Which Ride or Die executive producer founded Skydance Media in 2006?

David Ellison founded Skydance, the company associated with the 2006 launch of Skydance Productions.

Ellison established the company as a young Hollywood producer with an interest in financing and producing large-scale commercial films. Its first released feature was Flyboys, a 2006 World War I aviation drama in which Ellison also acted. The company later became known as Skydance Media and expanded far beyond film production.

Skydance’s growth accelerated through its partnership with Paramount Pictures, beginning around 2009–2010. That relationship helped the company co-finance and produce major franchises such as Mission: Impossible, Star Trek and Terminator. It later developed television, animation, interactive and sports divisions.

There is a naming-and-date nuance behind this question: Skydance’s own corporate materials often describe the diversified company as founded in 2010, while historical accounts identify Skydance Productions as beginning in 2006. In either formulation, David Ellison is the canonical founder. He later became chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance after the 2025 merger with Paramount Global.