"It Really Is About Creating Memories and Moments for People to Connect" -- Jennifer Worthington, Co-Founder and President of Two Dice
Jennifer Worthington Co-Founder and President, Two Dice
At 23, she was a senior vice president at one of the biggest production companies in Hollywood, greenlighting movies most executives twice her age never got a shot at. In the decades since, she has opened the highest grossing bar in the country, co-built a children's entertainment brand with Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, and walked away from more than one thriving company to start the next one.
In this episode of What Fuels You, host Shauna Swerland sits down with Jennifer Worthington, Co-Founder and President of Two Dice, for a conversation that covers Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Coyote Ugly Saloon, Little Angels, Play Playground, and the no asshole policy she now runs her business by. Across every chapter, the throughline is the same: know exactly what you are building, and know exactly when it is time to hand it to someone else.
📋 Episode Chapters
| 00:00 | Introducing Jennifer Worthington, from Jerry Bruckheimer Films to Coyote Ugly to Two Dice |
| 03:00 | Rapid fire: biphasic sleep, Wordle strategy, and where she is spending money this year |
| 08:00 | Bravery over curiosity as the trait behind every career pivot |
| 12:00 | A Seattle childhood, NYU film school, and moving to Los Angeles |
| 17:00 | Landing at Jerry Bruckheimer Films and becoming senior vice president at 23 |
| 21:00 | Fighting for Remember the Titans after every studio in Hollywood passed |
| 25:00 | Hiding a pregnancy while producing Coyote Ugly |
| 29:00 | Opening Coyote Ugly Saloon three weeks after 9/11 and becoming the highest grossing bar per square foot in the country |
| 34:00 | Spotlight Live in Times Square and a personal turning point |
| 38:00 | Building Little Angels with Mark Burnett and Roma Downey |
| 42:00 | Founding Play Playground and opening it at the Luxor in Las Vegas |
| 46:00 | Bringing in a new CEO from Merlin Entertainment and Legoland and moving to the board |
| 49:00 | Launching Two Dice with George Kliavkoff and a no asshole policy |
| 53:00 | What fuels Jennifer Worthington |
Reading Scripts and Betting $12,000 on Remember the Titans
Jennifer Worthington started at Jerry Bruckheimer Films as a personal assistant, a job that lasted ten days before the company's creative executive left and she was offered the role instead. She was the first person in the office every morning and the last to leave, and it paid off: she was producing her first movie at 24 and made senior vice president at 23, working on Armageddon, The Rock, Black Hawk Down, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Part of her job was reading everything that came across the desk and deciding what to bring to Disney, the studio's partner at the time. One script, a story about a newly integrated high school football team in Virginia, had already been passed on by every studio in town, Disney included. Bruckheimer Films kept a small discretionary fund for passion projects nobody else believed in.
"I think we bought it for $12,000. It was nothing."
-- Jennifer Worthington
That $12,000 bet became Remember the Titans, still one of the films people bring up most when they learn she worked there. She is candid that the confidence underneath it all did not come easily.
"I don't think I had a day at that job where I thought I should be there. Every meeting I was in, everything I did, I felt some level of imposter syndrome."
-- Jennifer Worthington
Hiding a Pregnancy to Open the Highest Grossing Bar in America
When Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer split their partnership, Worthington stayed with Bruckheimer and moved into producing Coyote Ugly. She was pregnant through most of it and chose not to tell anyone.
"I got pregnant while I was working on producing Coyote Ugly, and I hid my pregnancy from everybody."
-- Jennifer Worthington
A frightening moment with her infant daughter, while rushing into a meeting during production, made clear to her that the schedule of a film producer, fourteen and fifteen hour days, seven days a week, was not compatible with the kind of mother she wanted to be. She gave her notice, turned down an offer to stay on part time, and instead moved to Las Vegas, where her husband at the time was working in real estate.
Within a week of meeting a fellow transplant at a Gymboree class, the two were pitching casinos on a bar concept built around the movie coming out that summer. A hotel president gave them a leftover piece of real estate at New York, New York and they opened three weeks after September 11, when almost no one was traveling to Las Vegas.
