Bad Robot Productions

Bad Robot Productions, Inc. is the production company which produced with Paramount Pictures. It is owned by the film's producer/director J.J. Abrams. Star Trek executive producer Bryan Burk is the company's Executive Vice President. The company also co-produced the sequel  and the  sequel.

As Bad Robot Interactive it published the video game Star Trek D-A-C alongside Paramount Digital Entertainment.

Originally part of, the company has worked on the development of motion picture projects for Paramount and , starting in 2006. The US$60 million deal was up for renewal in 2018. In addition to, Bad Robot oversaw production on the films Joy Ride (2001), Mission: Impossible III (2006), and Cloverfield (2008). On television, Bad Robot has produced the series Felicity, Alias, Six Degrees, What About Brian, Person of Interest, Alcatraz, and Revolution, all created or co-created by Abrams, and the hit ABC series Lost, co-created by Abrams and Damon Lindelof.

Bad Robot produced the FOX series Fringe, created by Abrams, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman, and the NBC series Undercovers, created by Abrams and Josh Reims. Further films include Morning Glory (2010), Super 8 (2011), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), the television series Westworld (2016), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), and God Particle (2017).

A major production partner became Lucasfilm Ltd., a Walt Disney Company subsidiary as of 2012, for the production of the revitalized Star Wars film franchise, starting in 2015 with the block buster Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams himself. Three Star Wars films have followed suit, with a fifth one slated for release in late 2019.

In November 2018 Bad Robot opted not to renew the development deal with Paramount, instead seeking a new overall deal with the other major Hollywood studios. For Paramount, already plagued by severe financial setbacks, loosing one of its most important production partners, for Star Trek in particular, became a major contributing factor for their decision to cancel Star Trek 4 in January 2019.

Bad Robot conglomerate
Incorporated on 18 September 2006 and at that time operating from Los Angeles before moving to Santa Monica ten years later, the company became one of the most successful Hollywood production companies, which was reflected by the circumstance that many of its operations and activities were in the intervening years spun off into a myriad of separate independent subsidiaries and/or sister companies, quickly evolving into a multi-media conglomerate. The subsidiaries incorporated in 2006 came about because of the development deal Abrams struck with Paramount and Warner Bros. The ones incorporated in 2009 on the other hand, were established in order to cover legalities surrounding the production of the 2009 Star Trek film and its follow-ups, and which gave Bad Robot henceforth a considerable say – and thus a revenue stream – in the Star Trek film franchise as a whole, especially where its consumer merchandise, including the home media formats, were concerned.

As of 2019 the Bad Robot conglomerate encompasses:
 * Bad Robot Audio, Inc. (10 October 2013 )
 * Bad Robot Films, Inc. (18 July 2006 ); One of the two original conglomerate cornerstone companies, two months later subordinated to Bad Robot Productions, Inc.
 * Bad Robot Interactive, LLC (27 January 2009 ); The co-producer/licensor of Star Trek computer games based on the alternate reality films.
 * Bad Robot Music & Video, LLC (19 July 2006 ); The co-licensor of Star Trek home media formats based on the alternate reality films. It was this subsidiary that became (co-)implicated in the furor following the second "VAM controversy" resulting from the 2013 Blu-ray release, which employed the by fans particularly loathed "retailer exclusive" format in a far more abundant manner than was hitherto commonplace for the franchise. It has resulted in the one year later  "mea culpa" release.
 * Bad Robot Optical, Inc. (7 August 2009 ); The original visual effects (VFX) subsidiary, superseded by Kelvin Optical, Inc.
 * Bad Robot IP, LLC (15 March 2007 ); Titular, legal and administrative holding company of several subsidiaries not directly linked to the motion picture industry production-wise.
 * Bad Robot Television, Inc. (18 July 2006 ); One of the two original conglomerate cornerstone companies, two months later subordinated to Bad Robot Productions, Inc.
 * Bad Robot Toys, LLC (18 May 2009 ; The co-licensor of Star Trek toy merchandise based on the alternate reality films.
 * Bad Robot Games, LLC (2 May 2018 ); Producer computer games, spun off from Bad Robot Interactive, specifically for those from the Star Wars franchise.
 * Bad Robot Press, LLC (12 June 2009 ); The co-licensor of Star Trek print materials based on the alternate reality films.
 * Bad Robot Radio, Inc. (10 October 2013 )
 * Bad Robot Reels, Inc. (16 July 2016 )
 * Good Robot (2017-2018, incorporation pending ); Bad Robot's charity organization.
 * Kelvin Optical, Inc. (3 August 2012 ); VFX production company named after the USS Kelvin's namesake(s), co-credited for the VFX of Into Darkness and uncredited for their work on Beyond. Successor to Bad Robot Optical, Inc. While the company has done some pre-visualisation (which did not show up on screen) and graphics CGI work for both productions, their main responsibility entailed the coordination of the VFX work done by the other VFX companies – hence the "Digital Intermediate Producer" title carried by senior employee Erin M. Davis.
 * Live Robot (Autumn 2018, incorporation pending ); Live event company
 * Loud Robot (Spring 2019, incorporation pending ); Non-motion picture music recording company
 * Sisyphus Productions, Inc. (11 March 1991 ); J.J. Abrams' now defunct, but still registered original personal production company, superseded by the two July 2006 ones.
 * Sneaky Suspicions, Inc. (28 November 2017 )

Staff

 * Note: J.J. Abrams is Owner/Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the entire Bad Robot conglomerate, but is aided for the day-to-day operations by livelong confederate Randy O'Connor who serves alongside Abrams as President on most of the holdings, including Bad Robot Productions itself.


 * Bad Robot Productions
 * David Baronoff – Creative Executive/Associate Producer
 * Bryan Burk – Executive Vice President
 * Lindsey Weber – Head, Film
 * Annie Jackson – Social Media Specialist
 * Raghav Tandon – Production Assistant
 * Kelvin Optical, Inc.
 * Christopher Batty – Pre-visualization Supervisor
 * Erin M. Davis – Digital Intermediate Producer
 * Brandon Fayette – CG Supervisor/Production Lead
 * Miro Skandera – Previsualization Artist