Adam Leipzig
Encyclopedia
Adam Leipzig is an American film and theatre producer, film executive and writer. As a former Disney Executive, he supervised such films as Dead Poets Society
(1989) and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
(1989). He went on to produce such films as Titus (1999) and The Way Back
(2010). While president of National Geographic Films, he acquired the international rights to March of the Penguins
and created the US version.
as an undergraduate and there received a B.A. in literature in 1979.
, Jon Robin Baitz
, David Henry Hwang
, Miguel Piñero
, Joyce Carol Oates
, Charles Marowitz
, William Mastrosimone
, Steve Carter
, Michael Frayn
, Marlene Meyer and Emmanuel Fried. Leipzig was one of the producers of Secret Honor, written by Donald Freed
and directed by Robert Altman
, which Altman also made into a movie. Leipzig left his staff position at the Theatre Center in 1986, but continued to consult and do translations for the company. Leipzig worked with Iranian theatre artist Reza Abdoh
, and after Abdoh’s death in 1995 organized the archiving of his works. In 1999, Leipzig was responsible for the Internet success of Bang, Bang, You’re Dead
by William Mastrosimone. More recently, he produced two plays by Donald Freed: American Iliad (2001) and The Einstein Plan (2010).
, Good Morning, Vietnam
, The Doctor
, Billy Bathgate
, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
, 3 Ninjas
, The Program
, Mad Love
, Fire Birds
and Paradise
. He left to become a producer with PolyGram Entertainment’s Interscope Communications in 1993, where he produced films including The Associate
, Roommates, Two Much
and Dead Silence
. Leipzig started his own production company called Terra Bella Entertainment in 1999, where he produced films including Titus
and I Was a Teenage Faust
. In 2003 Leipzig became president of National Geographic Films, where he supervised acquisition and distribution of films including March of The Penguins
, The Story of the Weeping Camel
, Amreeka
, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol
and God Grew Tired of Us
; and he produced The Way Back
and Arctic Tale
. In October, 2008, National Geographic Films announced $100 million in financing with an equity investment from Abu Dhabi Media Company
and a credit facility from JP Morgan. Leipzig left National Geographic Films in March, 2010.
, to purchase the film at Sundance for $1 million and create a new English-language version with narration voiced by Morgan Freeman
(written by Jordan Roberts) and a new musical score composed by Alex Wurman
. The film’s success marked a turning point for National Geographic.
, Leipzig posited the hypothesis that the entertainment industry’s profitability follows “a wave pattern which peaks with uncanny regularity in the middle years of each decade, then bottoms out in the decade’s last years, only to rise again from the ‘0’ year driven by new innovation.” According to this hypothesis, the entertainment industry will start to show profits rising in late 2011 or early 2012, and profits will continue to rise until 2017 or 2018.
which is also being produced by Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, and he writes on the blog Cultural Weekly.
, and he was the founding editor of Theatre LA magazine. In 2005 Leipzig wrote two articles for the New York Times about how the movie business works for theatrical and home video releases.
Dead Poets Society
Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir and starring Robin Williams. Set at the conservative and aristocratic Welton Academy in Vermont in 1959, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry.The script was written...
(1989) and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a 1989 comedy film. The directorial debut of Joe Johnston and released through Walt Disney Pictures and Silver Screen Partners III, the film tells the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his neighbor's kids to 1/4 of an inch with his electromagnetic...
(1989). He went on to produce such films as Titus (1999) and The Way Back
The Way Back
The Way Back is a 2010 drama film about a group of prisoners who escape from a Siberian Gulag camp during World War II. The film is directed by Peter Weir from a screenplay also by Weir and Keith Clarke, inspired by The Long Walk , a book by Sławomir Rawicz, a Polish POW in the Soviet Gulag. It...
(2010). While president of National Geographic Films, he acquired the international rights to March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins is a 2005 French nature documentary film. It was directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The film depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica...
and created the US version.