"We became within a week the highest grossing bar per square foot in the country."
-- Jennifer Worthington
Twenty five years later, under MGM ownership, the bar is still running.
Spotlight Live and a Personal Turning Point
After Coyote Ugly, Worthington launched Spotlight Live, a karaoke concert experience in Times Square that debuted ahead of American Idol, backed in part by Comcast. Not long into that chapter, she went through a deeply personal and traumatic experience. She stepped back to heal, and in that time, working closely with her mentor Rob Wiesenthal, a former Sony executive and now the founder of Blade, found her way toward what came next.
"I never want to touch alcohol again. I don't want to be in an environment where anything like this could ever happen again."
-- Jennifer Worthington
That search led her to Little Angels, a Christian children's entertainment brand she built with Mark Burnett and Roma Downey after a chance reconnection with George Kliavkoff, then an executive at Hearst, who brought her into the company's Bible production. Hearst acquired Little Angels, and the brand grew into home video, digital games, books, and plush toys.
Building Play Playground, Then Stepping Back to Let Someone Else Run It
Worthington's next concept, PlaySocial, grew out of watching how customers were engaging with immersive and experiential entertainment. She sold it to MGM and opened the first Play Playground location at the Luxor, then spent five years developing the concept before expanding to a second location in Nashville, correcting what had not worked the first time around.
"It's my baby. I developed this concept. I worked on it for 5 years."
-- Jennifer Worthington
Even so, she brought in a new CEO with a background at Merlin Entertainment and Legoland to take over day to day operations and lead the concept's national rollout, moving herself to a board seat instead of staying on as an operator.
Two Dice: Betting on Community with a No Asshole Policy
Worthington's current venture, Two Dice, is a live events company she co-founded with George Kliavkoff, built around annual and traveling events tied to music, sports, and culture. The business model layers ticket sales with immersive exhibitions and sponsorships, and ticket revenue is what funds each event, which is why the company has stayed largely self-funded rather than raising significant outside capital.
After a difficult prior business partnership, she and Kliavkoff set clear terms before they started the company.
"We have a very clear no asshole policy on what we're doing next."
-- Jennifer Worthington
Underneath the business model is a bet on something bigger: that as more of life moves onto screens, people are hungry for reasons to gather in person.
"There's no local gathering spot for community anymore. And I think people are desperate for community."
-- Jennifer Worthington
5 Key Takeaways
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jennifer Worthington and what is Two Dice?
Jennifer Worthington is the Co-Founder and President of Two Dice, a live events company she launched with George Kliavkoff, former Pac-12 Commissioner and former President of Entertainment and Sports for MGM Resorts. Two Dice builds live events around music, sports, and culture, funded primarily through ticket sales rather than outside capital.
How did Jennifer Worthington get her start in the film industry?
Worthington started as a personal assistant at Jerry Bruckheimer Films and was promoted to the company's creative executive role within weeks. She became senior vice president at 23, working on films including Armageddon, The Rock, Black Hawk Down, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
What made Coyote Ugly Saloon in Las Vegas so successful?
Worthington opened Coyote Ugly Saloon on the Las Vegas Strip three weeks after September 11, 2001, timed to a $30 million Disney marketing campaign for the Coyote Ugly film. Within a week, it became the highest grossing bar per square foot in the country, and it is still operating under MGM more than two decades later.
Why did Jennifer Worthington leave day to day operations at Play Playground?
Worthington spent five years developing Play Playground before bringing in a CEO with a background at Merlin Entertainment and Legoland to run its national rollout. She said every concept benefits from fresh leadership once it moves past the startup phase, and she moved to a board seat rather than continuing to operate it herself.
What is Jennifer Worthington's approach to choosing a business partner?
After a difficult prior business partnership, Worthington said she and George Kliavkoff had explicit conversations before launching Two Dice about expectations and dealbreakers, landing on what she calls a no asshole policy for the people and opportunities they choose to work with.
