The Ryan Reynolds Hollywood mentorship program, known as Group Effort Initiative, is marking its fifth year of creating new opportunities for underrepresented communities in Hollywood. Launched by Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, the Group Effort Initiative began by offering hands-on training to a small cohort on set, and has since expanded dramatically in both reach and impact.
Early Challenges and Bold Decisions Shape the Initiative
When Reynolds and Lively first introduced the Group Effort Initiative during the production of “The Adam Project” in Vancouver, Canada, they started with just eight trainees. The program provided support by covering both wages and housing, ensuring that promising candidates from less visible communities had a real opportunity to learn the ropes in a professional environment. The couple admitted they were anxious that their plan might be too ambitious at its inception.
“When we saw those first eight trainees on set for ‘The Adam Project,’ it was clear something good was happening,”
Reynolds, Actor and Co-founder said.
“I left plenty of room for it to backfire and I still think about the feeling in the pit of my stomach and the blind faith it can take to just leap,”
Reynolds, Actor and Co-founder added.
Lively, who advocated for bringing more trainees into the initial program, shared her apprehensions as well.
“I was worried because I’d advocated for 8 to 12 trainees and wondered if we’d started with too many folks to allow enough of the vital one-on-one experience from their mentors. But it felt like it found its rhythm halfway through the first week,”
Blake Lively, Co-founder reflected.
Growth and Achievements in Five Years
Since its founding, the Group Effort Initiative has built a significant track record. Over the past five years, it has coordinated 1,056 paid internships for emerging talent on various sets and within corporate offices, demonstrating its commitment to practical career access. The Initiative has also enabled 247 individuals to secure jobs at studios and production companies and helped fill 365 on-set production assistant roles across 209 separate film and television projects.
Its formal mentorship program, launched three years into the Initiative’s journey, has paired 640 mentors with mentees, deepening the program’s capacity to provide invaluable industry guidance. Additionally, Group Effort has organized numerous educational sessions, both in-person and virtual, to further career readiness and networking among participants.
Expanding Partnerships and Education Nationwide
Now operating in 20 cities, the Group Effort Initiative has a network of collaboration with over 550 companies and talent pipelines. Partnerships include high-profile names like Netflix, Disney, Paramount, Hollywood CPR, Manifest Works, and Warner Bros. Discovery, offering participants dynamic entry points into the industry. The organization recently celebrated its five-year anniversary by releasing a video highlighting its progress and unveiling new plans.
Among the current initiatives is the Adobe-sponsored Mid-Level Bootcamp, aimed at equipping participants with skills to transition from entry-level to managerial or director positions.
“teaching participants the skills to go from assistant to managers, directors and beyond,”
Reynolds, Actor and Co-founder remarked in the video. The actor further described the organization’s ambition as, “We’re leveling up even more,” Reynolds, Actor and Co-founder said.
Vision for Lasting Inclusion and Future Leadership
A long-term goal of Group Effort Initiative is to normalize inclusion and diverse mentorship across all aspects of Hollywood. Lively envisions a future where the next generation, supported by these mentoring programs, will break through barriers and lead the way for others.
“What I’d love to see is an industry where access and mentorship are a normal part of how things get made – and where that idea can expand beyond just film and television,”
Blake Lively, Co-founder said.
She continued,
“The real goal is for the people who came through Group Effort to become the ones making the decisions, bringing others in and continuing the change. That’s when we’ll know it’s really working,”
Blake Lively, Co-founder explained.
Reynolds, emphasizing the broader mission, stressed,
“Inclusion shouldn’t be an afterthought, it should be built-in from the start. It isn’t charity. It’s a means to be better at the job and expand capabilities across the entire creative landscape,”
Reynolds, Actor and Co-founder explained.
Group Effort Initiative’s ongoing efforts suggest that Hollywood’s future could look very different, as mentees become mentors, inclusive hiring becomes the standard, and the creative sector grows more diverse at every level.
