Bruce Berman
{{short description|American film producer}}
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| name = Bruce Berman
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| image = File:Bruce Berman 2011.jpg
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| caption = Berman in 2011
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|4|25}}
| birth_place = New York, New York
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| alma_mater = UCLA
Georgetown Law School
California Institute of the Arts Film School
Bennington College
| occupation = Film industry executive and executive producer
| years_active = 1978 - present
| employer = Chairman and CEO, Village Roadshow Pictures (1997–2021)
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| boards = Founding member, J. Paul Getty Museum Photographs Council
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Bruce Berman (born April 25, 1952) is an American film industry executive and executive producer. He is the chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures, a position he has held from 1997 to 2021. His credits as an executive producer include American Sniper, The Lego Movie, The Great Gatsby, the Ocean's trilogy, Sherlock Holmes and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Happy Feet and The Matrix franchise.{{cite news|last1=Eller|first1=Claudia|title=For Warner and Roadshow Studios, No Need to Analyze Joint Ventures|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-05-fi-14164-story.html|access-date=4 September 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=March 5, 1999|archive-date=24 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024232013/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/mar/05/business/fi-14164|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Barnes|first1=Brooks|title=In Major Deal, Village Roadshow Gets $1 Billion in Credit to Make Movies|url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/in-major-deal-village-roadshow-gets-1-billion-in-credit-to-make-movies/|accessdate=4 September 2015|work=New York Times|date=May 27, 2010|archive-date=10 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910213503/http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/in-major-deal-village-roadshow-gets-1-billion-in-credit-to-make-movies/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Galloway|first1=Stephen|title=Village Roadshow Chief Bruce Berman on Legendary's Warner Bros. Split and Summer's Tentpole Disaster|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/village-roadshow-chief-bruce-berman-595006|accessdate=4 September 2015|publisher=The Hollywood Reporter|date=July 31, 2013|archive-date=27 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827123458/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/village-roadshow-chief-bruce-berman-595006|url-status=live}}
Berman is noted for his collection of contemporary American photographs. In 2004, he was listed among the world's top 25 photography collectors by ARTnews.{{cite news|last1=Thomas|first1=Kelly Devine|title=THE TOP 25 PHOTO COLLECTORS|url=http://www.artnews.com/2004/02/01/the-top-25-photo-collectors/|accessdate=6 September 2015|publisher=ARTnews|date=February 1, 2004|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304192729/http://www.artnews.com/2004/02/01/the-top-25-photo-collectors/|url-status=live}}
Early life and education
Berman was born to a Jewish family{{cite web|last=Brady|first=Celia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xaVrHhMQkQC&q=Bruce+Berman&pg=PA42|page=42|title=Vain Man: Why Guber-Peters May Bomb in Tokyo|date=April 1990|publisher=Spy Magazine|accessdate=November 15, 2017|archive-date=September 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902024833/https://books.google.com/books?id=3xaVrHhMQkQC&q=Bruce+Berman&pg=PA42|url-status=live}} in New York in 1952. As a teenager, he developed a passion for photography and contemplated a career as a photographer. He continued to pursue photography throughout high school and into college, where, as a student at Bennington College, he would take frequent road trips to shoot photos of 20th century Americana.{{cite web|title=Where We Live: Photographs of America from the Berman Collection|url=https://getty.edu/news/press/berman/berman_biography.pdf|website=The Getty Center|publisher=The Getty|accessdate=6 September 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083802/https://getty.edu/news/press/berman/berman_biography.pdf|url-status=live}}
Berman's focus shifted to film after he was accepted at the California Institute of the Arts film school. "I didn't think I could make a living at photography," Berman said in a 2007 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "And when I got into film school, I didn't think I could do both."{{cite news|last1=Bryant|first1=Kathy|title=A filmmaker's pictures|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-feb-22-hm-berman22-story.html|access-date=4 September 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=February 22, 2007|archive-date=9 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209163007/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/22/home/hm-berman22|url-status=live}}
In addition to Bennington and CalArts, Berman attended UCLA, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in United States history. He also attended Georgetown University Law School, earning a juris doctor in 1978.
