Beyoncé chose to fund her haircare brand Cécred herself after investors pushed to shift money away from research and toward marketing, her mother and Cécred vice chairwoman Tina Knowles said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in October.
“The largest part of our budget goes into research and development and testing,” Knowles said. Rather than cut it, she said, Beyoncé decided, “I’m just gonna fund it myself.”
The decision is the latest example of a rule founders keep relearning: whoever pays for the vision gets to protect it. That lesson arrives in theaters this week with I Play Rocky, Peter Farrelly’s film about Sylvester Stallone‘s fight to star in the movie he wrote.
The $360,000 He Turned Down
In 1975, Stallone was a struggling actor who wrote the Rocky screenplay in a few days. Producers liked the script but wanted an established star. Offers rose until one reached $360,000 on the condition that he walk away. He was broke at the time, and he had sold his dog, Butkus, because he couldn’t afford to feed him.
He said no. Stallone has recalled telling his then-wife, Sasha, that he would “rather bury the script in the backyard and let the caterpillars play Rocky.” United Artists eventually agreed to let him star but kept the budget under $1 million. The film earned an estimated $225 million worldwide and launched a franchise.
I Play Rocky, from Amazon MGM Studios, stars Anthony Ippolito as Stallone and Stephan James as Carl Weathers. It opens in limited release on November 6, and expands nationwide on November 20.
Control Is Not the Same as Ownership
Stallone won the role but not the rights. BoxingInsider reports that ownership of Rocky stayed with producer Irwin Winkler and the studio, and Stallone has said he has “zero ownership of Rocky.”
Beyoncé has structured Cécred differently. In an interview with i-D, she called herself Cécred’s “founder, visionary and sole investor.” Since launching in February 2024, the brand has posted Ulta Beauty’s most successful prestige haircare launch.
Photo Credit: Cécred
