Jill Messick

Jill Laura Sobel Messick (; July 27, 1967 – February 7, 2018) was an American film producer. She worked as an executive producer and producer on several films, including She's All That, Frida (2002), Mean Girls (2004), and A Minecraft Movie (2025).

She was actress Rose McGowan's manager in 1997 when McGowan alleged that she was raped by producer Harvey Weinstein. After the Weinstein allegations became public in late 2017, McGowan was highly critical of Messick, and Weinstein's lawyer released a private email sent by Messick that contradicted McGowan's claims. The publicity surrounding the scandal led to online cyberbullying directed at her. Messick died by suicide in February 2018. In a public statement, Messick's family said that she supported the MeToo movement and called her loss collateral damage of a "feeding frenzy", blaming Weinstein, McGowan, the media, and the public for her death.

Early life Messick was the daughter of Michael Sobel and actress Laura Nicholson Sobel (1945–2015). Her maternal grandfather was film producer James H. Nicholson and she had a brother named Jan. After attending Santa Barbara High School, where she was named homecoming princess, Shyamalan later said that "she helped fight for my second film to get made at Miramax. Really made me feel I had a big sister protecting me." In the late 1990s, she worked as a talent manager at Addis-Wechsler & Associates, It eventually grossed $60 million. She worked on such films as Boys and Girls (2000), Frida (2002) and early development of Cinderella Man (2005). She also worked directly with Dimension Films and helped make multipicture deals with screenwriters R. Lee Fleming, Jr., Andrew Lowery and Andrew Miller. In 2000, she was promoted to senior Vice-President of Production. She worked at Miramax until 2003. She later worked as an executive producer for Lorne Michaels, Paramount Pictures and The Weinstein Company. Her film credits include Get Over It (2001), Mean Girls (2004), Hot Rod (2007), Baby Mama (2008), and Masterminds (2016). On January 30, 2018, Weinstein's attorney released a private email from Messick to Weinstein as a way to defend Weinstein. Messick's family later said that McGowan "never once used the word rape" when she told Messick about the incident. and also airing on January 30, McGowan accused Messick of betrayal and of siding with Weinstein in exchange for her job at Miramax. After Weinstein's lawyers released Messick's email, McGowan claimed that Messick's statements had already been disproven by her former assistant Anne Woodward in The New York Times article.

The media and public attention had a negative impact on Messick. According to Mandy Stadtmiller in The Daily Beast, the publicity led to online cyberbullying after "activists on Twitter named, shamed and identified how Messick could be reached, with one even revealing Messick’s purposefully obscured LinkedIn profile (she did not use her full name) and encouraging others to reach out to her and let her know what they really thought of her."

A Messick family statement stated that she had suffered from bipolar disorder and that a "manic episode" in 2013 had affected her career. The statement also said: "Seeing her name in headlines again and again, as part of one person's attempt to gain more attention for her personal cause, along with Harvey's desperate attempt to vindicate himself, was devastating for her. It broke Jill." one day after the third anniversary of her mother's death.

After that, Messick's family issued a public statement that was critical of the media, Weinstein, and McGowan, as well as "our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact. The speed of disseminating information has carried mistruths about Jill as a person, which she was unable and unwilling to challenge. She became collateral damage in an already horrific story." Her family defended Messick's decision to not publicly address McGowan's negative statements about her because of "fear of undermining the many individuals who came forward in truth. She opted not to add to the feeding frenzy, allowing her name and her reputation to be sullied despite having done nothing wrong." It also asserts that, contrary to McGowan's accusations, Messick (who supported the MeToo movement) "was the first person who stood up on Rose's behalf, and alerted her bosses to the horrific experience which Rose suffered" despite being a junior-level employee at that time.

McGowan paid tribute to Messick on Instagram without addressing her family's accusations. Messick was among the deceased memorialized at the 90th Academy Awards.

Filmography 1999 – She's All That (co-executive producer) 2000 – Boys and Girls (executive producer) 2016 – Masterminds