ACCESS
"In America, they give you a chance. That is all an immigrant needs. A chance." — Len Blavatnik
ONE
THE IMMIGRANT
EXT. ODESSA, SOVIET UNION - DAY (1970)
The port city of Odessa. Crumbling grandeur. A YOUNG LEONID, 13, walks along the Black Sea coast with his MOTHER. Soviet-era apartment blocks stretch behind them. Ships dot the harbor.
Odessa, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. 1970.
MOTHER
Your father says we may have the papers by spring. America, Leonid. Can you imagine?
YOUNG LEONID
(looking at the ships)
Will there be ships like these?
MOTHER
Bigger. Everything in America is bigger. Your uncle says the buildings touch the sky.
YOUNG LEONID
I don't care about buildings. I want to build things myself. Here they won't let you. In America, they let you.
MOTHER
In America, they let you try. Succeeding is your own responsibility.
YOUNG LEONID
That is all I want. The responsibility.
INT. JFK AIRPORT, NEW YORK - DAY (1978)
The Blavatnik family arrives in America. YOUNG LEONID, now 21, carries two suitcases. He stands in the arrivals hall, overwhelmed by the scale, the noise, the English he barely speaks. A sign reads "WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES."
1978. The Blavatnik family emigrates from the Soviet Union to the United States.
BLAVATNIK (breaking the fourth wall)
I arrived in New York with a Soviet education in engineering and two hundred dollars. The engineering was excellent — the Soviets were very good at teaching people how things work. What they never taught was how to use that knowledge to create wealth. America would teach me that. Specifically, Columbia and Harvard would teach me that.
INT. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, COMPUTER SCIENCE LAB - NIGHT (1981)
Late at night. LEONID, 24, works at a computer terminal. Stacks of engineering textbooks surround him. A classmate, MARK, packs up to leave.
MARK
Len, it's two in the morning. The problem set isn't due until Friday.
LEONID
I am not working on the problem set. I am reading about the oil industry.
MARK
We're computer science students.
LEONID
Computer science teaches you systems. The oil industry is a system. The Soviet Union is a system. A very broken system. And broken systems create opportunities for the people who understand them.
MARK
You think the Soviet Union is going to break?
LEONID
(turning back to his screen)
I think everything breaks eventually. The question is whether you are positioned when it does.
INT. HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL - DAY (1989)
LEN BLAVATNIK, 32, now polished, confident, with an MBA nearly complete, sits in a classroom. On the chalkboard: "PRIVATIZATION: THE NEXT FRONTIER." The Berlin Wall has just fallen.
November 1989. The Berlin Wall falls. The Soviet Union begins to collapse. Everything is about to change.
PROFESSOR
The Soviet economy controlled assets worth trillions of dollars. Oil fields, aluminum smelters, chemical plants, telecommunications infrastructure. All of it is about to be privatized. The question is: who will buy it?
BLAVATNIK
(to himself, quietly)
I will.
CUT TO:
TWO
ACCESS INDUSTRIES
INT. SMALL OFFICE, MANHATTAN - DAY (1986)
A modest office. A desk, a phone, a map of the world. A small plaque reads "ACCESS INDUSTRIES." BLAVATNIK, 29, makes calls, one after another.
1986. Len Blavatnik founds Access Industries. The name is the mission: access to industries, access to opportunity, access to everything.
BLAVATNIK
(on the phone)
Yes, I understand the petrochemical plant is not for sale. But everything has a price, and I would like to discuss what that price might be. No? Then I will call again next week.
He hangs up. Dials another number immediately.
BLAVATNIK (breaking the fourth wall)
I named the company Access Industries because that is what I understood about capitalism. It is not about being the smartest or the richest. It is about having access. Access to deals. Access to people. Access to information. In the Soviet Union, access was controlled by the state. In America, you build it yourself. One phone call at a time.
INT. HOTEL ROOM, MOSCOW - NIGHT (1997)
A luxury hotel. Post-Soviet Moscow — chaotic, dangerous, electric with possibility. BLAVATNIK, 40, meets with VIKTOR VEKSELBERG in a dimly lit suite. Vodka on the table. Documents everywhere.
Moscow, 1997. The Wild East. Russia's oil and gas assets are being carved up by oligarchs, foreign investors, and former Soviet officials.
VEKSELBERG
Len, the Tyumen Oil Company is available. TNK. Reserves worth fifty billion dollars. The asking price is less than one billion.
BLAVATNIK
Why so cheap?
VEKSELBERG
Because it is Russia. The legal framework is nonexistent. The pipelines are Soviet-era. The management is corrupt. And anyone who buys it will have to deal with the Kremlin.
BLAVATNIK
I grew up in the Soviet Union, Viktor. I know how to deal with the Kremlin.
VEKSELBERG
This is not the Soviet Union anymore. It is worse. The Soviet Union had rules. Russia has none.
BLAVATNIK
(studying the documents)
Then we will write our own rules. We will bring in Western partners. Legitimize the asset. Make it so valuable that the Kremlin wants to protect it rather than seize it.
INT. BP HEADQUARTERS, LONDON - DAY (2003)
A gleaming corporate boardroom. LORD BROWNE, CEO of BP, sits across from BLAVATNIK and VEKSELBERG. Teams of lawyers line both sides of the table.
2003. The creation of TNK-BP — a 50/50 joint venture between BP and the Blavatnik-Vekselberg consortium. It is the largest foreign investment in Russian history: $8 billion.
LORD BROWNE
Gentlemen, this joint venture will make history. TNK-BP will be one of the ten largest oil companies in the world.
BLAVATNIK
And the most profitable, per barrel. Russian oil is cheap to extract. Western management will make it efficient. This is the perfect marriage.
LORD BROWNE
The risk, of course, is political. Russia is unpredictable.