Jennifer Worthington Co-Founder and President, Two Dice
At 23, she was a senior vice president at one of the biggest production companies in Hollywood, greenlighting movies most executives twice her age never got a shot at. In the decades since, she has opened the highest grossing bar in the country, co-built a children's entertainment brand with Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, and walked away from more than one thriving company to start the next one.
In this episode of What Fuels You, host Shauna Swerland sits down with Jennifer Worthington, Co-Founder and President of Two Dice, for a conversation that covers Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Coyote Ugly Saloon, Little Angels, Play Playground, and the no asshole policy she now runs her business by. Across every chapter, the throughline is the same: know exactly what you are building, and know exactly when it is time to hand it to someone else.
📋 Episode Chapters
| 00:00 | Introducing Jennifer Worthington, from Jerry Bruckheimer Films to Coyote Ugly to Two Dice |
| 03:00 | Rapid fire: biphasic sleep, Wordle strategy, and where she is spending money this year |
| 08:00 | Bravery over curiosity as the trait behind every career pivot |
| 12:00 | A Seattle childhood, NYU film school, and moving to Los Angeles |
| 17:00 | Landing at Jerry Bruckheimer Films and becoming senior vice president at 23 |
| 21:00 | Fighting for Remember the Titans after every studio in Hollywood passed |
| 25:00 | Hiding a pregnancy while producing Coyote Ugly |
| 29:00 | Opening Coyote Ugly Saloon three weeks after 9/11 and becoming the highest grossing bar per square foot in the country |
| 34:00 | Spotlight Live in Times Square and a personal turning point |
| 38:00 | Building Little Angels with Mark Burnett and Roma Downey |
| 42:00 | Founding Play Playground and opening it at the Luxor in Las Vegas |
| 46:00 | Bringing in a new CEO from Merlin Entertainment and Legoland and moving to the board |
| 49:00 | Launching Two Dice with George Kliavkoff and a no asshole policy |
| 53:00 | What fuels Jennifer Worthington |
Reading Scripts and Betting $12,000 on Remember the Titans
Jennifer Worthington started at Jerry Bruckheimer Films as a personal assistant, a job that lasted ten days before the company's creative executive left and she was offered the role instead. She was the first person in the office every morning and the last to leave, and it paid off: she was producing her first movie at 24 and made senior vice president at 23, working on Armageddon, The Rock, Black Hawk Down, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Part of her job was reading everything that came across the desk and deciding what to bring to Disney, the studio's partner at the time. One script, a story about a newly integrated high school football team in Virginia, had already been passed on by every studio in town, Disney included. Bruckheimer Films kept a small discretionary fund for passion projects nobody else believed in.
"I think we bought it for $12,000. It was nothing."
-- Jennifer Worthington
That $12,000 bet became Remember the Titans, still one of the films people bring up most when they learn she worked there. She is candid that the confidence underneath it all did not come easily.
"I don't think I had a day at that job where I thought I should be there. Every meeting I was in, everything I did, I felt some level of imposter syndrome."
-- Jennifer Worthington
Hiding a Pregnancy to Open the Highest Grossing Bar in America
When Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer split their partnership, Worthington stayed with Bruckheimer and moved into producing Coyote Ugly. She was pregnant through most of it and chose not to tell anyone.
"I got pregnant while I was working on producing Coyote Ugly, and I hid my pregnancy from everybody."
-- Jennifer Worthington
A frightening moment with her infant daughter, while rushing into a meeting during production, made clear to her that the schedule of a film producer, fourteen and fifteen hour days, seven days a week, was not compatible with the kind of mother she wanted to be. She gave her notice, turned down an offer to stay on part time, and instead moved to Las Vegas, where her husband at the time was working in real estate.
Within a week of meeting a fellow transplant at a Gymboree class, the two were pitching casinos on a bar concept built around the movie coming out that summer. A hotel president gave them a leftover piece of real estate at New York, New York and they opened three weeks after September 11, when almost no one was traveling to Las Vegas.