Education
Leipzig attended Yale UniversityYALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
as an undergraduate and there received a B.A. in literature in 1979.
Theatre career
Leipzig joined the Los Angeles Actors’ Theatre in Hollywood in 1979 as a stage manager and eventually became the theatre’s dramaturg and one of its producers. In 1984 Leipzig was one of the members of Los Angeles theatre companies that successfully negotiated with the Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival for local theatre inclusion in the festival. In 1985 the Los Angeles Actors’ Theatre changed its name to the Los Angeles Theatre Center and moved to a four-theatre performing arts complex in downtown Los Angeles. Leipzig was involved in plays by Dario FoDario Fo
Dario Fo is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor and composer. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes. He currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress...
, Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz is an American playwright, screenwriter, television producer and sometime actor.-Life and career:Baitz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz, an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and South Africa before the family returned to...
, David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang is an American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S.He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at the Yale School of Drama and Stanford University...
, Miguel Piñero
Miguel Piñero
Miguel Piñero was a Puerto Rican playwright, actor, and co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café. He was a leading member of the Nuyorican literary movement.-Early years:...
, Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
, Charles Marowitz
Charles Marowitz
Charles Marowitz is an American critic, theatre director, and playwright who has been a regular columnist on Swans Commentary—a cultural-political bi-weekly—since 2004...
, William Mastrosimone
William Mastrosimone
William Mastrosimone is an American playwright and screenwriter from Trenton, New Jersey. He attended high school at The Pennington School and received a graduate degree in playwrighting from Mason Gross School of the Arts, a part of Rutgers University....
, Steve Carter
Steve Carter (playwright)
Horace E. "Steve" Carter, Jr. is an American playwright, best known for his plays involving Caribbean immigrants living in the United States.-Biography:...
, Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn
Michael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...
, Marlene Meyer and Emmanuel Fried. Leipzig was one of the producers of Secret Honor, written by Donald Freed
Donald Freed
Donald Freed is an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and actor. He is associated with writing programs at the University of Southern California, and was Artist in Residence at the Workshop Theatre, University of Leeds, UK , and Playwright in Residence at York Theatre Royal ,...
and directed by Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
, which Altman also made into a movie. Leipzig left his staff position at the Theatre Center in 1986, but continued to consult and do translations for the company. Leipzig worked with Iranian theatre artist Reza Abdoh
Reza Abdoh
Reza Abdoh Iranian-born American director and playwright known for large-scale, experimental theatrical productions, often staged in unusual spaces like warehouses and abandoned buildings....
, and after Abdoh’s death in 1995 organized the archiving of his works. In 1999, Leipzig was responsible for the Internet success of Bang, Bang, You’re Dead
Bang Bang You're Dead
Bang Bang You're Dead is a one act play written by William Mastrosimone in 1999 to raise awareness of school violence and its causes. According to Mastrosimone, it “is a drama to be performed by kids, for kids” for free. The plot focuses on Josh, a high school student who murders his parents and...
by William Mastrosimone. More recently, he produced two plays by Donald Freed: American Iliad (2001) and The Einstein Plan (2010).
Film career
Leipzig joined Walt Disney Studios as a creative executive in 1987 and in 1991 was promoted to senior vice president of motion picture production. Films he supervised included Dead Poets SocietyDead Poets Society
Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir and starring Robin Williams. Set at the conservative and aristocratic Welton Academy in Vermont in 1959, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry.The script was written...
, Good Morning, Vietnam
Good Morning, Vietnam
Good Morning, Vietnam is a 1987 American comedy-drama film set in Saigon during the Vietnam War, based on the career of Adrian Cronauer, a disc jockey on Armed Forces Radio Service , who proves hugely popular with the troops serving in South Vietnam, but infuriates his superiors with what they call...
, The Doctor
The Doctor (film)
The Doctor is a 1991 American drama film directed by Randa Haines and starring William Hurt as a doctor who undergoes a transformation in his views about life, illness and human relationships. It is loosely based on the book A Taste Of My Own Medicine....
