Reese Witherspoon Recalls How She “Couldn’t Keep the Lights On” in Early Days of Production Company Despite ‘Big Little Lies,’ ‘Gone Girl’ Success

> “I had a moment right after Big Little Lies — I had self-funded my first company and I thought, OK well, Big Little Lies won all these Emmys and Wild and Gone Girl got all these Oscar nominations, and we made $600 million at the box office. I had four employees, and I couldn’t keep the lights on,” Witherspoon recalled. “I remember the accountant calling me, going, ‘You didn’t make enough money producing those three things to keep four employees.’ So I was like, ‘I’m doing something wrong.’ And that’s when I had this aha moment. I was like, I need to have help. I don’t have a business plan.” Hello Sunshine soon brought on Sarah Harden as CEO, helping Witherspoon build an infrastructure and hire execs.