Hollywood. Witherspoon first founded the production company Pacific Standard, through which Gone Girl and Wild were produced—the latter earning her another Oscar nomination. In 2016, she launched Hello Sunshine.

Despite the company’s major successes, which brought in $600 million at the box office, Reese shockingly struggled to pay the salaries of her four employees or even the office electricity bills. “That’s when I realized I was doing something wrong. I needed help,” she has said. Perhaps the most important aspect of entrepreneurship is just that—acknowledging your weaknesses. So, she searched for a CEO and realized the importance of a clear business plan and skilled leadership.

Since then, Sarah Harden, the company’s CEO, has become her other half and agreed to teach her, step by step, how to build a business—or, in their case, an empire. “I asked the dumbest questions,” Reese recalls. “I’m sure Sarah went home thinking, ‘How dumb can my business partner be?’” But she believes it was that vulnerability that helped her find the solution. In 2021, Hello Sunshine was acquired for $900 million, of which Witherspoon is said to have received $150 million. She remains on the board and retains an 18% stake in the company.

A Dual Role: Producer and Star

Reese continues to work independently as a producer—while also securing high-paying acting roles for herself. Consider this: for 10 episodes of The Morning Show (Apple TV+), where she co-stars with Jennifer Aniston, her fee reached $20 million. Notably, both women are also executive producers of the series.

It’s easy to see why Witherspoon has made Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world twice—along with her company. And like any forward-thinking company, Hello Sunshine keeps evolving. For instance, her Book Club (which has now surpassed Oprah Winfrey’s in popularity) recently launched its own app in collaboration with Apple. The company also actively supports women authors through the Lit Up initiative, which provides 25 underrepresented writers with full support to write their books at a retreat, with mentorship and access to a network of 50 literary agents.

Making Their Own History

In parallel, the company organizes the annual Shine Away conference, featuring talks, workshops, and programs focused on women’s empowerment. Currently in production are the new series Lucky, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, the film Run, Rose, Run with Dolly Parton (based on her book of the same name), and a documentary on Martina Navratilova.

That’s how the girls are writing their own story—by taking things into their own hands.