, Billy Bathgate
Billy Bathgate (film)
Billy Bathgate is a 1991 American crime film directed by Robert Benton, starring Loren Dean as the titular character and Dustin Hoffman as gangster Dutch Schultz. The film co-stars Nicole Kidman, Steven Hill, Steve Buscemi, and Bruce Willis. It is based on the novel of the same name by E.L....
, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a 1989 comedy film. The directorial debut of Joe Johnston and released through Walt Disney Pictures and Silver Screen Partners III, the film tells the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his neighbor's kids to 1/4 of an inch with his electromagnetic...
, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid is the 1992 sequel to the 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Directed by Randal Kleiser and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Robert Oliveri and Amy O'Neill, who reprise their roles as Wayne, Diane, Nick, and Amy Szalinski...
, 3 Ninjas
3 Ninjas
3 Ninjas is a 1992 American martial arts comedy film directed by Jon Turteltaub, starring Victor Wong, Michael Treanor, Max Elliott Slade, and Chad Power. It was the only 3 Ninjas film released by Touchstone Pictures, while the others were released by TriStar Pictures...
, The Program
The Program
The Program is a 1993 film starring James Caan, Halle Berry, Omar Epps, Craig Sheffer, Kristy Swanson, Daniel Lee, and Joey Lauren Adams. The film was directed by David S...
, Mad Love
Mad Love (1995 film)
Mad Love is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Antonia Bird and starring Chris O'Donnell, Drew Barrymore and Matthew Lillard. The screenplay was written by Paula Milne. The original music score is composed by Andy Roberts.- Synopsis :...
, Fire Birds
Fire Birds
Fire Birds is a 1990 action-thriller film directed by David Green and produced by William Badalato, Keith Barish and Arnold Kopelson. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Paul F. Edwards, Nick Thiel and David Taylor. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Tommy Lee Jones and Sean Young...
and Paradise
Paradise (1991 film)
Paradise is a 1991 film written and directed by Mary Agnes Donoghue. The original music score is composed by David Newman.Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson play Lily and Ben Reed, a young couple torn apart by a family tragedy...
. He left to become a producer with PolyGram Entertainment’s Interscope Communications in 1993, where he produced films including The Associate
The Associate
The Associate is a 1996 film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Dianne Wiest, Eli Wallach, Timothy Daly, Bebe Neuwirth, Austin Pendleton and Lainie Kazan...
, Roommates, Two Much
Two Much
Two Much is a 1995 romantic screwball comedy film based on Donald Westlake's novel of the same name, and is also a remake of the 1984 French comedy film Le Jumeau, which was also based on Westlake's novel. Directed by Fernando Trueba, Two Much stars Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah...
and Dead Silence
Dead Silence
Dead Silence is a 2007 horror film, directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, the creators of Saw...
. Leipzig started his own production company called Terra Bella Entertainment in 1999, where he produced films including Titus
Titus (film)
Titus is a 1999 film adaptation of Shakespeare's revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus, about the downfall of a Roman general. It was the first film of the play . The film was made by Overseas Filmgroup and Clear Blue Sky Productions and released by Fox Searchlight Pictures...
and I Was a Teenage Faust
I Was a Teenage Faust
I Was a Teenage Faust is a 2002 made for TV film of an adolescent who sells his soul to the devil to achieve popularity. It was directed by Thom Eberhardt and although the film takes place in Indiana, it was filmed in south-western British Columbia.-Plot:...
. In 2003 Leipzig became president of National Geographic Films, where he supervised acquisition and distribution of films including March of The Penguins
March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins is a 2005 French nature documentary film. It was directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The film depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica...
, The Story of the Weeping Camel
The Story of the Weeping Camel
The Story of the Weeping Camel is a 2003 German docudrama distributed by ThinkFilm. It was released internationally in 2004. The movie was directed and written by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni. The plot is about a family of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi desert trying to save the life of a...
