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Bill Damaschke

American film producer

Summary

American film producer

Field	Value
name	Bill Damaschke
image	Bill Damaschke, Mill Valley Film Festival, Rise of the Guardians.jpg
caption	Damaschke in 2012 at the Rise of the Guardians premiere
birth_name	William Damaschke
birth_date
birth_place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
title	President of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation
alma_mater	Illinois Wesleyan University
occupation	Film producer
employer	Warner Bros.

William Damaschke (born November 20, 1963) is an American film executive and producer who currently serves as the president of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. Previously, he had spent 20 years at DreamWorks Animation, most recently as Chief Creative Officer, where he was involved in the creative, artistic, and operational direction of the company. His tenure oversaw the release of some of the company's big franchise films, including Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods. He also oversaw all of DreamWorks's live theatrical productions, including the award-winning Shrek the Musical. Damaschke’s other projects as a producer include the Broadway musical The Prom, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, which played at the Longacre Theatre from 15 November 2018 to 11 August 2019; the Broadway-bound musical Half Time, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, which was presented at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Spring of 2018; and the stage adaptation of Moulin Rouge, directed by Alex Timbers, on which Damaschke serves as executive producer. He was also formerly the president of Skydance Animation.

Early life

Damaschke is the oldest of seven children, and grew up in Chicago. He attended St. Bruno Catholic Elementary and Argo Community High School, and graduated at the School of Theatre Arts at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Professional career

Initially, Damaschke pursued a career in musical theater, working on Godspell in New York, but soon ended up in Los Angeles as a production assistant on Disney's Pocahontas in 1994. running "the factory floor, working with directors, writers and artists," and "calling the creative shots". and produced Tony Award-winning, but financially unremarkable, In 2013, The New York Times called him "one of the film industry's most important executives". In January 2019, Damaschke was replaced by John Lasseter as the CCO of Skydance Animation. On February 9, 2023, Warner Animation Group was reported to be in talks with him to lead after the departure of Allison Abbate. On May 5, 2023, it was confirmed in a Warner Bros. Discovery earnings call by CEO David Zaslav that Damaschke had been hired, and was hard at work with Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-CEOs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy on developing a new slate of films.

Personal life

Damaschke lives with John McIlwee, a top Hollywood business manager, in Hollywood Hills, in a 1962 house designed by John Lautner, which they bought in 2002 for $1.3 million and renovated for an additional $1 million.

Filmography

Producer

Year	Title	Role
1995	Pocahontas	production office assistant
1998	The Prince of Egypt	production manager
2000	The Road to El Dorado	co-executive producer
2004	Shark Tale	producer
2006	Over the Hedge	executive producer
2008	Kung Fu Panda	executive producer
2008–present	Shrek the Musical	producer
2020	The Prom	producer

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	My So-Called Life	Salesman	Episode: The Zit
2001	French touch cinéma	Himself

References

"Bill Damaschke". Cook County Clerk.
Barnes, Brooks. (July 15, 2013). "The Quiet Force Behind DreamWorks". The New York Times.
Abrams, Rachel. (January 5, 2011). "DreamWorks Animation ups Bill Damaschke". Variety.
(2011). "Star Treatment". Illinois Wesleyan University magazine.
(January 9, 2019). "Ousted Pixar Chief John Lasseter Hired by Skydance Animation". Variety.
Kit, Borys. (January 10, 2023). "Bill Damaschke in Final Talks to Head Warner Animation Group (Exclusive)".
Szalai, Georg. (May 5, 2023). "David Zaslav: "We Have Lost a Lot of Money," But Now It's Time to Rebuild Warner Bros.".
A. E. Schuker, Lauren. (May 24, 2012). "Reviving a Hollywood Icon". The Wall Street Journal.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

film-producers-from-illinois american-television-producers american-male-film-actors living-people lgbtq-film-producers lgbtq-television-producers lgbtq-people-from-illinois walt-disney-animation-studios-people dreamworks-animation-people warner-bros.-people warner-bros.-discovery-people warner-bros.-animation-people skydance-media-people 1963-births

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