As Alan Ritchson moved up the ranks from working actor to the A-list star of Amazon hit Reacher, manager Dan Spilo was there to guide his meteoric rise.
Spilo helped build a mini empire around the actor, now one of the more in-demand names in Hollywood. He attached himself as a producer on four upcoming Ritchson films, including a Nicholas Sparks adaptation set up at Amazon, as well as Runner, based on a Black List script about a courier on a life-and-death delivery.
Those heady times came crashing down last week on the Australian set of Runner, with Ritchson suddenly cutting ties with his longtime manager. No concrete reason has emerged, but Spilo, a partner at Industry Entertainment, has a hard-charging reputation and has rankled numerous colleagues and collaborators over the years. Sources say things became heated between the two, and Spilo left the set and no longer will get a producing credit on the film, directed by The Expendables 4 filmmaker Scott Waugh. Spilo declined to comment, as did reps for Ritchson.
It was a surprising career hit, given that Spilo has enjoyed a Teflon-like existence in Hollywood, despite past controversy.
In 2019, he became the only contestant in Survivor history to be booted from the CBS show after a fellow contestant accused him of inappropriate touching. In a move that generated public blowback, producers allowed him to stay after the accusations, but ultimately ejected him after he later touched the thigh of a female producer while entering a transport boat. Spilo publicly apologized, saying, “I truly regret that anyone was made to feel uncomfortable by my behavior.”
Shortly after the Survivor controversy, Spilo lost an executive producer credit on Walker, made by then-CBS sister network The CW and starring longtime client Jared Padalecki, but otherwise came out unscathed.
Even Spilo’s detractors acknowledge he did well with Ritchson, and one person who worked with the manager in recent years describes him as congenial and responsible.
Another person who has had business dealings with him notes that despite any personal shortcomings, people work with Spilo because he’s an effective operator and a savvy businessman. “As long as you kept him bridled, he was helpful,” this person says. “But what is the cost of that? Are we empowering someone who shouldn’t be empowered?”
Ritchson is the latest notable client to leave Spilo and his Industry Entertainment in recent years. In 2021, Joey King, who earned an Emmy nomination for the Hulu limited series The Act, formed her banner All the Kings Horses with Spilo and her mother, Jamie King. The shingle went on to ink a splashy deal with Netflix, where she was a favorite as the star of The Kissing Booth films.
In a previously unreported incident, King quietly split with Spilo some time around 2023 and pushed him from the company over financial irregularities. Multiple sources say King believed Spilo double-dipped, taking fees as both a producer and manager. Spilo maintains the irregularities were due to an accounting error and that he paid funds to the Kings after it was brought to his attention, according to a source close to Spilo. Reps for King declined to comment.
Twenty-five years ago, Industry Entertainment was a powerhouse firm with a client list that included Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio, but its star power has shrunk over the decades after the departures of power mangers such as Rick Yorn. There have been at least eight staff exits since the top of 2024, though the firm has since replenished its ranks with a combination of hires, promotions, and the addition of two new partners. Some former employees have complained that working at Industry was made more challenging by distractions such as Spilo’s Survivor incident, which they were routinely forced to discuss with people outside the company while trying to conduct business around town.
As for Spilo, he is said to maintain hope for someday repairing his relationship with Ritchson. If not the professional relationship, perhaps the personal one. He remains an executive producer on Motor City and Playdate, both upcoming features that star his former client.
Ritchson, meanwhile, is nearing the end of principal photography on Runner. In calmer times, the actor praised his collaborators after wrapping day one of filming on March 31. Wrote the actor on Instagram: “Every once in a while, you realize you’re surrounded by a dream team of producing partners, director, writers, cast, crew, and co-workers that make each whim attainable and every ambition within reach.”
