J. Todd Harris

J. Todd Harris was born in the Massachusetts city of Pittsfield to Robert N. Harris and Eugenie (Schosberg) Harris. His parents soon divorced and he and his mother moved to Manhattan where he lived until 1973. While growing up on Manhattan's upper east side, he attended PS 6, PS 198 and Allen Stevenson (grades 4-8). His mother remarried for the second time to Jeffrey Gross and they moved with Todd and new son Jason Gross to Putnam Valley, New York. Todd attended James O'Neill High School in Highland Falls, NY near West Point.

Todd attended Stanford University from 1977-1981. He earned his BA in Political Science and produced, directed and acted in numerous campus stage productions. He also produced concerts for the University and produced the first Stanford Film Festival in 1980. After graduating in 1981, he was named general manager of TheatreWorks, the Palo Alto-based repertory theatre, where he worked for three years, eventually becoming the managing director. In 1984, he returned to Stanford, where he earned his MBA in 1986.

Todd moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and worked at TriStar Television before starting his own development fund called Skyline Entertainment Partners (inspired by his rustic college and business school residence in La Honda outside Palo Alto). He soon joined Davis Entertainment as an independent producer, where he stayed for 13 years, founding Davis Entertainment Filmworks, the company's independent film division. Partnered with John Davis, the company was based at 20th Century Fox. While there, he produced the first of many independent films, Denise Calls Up, which played the Cannes Film Festival's Critics Week[5] and won a Special Mention for the Camera D'Or.[6] For three years, he was partnered with the actor Tim Daly in Daly-Harris Productions based at Paramount Pictures. He went on to produce 5 Sundance Film Festival entries, including Bottle Shock and The Kids Are All Right.[7] The Kids Are All Right was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture,[8] won two Golden Globe Awards[9] and received a 93% positive review rating from Rotten Tomatoes out of 205 reviews. In 2003, he joined Intellectual Properties Worldwide,[10] where he executive produced Piranha 3D[11] and a remake of It's Alive. The horror film Piranha 3D was produced for $24 million and earned over $83 million worldwide.[12]

On the New York stage, Todd produced the musicals Heathers: The Musical, Doctor Zhivago and American Psycho.

In 2014, he funded Branded Pictures Entertainment, an acquisitions and development company focused in popular and acclaimed intellectual properties including titles such as Danny and the Dinosaur,[13] Rift,[14] and Dance Dance Revolution.[15] He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Amy Powers (married in 1997) and two sons Jasper (born in 1998) and Cole (born in 2000). He has taught producing at Chapman University, the Los Angeles Film School, was an adjunct professor for Syracuse University's Los Angeles campus and has given private seminars around the country. He is a founding board member of the Napa Valley Film Festival.[16][17] He became a member of the Motion Picture Academy producers' branch in 1999. He joined The Broadway League in 2015 and Producers Guild of America in 2016. Harris has produced over 45 films.

• 2014: Heathers: The Musical (musical)[20][21][22]
• 2014: Doctor Zhivago (musical)[23]
• 2016: American Psycho (musical)[24][25]
• Soul Train (musical)[26]
• Maya Angelou (musical)[27]

• Branded Pictures Entertainment
• J. Todd Harris at IMDb
• Pre-Oscars Interview with J. Todd Harris