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Bonnie Curtis  

Film Producer, Advocate

Bonnie Curtis was born in Texas and graduated as Valedictorian from Abilene Christian University with a BA in journalism. She moved to Los Angeles with her first love in mind: film.

Curtis immediately found production work on the films Dead Poets Society and Arachnophobia before being hired as Steven Spielberg's assistant in 1990, embarking on what would become a 15-year professional relationship with the acclaimed director.

After the films Hook and Jurassic Park, Curtis became a Production Associate on Schindler's List and served as Associate Producer on The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad. In 1998 she Co-Produced the epic blockbuster Saving Private Ryan, for which she received the Producer of the Year award from the Producers Guild of America. Next came A.I. Artificial Intelligence, followed in 2002 by Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise.

Fulfilling a longtime desire to work with a first-time filmmaker, Curtis produced The Chumscrubber with Lawrence Bender (Good Will Hunting, An Inconvenient Truth) for first-time director Arie Posin in 2005. The film starred Glenn Close, Ralph Fiennes, and Jamie Bell and was an official selection for both the Sundance Film Festival and South by Southwest Film Festival, and it won the "Audience Award for Best Film" at the Moscow Film Festival.

Next up was Albert Nobbs, starring Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Johnson, Janet McTeer, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Brendan Gleeson, which Rodrigo Garcia (Mother and Child) directed in Dublin, Ireland. She produced the film with Close, Garcia's longtime producer, Julie Lynn, and Alan Moloney (Breakfast on Pluto). The film received three Academy Award nominations.

Following Albert Nobbs, Curtis partnered with Lynn under Lynn's production company label: Mockingbird Pictures. Since joining forces, the two have produced The Face of Love, which Curtis's Chumscrubber director, Posin, co-wrote and directed. The film stars Annette Bening, Ed Harris, and Robin Williams, and was released March 2014. Curtis and Lynn are currently awaiting release on 5 to 7, a romantic dramedy starring Anton Yelchin, Berenice Marlohe, Glenn Close, Frank Langella, Olivia Thirlby, and Lambert Wilson. The film was written and directed by longtime TV-writer Victor Levin (Mad Men, Mad About You). In post-production right now is Mockingbird Pictures' most recent project, Last Days in the Desert, written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, starring Ewan McGregor, Ciaran Hinds, Ayelet Zurer, and Tye Sheridan.

In 2002 Ms. Curtis was featured as one of 30 "Great Women of Film" in Helena Lumme's best-selling book of the same name from Watson Guptill Press. In 2004 she was the recipient of the Women in Film Topaz Award from the Dallas chapter. She has co-chaired GLSEN's (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) Respect Awards for the past five years and has served as an Honor Society Member for the organization since 2005, and she currently serves on the organization's National Leadership Council.

She has spent the last decade speaking on various panels and podiums for Women in Film, Producers Guild of America, American Film Institute, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and film schools and festivals across the globe. On the corporate circuit, she was recently a keynote speaker for both the Domestic Administrative Professionals and the International Administrative Professionals as well as Out and Equal. She was a featured speaker at both the CAIS (California Association of Independent Schools) Teachers Conference and The Center for Early Education's Parent Conference. She has also spoken to the junior high and high school students of various CAIS schools, including Harvard Westlake, Brentwood, and Campbell Hall.

Ms. Curtis lives with her partner of 15 years, graphic artist Kim Lincoln, and their daughter Maggie.

Speech Topics


My Mother Doesn’t Approve of This: Create Success For Teachers, Students and Parents

The goal of any school community is to provide an inspirational environment focused on equity and excellence—where students can be nurtured, supported, mentored and challenged.

As an award-winning film producer for Steven Spielberg, Curtis understands the day-to-day details of being part manager, part policeman and part instructional innovator. This strong and vibrant presentation will give you both diversity of thought and action. If education is your passion and the cornerstone of your career, Curtis will strengthen your foundation with fresh knowledge and new connections.

You'll get solid concepts that still stand the test of time as well as build new skills while exploring innovative solutions you can put to use immediately. You'll learn to: get your hands dirty and attempt mastery, call in the experts…and listen to them, mine your natural talents from a new point of view.

This session is for educators who are committed to creating the conditions necessary for all students to become successful lifelong learners. Also benefiting are parents and students who would like a clear set of guidelines on how to be there for each other and motivate their lives, and the lives of others, authentically, respectfully and powerfully while creating a more inclusive environment in our schools and homes.

Reframe Your Perspective and Move Forward…

During her 20-plus years in the film business (most of which were at Steven Spielberg’s side), Bonnie Curtis has learned firsthand about problem solving, leadership, teamwork, and innovative thinking. From recreating a prehistoric era (Jurassic Park) to the Holocaust (Schindler’s List) to the D-day invasion (Saving Private Ryan) to a futuristic world born out of a brilliant director’s imagination (A.I. and Minority Report), Curtis has observed the human condition through many different lenses.

She has made a successful career telling other people’s stories, but her own story is one that so many people can relate to…the need to be one’s true self even it goes against the values of one’s parents, family or community. Hers is a story about diversity, the need for acceptance, inclusion and respect. Bonnie will challenge you to look at yourself and the people around you in a different way, and in doing so, become a more effective leader and person. She will inspire you to live a more productive and beneficial life.

Reframing the Story: Turning Conflict Into Opportunity

While marshaling the resources of thousands of leaders, department heads and frontline staff; creating more with less; taking greater risks; and bringing together evermore unwieldy resources–the ability to turn conflict into opportunity is imperative…and Bonnie Curtis has done it around the world. Curtis will teach you the leadership lessons from high stakes, multi-faceted projects like SCHINDLER’S LIST, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and MINORITY REPORT.

You will learn how you can more effectively and efficiently create, nurture and build your teams to achieve greater success from someone who has led and managed one of the most diverse and time-constrained work groups in the world.

In this session, you will learn to reframe any situation to get the best from yourself and your people, mine both yours and your team’s talents for the greater good, and use visualization to alter outcomes. Leaders will leave with a clear action plan and a playbook to call upon to more efficiently achieve their goals and motivate those around them.

And the Oscar goes to…

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