Scott Budnick (film producer)

Early life and education

Budnick grew up in Atlanta and graduated Woodward Academy in 1995. He attended Emory University graduating in 1999 with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a B.A. in Film.

Work as a producer

Budnick was former executive Vice President of Todd Phillips' Green Hat Films. He produced Old School, Due Date, The Hangover, The Hangover Part II, War Dogs and Just Mercy.

He is currently CEO of One Community, LLC – a film, television, and new media co-financing company which encourages positive change. He was executive producer of Just Mercy under the One Community banner.

Anti-Recidivism Coalition

In 1997, Budnick became interested in juveniles in prison after reading a Rolling Stone article about Brandon Hein and three other youths who were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in California, even though three of them never touched the weapon. Budnick sent the article to a producer who optioned it for a documentary film called Reckless Indifference.

In 2003, Budnick began volunteering at the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, California as a volunteer teacher for a group called InsideOUT Writers. After this experience and others, Budnick began to tell administrators and politicians about the problems he was seeing in the juvenile justice and criminal justice systems. After the success of The Hangover franchise, Budnick was able to leverage the work he does for incarcerated juveniles. Jake Gyllenhaal went with Budnick to the Sylmar juvenile detention center, to Men's Central Jail and out to California State Prison, Los Angeles County.

In 2012, Budnick was named California's Volunteer of Year by Governor Jerry Brown for a program he envisioned. After seeing young people desperate to change their lives but unable to because of California law at that time, Budnick and others launched a pilot program in Los Angeles County where every young person coming into the prison system were able to get their high school diploma or GED, go to college classes, learn a trade, and be in self-help programs and substance-abuse programs. In 2013, the program was adopted statewide.

Many of the young people came out of prison and went to university, community college, or gained employment. Budnick saw a network of ex-offenders and ex-gang-members who were changing their lives. Then, Budnick and others started holding retreats where formerly incarcerated young people would meet with mentors and lawyers, and eventually formed a private Facebook page where they organized events and provided support.

In 2013, Budnick officially launched the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, an organization of formerly-incarcerated young adults who work to support one another, and which also aims to lower the number of people entering the criminal justice system through policy advocacy and community organizing. Budnick said "I started to see that there was not an organization out there that had high-achieving guys coming out of prison who could articulate why hope is important and why kids deserve a second chance and why kids are different from adults."

For his work with youth, Budnick was selected as a board member for Barack Obama's foundation, the My Brother's Keeper Alliance.

Filmography

• The Hangover (2009) — executive producer
• The Hangover Part II (2011) — producer
• War Dogs (2016) - producer
• Just Mercy (2019) — executive producer

References

References

1. "Comedy - R-Rated Youth Movies at the Box Office - Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com.
2. (2022-07-25). "'Hangover' producer Scott Budnick lists Sherman Oaks farmhouse for $3.55 million".
3. "College program inspires young inmates - Video on NBCNews.com". [[MSNBC]].
4. "Hangover Producer Scott Budnick Among Those Putting National Heat on LA Sheriff Lee Baca - FishbowlNY". mediabistro.com.
5. "Hollywood Producer Named California's 'Volunteer of the Year' - San Francisco News - KSFO - ABC News Radio". abcnewsradioonline.com.
6. "CaliforniaVolunteers: 2013 Governor's Volunteering and Service Awards". californiavolunteers.org.
7. "The Power Of Purpose: How Scott Budnick's One Community Uses The Power Of Story To Fight Injustice".
8. "Alumni Information - Scott Budnick biography".
9. "Scott Budnick".
10. "BBA, 1999 : Scott Budnick, President at Green Hat Films".
11. "Scott Budnick".
12. Mechanic, Michael. (23 May 2013). "Why the Producer of “The Hangover Part III” Spends So Much Time in Prison". [[Mother Jones (magazine).
13. Rainey, James (21 April 2014). "[https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-c1-prophet-walker-20140421-m-story.html#page=1 Resurrection Story Inspires on Prophet's Campaign Trail]". [[Los Angeles Times]]. Retrieved 24 July 2025.