BLAVATNIK
Every great deal involves risk. The question is whether the risk is priced correctly. I believe it is.
BLAVATNIK (breaking the fourth wall)
TNK-BP was the deal of a lifetime. We invested roughly one billion dollars. Over the next decade, the venture would produce profits of over thirty billion. When we eventually sold our stake to Rosneft in 2013, the payout was fourteen billion dollars. In cash. From a one billion dollar investment to a fourteen billion dollar exit. That is what access means.
CUT TO:
THREE
WARNER MUSIC
INT. ACCESS INDUSTRIES HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK - DAY (2011)
A modern, art-filled office in Manhattan. BLAVATNIK, 54, reviews a presentation. On the screen: "WARNER MUSIC GROUP — ACQUISITION PROPOSAL."
2011. The music industry is in freefall. Album sales have collapsed 60% in a decade. Piracy is rampant. Streaming barely exists. Warner Music Group is for sale.
ADVISOR
Len, the music industry is dying. Album sales are down sixty percent. Napster, Pirate Bay, LimeWire — everyone steals music now. Why would you buy a music company?
BLAVATNIK
Because everyone thinks it is dying. That is the best time to buy. When an industry is dying, it is also transforming. Streaming will replace piracy. It is inevitable. And when streaming dominates, the companies that own the music will own the future.
ADVISOR
You're betting on technology that barely exists.
BLAVATNIK
I am betting on human nature. People will always want music. The delivery mechanism changes. The demand does not. Warner owns the catalogs of Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Frank Sinatra, the Bee Gees. Those songs will be valuable forever. I am buying forever.
Blavatnik acquires Warner Music Group for $3.3 billion. It is the largest acquisition of a music company by an individual in history.
INT. WARNER MUSIC GROUP OFFICES, NEW YORK - DAY (2013)
A creative, open-plan office. Platinum records line the walls. BLAVATNIK walks through with STEPHEN COOPER. Young music executives eye the billionaire owner with curiosity.
COOPER
Spotify has just hit ten million paying subscribers. Our streaming revenue is growing thirty percent quarter over quarter.
BLAVATNIK
Thirty percent is good. But the real growth has not started. When streaming reaches a billion subscribers worldwide, the music catalogs we own will be generating cash flows that make the oil business jealous.
COOPER
You genuinely believe music will be bigger than oil?
BLAVATNIK
(smiling)
Oil runs out. Music does not.
INT. NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE - DAY (2020)
The trading floor. Screens show Warner Music Group's IPO ticker: WMG. BLAVATNIK stands on the balcony overlooking the floor as the opening bell rings.
June 2020. Warner Music Group goes public. Market valuation: $13 billion. Blavatnik retains majority control. His original $3.3 billion investment has quadrupled.
BLAVATNIK
(to Cooper, quietly)
Three point three billion in. Thirteen billion out. And we still own the company.
COOPER
The music industry is no longer dying.
BLAVATNIK
It was never dying. It was evolving. I just bought it during the evolution.
CUT TO:
FOUR
LEGACY
INT. BLAVATNIK SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT, OXFORD - DAY (2016)
A stunning modern building designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Students from around the world fill the halls. BLAVATNIK, 59, tours the finished campus with the VICE-CHANCELLOR of Oxford University.
The Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. Funded by a $117 million donation from Len Blavatnik — the largest single donation to Oxford from a living donor.
VICE-CHANCELLOR
Mr. Blavatnik, this school will train the next generation of world leaders. Your generosity has made this possible.
BLAVATNIK
I was an immigrant who got an education in America. Columbia, Harvard — those institutions gave me the tools to build everything I have. Education is the most important investment a society can make. If Oxford can produce leaders who understand both markets and governance, the return on this donation will be incalculable.
VICE-CHANCELLOR
You have also donated to the Tate Modern, the Courtauld Institute, Tel Aviv University —
BLAVATNIK
Art and education are the same thing. They teach people to see what is possible. An immigrant boy from Odessa could not see what was possible. America showed him. Now I try to show others.
INT. BLAVATNIK RESIDENCE, MANHATTAN - EVENING (2023)
An art-filled apartment overlooking Central Park. BLAVATNIK and EMILY sit together. A Basquiat hangs on one wall, a Richter on another. Through the windows, the lights of Manhattan sparkle.
EMILY
The Financial Times is asking for an interview again. They want to write about Access Industries at forty years.
BLAVATNIK
Tell them the company speaks through its results. Oil, chemicals, music, technology, real estate — we have invested in every major industry of the last four decades. That is the interview.
EMILY
You never want the credit.
BLAVATNIK
Credit is for journalists. Results are for investors. I have always preferred results.
EXT. ODESSA, UKRAINE - SUNSET (PRESENT DAY)
The port of Odessa. Battered by war but still standing. Ships still dock. The Black Sea still shimmers. A boy walks along the same coast where Young Leonid once walked with his mother.
BLAVATNIK (breaking the fourth wall)
I left Odessa with nothing. America gave me a chance. Columbia and Harvard gave me knowledge. The collapse of the Soviet Union gave me opportunity. And I gave myself permission to think bigger than anyone expected. Access Industries is not a company. It is a philosophy. Access everything. Understand everything. And when the moment comes — act decisively. That is what an immigrant learns. You do not get second chances. So you make the first one count.
FADE TO BLACK.
Len Blavatnik is one of the wealthiest people in the world, with a net worth exceeding $30 billion. Access Industries holds major investments in chemicals (LyondellBasell), music (Warner Music Group), technology (Deezer, Spotify), and real estate. He has donated over $1 billion to educational and cultural institutions worldwide, including Oxford, Harvard, Tel Aviv University, the Tate Modern, and the Courtauld Institute. He became a British citizen in 2010 and holds both US and UK citizenship.