Career
Berman began working with Jack Valenti at the MPAA while a student at Georgetown. After he received his degree, he was hired as an assistant to Peter Guber at Casablanca Filmworks. In 1979, he moved to Universal Pictures, where he worked for Sean Daniel and Joel Silver. Less than three years later, he was named vice president of production.{{cite book|last1=Quigley|first1=Eileen S.|title=International Television & Video Almanac|date=2006|publisher=Quigley Publishing|isbn=0900610786|page=[https://archive.org/details/internationaltel2006quig/page/74 74]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/internationaltel2006quig/page/74}}
In 1984, Berman was recruited by Warner Bros. Pictures as a vice president of production, and in 1987 was promoted to senior vice president
of production. He was named president of theatrical production in 1989 and president of worldwide theatrical production in 1991. During his tenure at Warner Bros. he produced and distributed films including Goodfellas, Batman Forever, JFK, The Fugitive, The Bodyguard, and Driving Miss Daisy.{{cite news|last1=Business Day staff|title=Executives|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/08/business/executives.html|accessdate=6 September 2015|work=New York Times|date=October 8, 1991|archive-date=25 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525224346/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/08/business/executives.html|url-status=live}}
In May 1996, Berman started Plan B Entertainment, an independent motion picture company affiliated with Warner Bros. In 1997, Warner Bros entered into a joint venture with Village Roadshow Pictures, and Berman was appointed chairman and CEO. Considered "one of the industry’s leading financiers and producers of studio released motion pictures," the Village Roadshow and Warner Bros. partnership was extended in 2012 to 2017. The company established a second joint partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014.{{cite news|last1=Cheyney|first1=Alexandra|title=Village Roadshow Inks Co-Finance Deal with Sony Pictures (EXCLUSIVE)|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/village-roadshow-co-fi-deal-with-sony-1201170634/|accessdate=6 September 2015|publisher=The Hollywood Reporter|date=May 5, 2014|archive-date=28 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528011833/http://variety.com/2014/film/news/village-roadshow-co-fi-deal-with-sony-1201170634/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Bond|first1=Paul|title=Warner Bros. Extends $1 Billion-Plus Village Roadshow Deal Through 2017|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/warner-bros-village-roadshow-extend-394231|accessdate=6 September 2015|publisher=The Hollywood Reporter|date=November 26, 2012|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924205533/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/warner-bros-village-roadshow-extend-394231|url-status=live}}
On September 27, 2021, Berman stepped down as chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures.{{cite news|last1=Lang|first1=Brett|title=Bruce Berman Steps Down as Village Roadshow CEO|url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/bruce-berman-steps-down-as-village-roadshow-pictures-ceo-ending-24-year-run-1235075359/|accessdate=27 September 2021|publisher=Variety|date=September 27, 2021|archive-date=23 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323065803/https://variety.com/2021/film/news/bruce-berman-steps-down-as-village-roadshow-pictures-ceo-ending-24-year-run-1235075359/|url-status=live}}
In May 2023, Bruce came out of retirement to join the new Pan-Asian studio Through The Lens Entertainment as the President and Co-Chairman.
Photography collection
In 1991, Berman was given an Edward S. Curtis photograph of a thatched American Indian shelter as a gift. It inspired him to begin a photography collection, which grew to include more than 2600 works by photographers including William Eggleston, Diane Arbus, Richard Misrach, Dorothea Lange, and Walker Evans. He and his ex-wife Nancy Goliger donated nearly 500 of the photographs to the J. Paul Getty Museum, which in 2007 showcased them in the exhibition Where We Live: Photographs of America From the Berman Collection.{{cite news|last1=Vogel|first1=Carol|title=Splitting Up a Collection|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/arts/design/30voge.html|accessdate=6 September 2015|work=New York Times|date=November 30, 2007|archive-date=5 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605084940/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/arts/design/30voge.html|url-status=live}}
Personal life
Filmography (as executive producer)
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.villageroadshowpictures.com/ Village Roadshow Pictures] Official Website
- {{IMDb name|0075732}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Bruce}}
Category:Bennington College alumni
Category:American chief executives in the mass media industry
Category:Film producers from New York (state)
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:Georgetown University Law Center alumni