, Amreeka
Amreeka
Amreeka is a 2009 American/Canadian/Kuwaiti independent film written and directed by first-time director Cherien Dabis. It stars Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Joseph Ziegler, and Miriam Smith....
, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol
Kekexili: Mountain Patrol
Kekexili: Mountain Patrol is a 2004 film by Chinese director Lu Chuan that depicts the struggle between vigilante rangers and bands of poachers in the remote Tibetan region of Kekexili...
and God Grew Tired of Us
God Grew Tired of Us
God Grew Tired of Us is a 2006 documentary film about three of the "Lost Boys of Sudan", a group of some 25,000 young men who have fled the wars in Sudan since the 1980s, and their experiences as they move to the United States. The film was written and directed by Christopher Dillon Quinn...
; and he produced The Way Back
The Way Back
The Way Back is a 2010 drama film about a group of prisoners who escape from a Siberian Gulag camp during World War II. The film is directed by Peter Weir from a screenplay also by Weir and Keith Clarke, inspired by The Long Walk , a book by Sławomir Rawicz, a Polish POW in the Soviet Gulag. It...
and Arctic Tale
Arctic Tale
Arctic Tale is a 2007 documentary film from the National Geographic Society about the life cycle of a walrus and her calf, and a polar bear and her cubs, in a similar vein to the 2005 hit production March of the Penguins, also from National Geographic. It was directed by Adam Ravetch and Sarah...
. In October, 2008, National Geographic Films announced $100 million in financing with an equity investment from Abu Dhabi Media Company
Abu Dhabi Media Company
Abu Dhabi Media is a media company with its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates...
and a credit facility from JP Morgan. Leipzig left National Geographic Films in March, 2010.
March of the Penguins
In 2005, when he was at National Geographic, Leipzig was responsible for March of the Penguins getting North American distribution; the film was a major box office success, made $77 million domestically to become the second-highest grossing documentary of all time and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Leipzig became aware of the film when it was being shot in Antarctica and negotiated with the film’s U.S. distributor Warner IndependentWarner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures was the specialty division of film studio Warner Bros. Entertainment. Established in August 2003, its first release was 2004's Before Sunset...
, to purchase the film at Sundance for $1 million and create a new English-language version with narration voiced by Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
(written by Jordan Roberts) and a new musical score composed by Alex Wurman
Alex Wurman
Alex Wurman is an American composer hailing from Chicago. He attended Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois...
. The film’s success marked a turning point for National Geographic.
“The Leipzig Hypothesis”
In a 2009 article in Screen InternationalScreen International
Screen International is a multimedia film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by EMAP, a British b2b media company.The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global movie business...
, Leipzig posited the hypothesis that the entertainment industry’s profitability follows “a wave pattern which peaks with uncanny regularity in the middle years of each decade, then bottoms out in the decade’s last years, only to rise again from the ‘0’ year driven by new innovation.” According to this hypothesis, the entertainment industry will start to show profits rising in late 2011 or early 2012, and profits will continue to rise until 2017 or 2018.
Current projects
Leipzig is listed as an executive producer of the upcoming HBO miniseries Undaunted CourageUndaunted Courage
Undaunted Courage , written by Stephen Ambrose, is a 1996 biography of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The book is based on journals written by Lewis and Clark, along with other members of the expedition, and also offers additional insight into the travelers and...
which is also being produced by Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, and he writes on the blog Cultural Weekly.
Articles
Leipzig has written for American Theatre, Written By, Screen International, and High PerformanceHigh Performance Magazine
High Performance was a quarterly arts magazine founded in 1978 and published until 1997. Its editorial mission was to provide support and a critical context for new, innovative and unrecognized work in the arts....
, and he was the founding editor of Theatre LA magazine. In 2005 Leipzig wrote two articles for the New York Times about how the movie business works for theatrical and home video releases.