ABOUT
Adam Leipzig’s work focuses on quality and profitable international media built on strong business fundamentals; establishing supportive opportunities for content creators; and sharing skills and knowledge to expand access and careers for upcoming generations. He has worked with global brands including Disney, National Geographic, Google, Adobe, and Salesforce, to strategize and enhance communications capacities, has trained more than 5,000 leaders, and has collaborated with more than 10,000 creative artists in film, theatre, television, music, dance, poetry, literature, performance, photography, and design.
As senior executive at Walt Disney Studios, president of National Geographic Films, and working independently, Adam has been a producer, distributor, or supervising executive on 39 films that have disrupted expectations, including March of the Penguins, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Dead Poets Society, Titus and The Way Back. Adam’s movies have won or been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, 11 BAFTA Awards, 2 Golden Globes, 2 Emmys, 2 Directors Guild Awards, 4 Sundance Awards and 4 Independent Spirit Awards. Collectively, his projects have generated over $2 billion in revenue on $300 million production spending, and twice he has been responsible for the “most profitable picture of the year.” A Plastic Ocean, one of his recent documentaries, has inspired more than 150 new laws around the world, and was invited to the United Nations, and US Embassies around the world, where Adam moderated discussions with international scientists and environmental policy-makers. Through his company Entertainment Media Partners, Adam has guided and advised dozens of companies and individuals in film production, international finance, and high-impact storytelling.
Adam is CEO of MediaU, the first entertainment industry ed-tech platform. MediaU provides online film, television, and media training centered around accelerating careers and scalable mentoring. MediaU’s courses are facilitated by currently working media professionals in order to give participants hirable skills.
Adam has a history of working with artists as they explore new realms of their creativity – including producing or supervising the first films directed by Jon Turteltaub, Julie Taymor, Joe Johnston, Cherien Dabis and Mary Agnes Donoghue, and the first plays directed by Robert Altman. He has also worked with many established directors, including Robert Benton, Lu Chuan, John Curran, Barry Levinson, Dan Petrie Jr., Donald Petrie, Roger Spottiswoode, Fernando Trueba, Peter Weir, and Peter Yates. Actors he has worked with include Ellen Burstyn, Nicholas Cage, Colin Farrell, Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, Ed Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Lange, Queen Latifah, Julianne Moore, Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Saoirse Ronan, Forest Whitaker, Robin Williams, Bruce Willis, and Elijah Wood. Composers he has worked with include Elmer Bernstein, Terence Blanchard, Michel Camilo, Michel Columbier, Miriam Cutler, Burkhard von Dallwitz, Christina Georgiou, Elliott Goldenthal, James Horner, Mark Isham, Maurice Jarre, Alex North, Howard Shore, Quentin Sirjacq, and Alex Wurman.
Adam is the author of two books published by Macmillan, Filmmaking in Action and Inside Track for Independent Filmmakers.
Adam serves as professional faculty at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, where he teaches in both the MBA and Executive Education programs. He has advised and trained senior leaders in some of the largest companies in the world, including Lam Technologies, US State Dept., Adobe, Apple, international government entities and media hubs, and more.
Adam began his career as one of the founders of the Los Angeles Theatre Center. As the first dramaturg in the United States outside of New York City, he collaborated with contemporary playwrights and directors, and translated works from French, Italian and classical Greek. In 1985 the theatre company built and opened the Los Angeles Theatre Center, a four-theatre, 1200-seat performing arts complex in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. As both producer and dramaturg for the center, Adam produced and supervised more than 300 music and dance concerts, performance art events, and produced the early works of then-emerging playwrights Jon Robin Baitz, David Henry Hwang, Donald Freed, Reza Abdoh, Marlane Meyer, Charles Marowitz, Mabou Mines, William Mastrosimone, Michael Frayn, Steve Carter, and Miguel Piñero. He continues to produce theatre from time to time.
Adam publishes the popular digital magazine Cultural Daily, a curated forum for poets, writers, and creative people offering their best work and expressing their perspectives on our culture. To date, Cultural Daily has published more than 4,000 writers, including 1,500 poets. He also publishes DCReport, which focuses on political perspective and policy.