"We became within a week the highest grossing bar per square foot in the country."
-- Jennifer Worthington
Twenty five years later, under MGM ownership, the bar is still running.
Spotlight Live and a Personal Turning Point
After Coyote Ugly, Worthington launched Spotlight Live, a karaoke concert experience in Times Square that debuted ahead of American Idol, backed in part by Comcast. Not long into that chapter, she went through a deeply personal and traumatic experience. She stepped back to heal, and in that time, working closely with her mentor Rob Wiesenthal, a former Sony executive and now the founder of Blade, found her way toward what came next.
"I never want to touch alcohol again. I don't want to be in an environment where anything like this could ever happen again."
-- Jennifer Worthington
That search led her to Little Angels, a Christian children's entertainment brand she built with Mark Burnett and Roma Downey after a chance reconnection with George Kliavkoff, then an executive at Hearst, who brought her into the company's Bible production. Hearst acquired Little Angels, and the brand grew into home video, digital games, books, and plush toys.
Building Play Playground, Then Stepping Back to Let Someone Else Run It
Worthington's next concept, PlaySocial, grew out of watching how customers were engaging with immersive and experiential entertainment. She sold it to MGM and opened the first Play Playground location at the Luxor, then spent five years developing the concept before expanding to a second location in Nashville, correcting what had not worked the first time around.
"It's my baby. I developed this concept. I worked on it for 5 years."
-- Jennifer Worthington
Even so, she brought in a new CEO with a background at Merlin Entertainment and Legoland to take over day to day operations and lead the concept's national rollout, moving herself to a board seat instead of staying on as an operator.
Two Dice: Betting on Community with a No Asshole Policy
Worthington's current venture, Two Dice, is a live events company she co-founded with George Kliavkoff, built around annual and traveling events tied to music, sports, and culture. The business model layers ticket sales with immersive exhibitions and sponsorships, and ticket revenue is what funds each event, which is why the company has stayed largely self-funded rather than raising significant outside capital.
After a difficult prior business partnership, she and Kliavkoff set clear terms before they started the company.
"We have a very clear no asshole policy on what we're doing next."
-- Jennifer Worthington
Underneath the business model is a bet on something bigger: that as more of life moves onto screens, people are hungry for reasons to gather in person.
"There's no local gathering spot for community anymore. And I think people are desperate for community."
-- Jennifer Worthington
5 Key Takeaways
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jennifer Worthington and what is Two Dice?
Jennifer Worthington is the Co-Founder and President of Two Dice, a live events company she launched with George Kliavkoff, former Pac-12 Commissioner and former President of Entertainment and Sports for MGM Resorts. Two Dice builds live events around music, sports, and culture, funded primarily through ticket sales rather than outside capital.
How did Jennifer Worthington get her start in the film industry?
Worthington started as a personal assistant at Jerry Bruckheimer Films and was promoted to the company's creative executive role within weeks. She became senior vice president at 23, working on films including Armageddon, The Rock, Black Hawk Down, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
What made Coyote Ugly Saloon in Las Vegas so successful?
Worthington opened Coyote Ugly Saloon on the Las Vegas Strip three weeks after September 11, 2001, timed to a $30 million Disney marketing campaign for the Coyote Ugly film. Within a week, it became the highest grossing bar per square foot in the country, and it is still operating under MGM more than two decades later.
Why did Jennifer Worthington leave day to day operations at Play Playground?
Worthington spent five years developing Play Playground before bringing in a CEO with a background at Merlin Entertainment and Legoland to run its national rollout. She said every concept benefits from fresh leadership once it moves past the startup phase, and she moved to a board seat rather than continuing to operate it herself.
What is Jennifer Worthington's approach to choosing a business partner?
After a difficult prior business partnership, Worthington said she and George Kliavkoff had explicit conversations before launching Two Dice about expectations and dealbreakers, landing on what she calls a no asshole policy for the people and opportunities they choose to work with.
