Jack Turner

Jack Turner has worked as a Development and Production Executive for over fifteen years. Having started out in the Acquisition and Development departments of October Films and USA Films, he then became the Vice President of Acquisitions and Production heading up the New York office of United Artists. As a buyer for North American and International distribution rights, he negotiated multi-platform theatrical and ancillary deals as well as was involved in the development, production, marketing and worldwide distribution of feature films and documentaries. During this time, Turner was involved in such films as: Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, Robert Altman's Gosford Park, Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love, Mike Leigh's Topsy Turvy, Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding and the Coen Brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There. Turner was specifically involved in the acquisition of the Golden Globe winning film Osama, Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine and the cult hits Bubba Ho-Tep and Wet Hot American Summer. On behalf of UA, he was involved in the development of Terry George's Hotel Rwanda and Bennett Miller's Capote. The library of films that he has been involved with has garnered over 20 Golden Globe nominations and 25 Academy Award nominations - including four for Best Picture. While the managing partner of White Buffalo Entertainment, a production fund that he oversaw along with actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Turner executive produced the Academy Award nominated and Emmy Award winning documentary Which Way Home with HBO, Theater of War with Meryl Streep, and the documentary Racing Dreams from Academy Award nominated director Marshall Curry. DreamWorks bought the feature remake rights for Racing Dreams. Turner will executive produce along with Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci. Turner was recently the managing partner of the production company The Zoo through which he produced the 2012 Sundance Competition film Me at the Zoo (HBO), the 2012 SXSW Competition film The Jeffrey Dahmer Files (IFC), and Jim Mickle's last two films We Are What We Are (Sundance and Cannes 2013) and Cold in July (Sundance and Cannes 2014). He is currently the Head of Scripted for the film and television studio Matador Content - through which he recently produced the film Banksy Does New York for HBO as well as the ESPN 30 for 30 film MECCA: The Floor That Made Milwaukee Famous. Turner is also on the Advisory Board for the Milwaukee Film Festival. Through his involvement with the festival, Turner was commissioned by Visit Milwaukee to oversee the city of Milwaukee's year-long tourism campaign - recently the winner of three Telly Awards. Turner has been mentioned in such publications as Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Screen International, Deadline Hollywood, Huffington Post and Indiewire. He has lectured at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Temple University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is also on the board of the Alice Austen House and a member of The Coffee House club in NYC.