Bob Harper (producer)

Last updated

Bob Harper
Born
Robert Everett Harper

(1955-03-24) March 24, 1955 (age 66)
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUS
Alma mater Carnegie Mellon University
OccupationFilm producer

Bob Harper (born March 24, 1955) is an American film producer. In a Hollywood career spanning 30 years, he has marketed over 400 films including Titanic , Mr. and Mrs. Smith , Planet of the Apes , X-Men , the Star Wars trilogy and Home Alone, and collaborated with some of the most influential directors of the past twenty-five years, including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Tim Burton.

Contents

Career

Robert Everett Harper was born and raised in Washington D.C. and has worked in the entertainment business for his whole career. He served as general manager at Kaleidoscope Films from 1980 to 1985, then joined 20th Century Fox in 1986 holding a range of executive positions. He began in the Fox trailer department and moved later to creative advertising, as well as production, serving as a vice president in each division before becoming president of domestic marketing in 1989. [1] He later served as a producer for Fox, [2] developing and producing the 1993 hit comedy Rookie of the Year. He then signed a two-year first look producing deal in 1993. [3] Returning to the Fox executive fold in 1995, [4] Harper became president of the worldwide marketing division until 1998, then served as vice chairman of 20th Century Fox and executive vice president of parent company, Fox Filmed Entertainment, [5] and later as vice chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment where he had global strategic, creative and managerial responsibilities for the film company. [6]

In 2007, Harper was named chairman and chief executive officer of New Regency Productions (a Fox-based film and television production and distribution company) where he oversaw New Regency's film and television units until 2011. [7] He then served as executive producer on the Fox releases What's Your Number?, In Time and the Summit/Fox release The Darkest Hour . Harper is currently located at Fox and is an executive producer on the TV show Beat the Reaper based on the novel of the same name, which is in development at HBO in association with New Regency, as well as working as a producer on several films in varying stages of development.

Education

Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1977, Carnegie Mellon University.

Community service and board memberships

Related Research Articles

20th Century Studios American film studio

20th Century Studios, Inc. is an American film studio that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is located on the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes and markets the films produced by 20th Century.

Samuel Goldwyn Polish-American film producer (1879–1974)

Samuel Goldwyn, also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor and executive of several motion picture studios in Hollywood. His awards include the 1973 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1947, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1958.

<i>The Hollywood Reporter</i> American magazine and website focusing on the Hollywood entertainment industry

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) is an American digital and print magazine, and website, which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large-format print magazine with a revamped website.

NBCUniversal Television and Streaming is the television and streaming arm of NBCUniversal. This is the direct successor of its former division, NBCUniversal Television Group which was existed from 2004 to 2019.

20th Century Animation American animation studio

20th Century Animation, Inc. is an animation production studio, organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios. Originally formed in 1994 as a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox, the studio is located in Century City, Los Angeles, and is tasked with producing feature-length films. Blue Sky Studios, the primary unit of 20th Century Animation, was shut down on April 7, 2021.

Participant (company) American film production company

Participant is a Los Angeles, California-based film production company founded in 2004 by Jeffrey Skoll, dedicated to entertainment intended to spur social change. The company finances and co-produces film and television content, as well as digital entertainment through its subsidiary SoulPancake, which the company acquired in 2016.

Jake Zim

Jake Zim is the Senior Vice President of Virtual Reality for Sony Pictures Entertainment. Zim oversees global virtual reality production and strategy for the motion picture group and he has produced a wide variety of interactive projects across the spectrum of distribution channels including location-based, mobile and in-home. Zim has been instrumental in the development of virtual reality experiences such as the Emmy® nominated Spider-Man: Homecoming VR, Ghostbusters: Dimensions, The Emoji Movie VR Experience, Can You Walk The Walk and Jumanji: The VR Adventure, and Hotel Transylvania Popstic VR. The L.A. Times called Zim's appointment "the first VR czar at a major studio." Jake Zim joined Sony Pictures Entertainment Worldwide Marketing and Distribution as Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing in 2011. Before joining Sony, he was Vice President, Digital Marketing at Twentieth Century Fox.

Ted Harbert

Edward W. Harbert III is an American broadcasting and television executive. He was the Chairman of NBC Broadcasting, and the President and CEO of the Comcast Entertainment Group, and Chairman of ABC Entertainment.

20th Television American television production company

20th Television is an American television production company owned by Walt Disney Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company. The original 20th Television was the syndication and distribution arm of 20th Century Fox Television.

Lionsgate Films is an American film production and film distribution studio, headquartered in Santa Monica and founded in Canada, and is the flagship division of Lionsgate Entertainment. It is the largest and most successful mini-major film studio in North America. It focuses on foreign and independent films and has distributed various commercially successful film series, including The Hunger Games, Rambo, Divergent, The Punisher, John Wick, Saw, Madea, Blair Witch, Now You See Me, Hostel, The Expendables, Sinister, The Twilight Saga and Step Up.

Disney Platform Distribution Media distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company

Disney Platform Distribution is a business unit within Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED) that manages all third-party media sales efforts for distribution, affiliate marketing and affiliate-related business operations for all of the Company's direct-to-consumer services and linear media networks; content sales agreements for General Entertainment, Studios and Sports; as well as global theatrical film distribution; management of the El Capitan Theatre and the Disney Music Group.

Casey Silver is an American film executive and producer.

Tim Palen is an American photographer and motion picture marketing executive. During his 17 years at Lionsgate he became known for using his own photography as part of the promotional campaigns for films. After Palen left Lionsgate in 2019 to found his own company, Barnyard Projects, he and Tyler Perry announced a joint venture, Peachtree and Vine, a production company located in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Jason Zachary Haikara is an American businessman, marketing executive, and producer.

Ira Deutchman

Ira Deutchman is best known as a producer, distributor and marketer of independent films, but in 2000, he moved into film exhibition as Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Emerging Pictures—a New York-based digital exhibition company, which was sold in January, 2015 to Vancouver-based 20 Year Media He also served as Chair of the Film Program at Columbia University School of the Arts from 2011 to 2015, where he has been a Professor of Professional Practice for more than 25 years. Deutchman is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was one of the original creative advisors to the Sundance Institute and formerly served on the Board of Advisors for the Sundance Film Festival. He has also served as a Board member and former Board chair for the Independent Feature Project, the Board of Advisors for the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, the Williamstown Film Festival, IFP/West, and the Collective for Living Cinema, and was a member of the Board for Kartemquin Films. In 2015, he donated his personal archives to the University of Michigan's Screen Arts Mavericks and Makers Collection. Deutchman continues to produce films while consulting on the marketing and distribution of independent films, and teaching producing students in the MFA Film Program at Columbia University's School of the Arts. Current projects include a film adaptation of Barbara Ehrenreich's best-selling book "Nickel and Dimed," a theatrical adaptation of Joan Micklin Silver's 1976 independent film "Hester Street" and a documentary about art film maverick Donald Rugoff, which had its World Premiere at.the 2019 DOC NYC Festival in New York. He consults for Luce Cinecitta on the marketing of Italian cinema in the United States. Deutchman was awarded the first annual Spotlight Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Sundance Art House Convergence.

Michael Rosenberg is an American film industry executive and producer. is the Co-Chair of Imagine Entertainment, founded by Oscar-winning producer Brian Grazer and Oscar-winning director Ron Howard.

Sanford "Sandy" Lieberson is an American film producer and educator based in Britain since 1965.

Dana Walden is an American businesswoman and the Chairman of Entertainment, Walt Disney Television.

Robert Marc Bakish is an American business executive. He has been President and CEO of ViacomCBS since December 4, 2019, formerly holding the same position at Viacom before the merger with CBS Corporation.

References

  1. The Hollywood Reporter, July 16, 1990 by Andrea King, "Harper May be Out at Fox Marketing."
  2. The Hollywood Reporter, November 9, 1990 by John Voland, "Harper Exits Post at Fox for Production."
  3. O'Steen, Kathleen (February 3, 1994). "Fox re-signs producer Harper to 1st-look deal". Variety. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  4. The Hollywood Reporter, December 21, 1994 by Stephen Galloway and Steve Brennan, "Harper named President of Fox Marketing."
  5. Daily Variety, January 29, 1998 by Chris Petrikin, "Harper Wins World Title at Fox"
  6. Daily Variety, December 16, 2004, "Fox Filmed Entertainment Raises Harper to vice-chair."
  7. The Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2007 by Lorenza Munoz, "Fox's Harper to Head Regency."

Externals

Further reading