Will Packer | |
|---|---|
 Packer in 2018 | |
| Born | (1974-04-11)April 11, 1974 (age 51) St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Florida A&M University (BS) |
| Occupation | Film producer |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Notable credits | |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
William Packer (born April 11, 1974) is an Americanfilm producer and the founder of Will Packer Productions,[1] and Will Packer Media.[2] Packer has produced or executive produced a wide range of movies that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide at the box office, including 10 films that have opened at number one. He has produced more than 30 features including big-screen hit comedies such asThink Like a Man (2012),Ride Along (2014),Think Like a Man Too (2014),The Wedding Ringer (2015),Girls Trip (2017),Night School (2018),What Men Want (2019)[3][4] andLittle (2019).
Packer produced the2022 Academy Awards Oscars ceremony. In 2024, he became a limited partner of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons (2024).[5]
Packer was born and raised inSt. Petersburg, Florida. He graduated fromSt. Petersburg High School in 1991 and began attendingFlorida A&M University that fall. In 1996, Packer graduatedmagna cum laude with aBachelor of Science degree inelectrical engineering.[6] On October 29, 2021, FAMU personally honored Packer by renaming its amphitheater the Will Packer Amphitheater. Packer also received the Meritorious Achievement Award from Florida A&M, the highest honor the university bestows.
It was at FAMU that he started filmmaking with colleague and future business partnerRob Hardy while participating in an internship with veteran producerWarrington Hudlin.[7] In 1994, Packer and Hardy produced their first film,Chocolate City,[8] for $20,000 and Packer helped broker a small distribution deal withBlockbuster video.[9] After graduating, Packer and Hardy moved toAtlanta, Georgia and co-foundedRainforest Films. Packer produced and oversaw the company's studio-financed and self-financed films and distribution projects.[10][11] Packer and Hardy's vision was to make films that would appeal to black audiences who hadn't seengenre films starring people like themselves.
In 2000,Trois, Rainforest Film's first movie to be released theatrically, grossed over $1.2 million and became the fastest million-dollar grossing film independently distributed by African Americans.[10][11]Trois was in the Top 50 Highest Grossing Independent Films of the year, according toDaily Variety,[12] and Rainforest Films was at #34 on the list of Top 100 Film Distributors of 2000 listed byThe Hollywood Reporter in August 2001. Due to the success of their first film, Packer and Hardy were listed among the "New Establishment" of Black power brokers in Hollywood.[11][13][14]
In 2001, Packer helped broker a deal withSony to produce and distribute urban films includingTrois's sequel,Trois: The Escort, andMotives.[11][15] The filmLockdown, released on home video under this Rainforest-Sony collaboration. In 2005, Rainforest Films releasedThe Gospel.[14] At this time, Packer started using the shortened moniker "Will Packer".
Packer and Hardy wanted Rainforest's films to include established actors and actresses as well as those who are up and coming. 2007'sThis Christmas, a film about a middle-class family that reunites at Christmas time for the first time in many years, stars veteran actressesLoretta Devine andRegina King as well as R&B superstarChris Brown in his feature film debut.[16] Packer produced five#1 films with Rainforest,Stomp the Yard,Obsessed,Takers,Think like a Man andRide Along. His biggest hits with Rainforest have beenThink like a Man, which grossed over $96 million worldwide after being released in April 2012,[17] andRide Along, which brought in box office receipts totaling nearly $150 million as of April 2014.[18]
In television, Packer, along withAndrew Young,Martin Luther King III, and Rainforest Films partner Rob Hardy, are co-founders ofBounce TV, a United States television network airing ondigital terrestrial television stations. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created exclusively for African Americans," Bounce TV launched on September 26, 2011, and features programming geared toward blacks and African Americans in the 25–54 age range.[19]
In June 2014, Packer and Hardy dissolved Rainforest Films. The pair were included in a lawsuit brought by former business partnerBernard Bronner in late June 2014.[20]
In 2013, Packer launched Will Packer Productions. In July 2013, he signed a two-year deal withUniversal Television to develop new projects for the studio.[21] Later that year, he signed a three-year deal withUniversal Pictures.[22] Packer-produced films under the Will Packer Productions banner include #1 box office openersRide Along 2,No Good Deed andThink Like a Man Too along withThe Wedding Ringer andGirls Trip.Girls Trip was the highest grossing live action comedy of 2017[23] and the first film written, directed, produced, and starring African-Americans to gross over $100 million.[24] The film went on to gross $140 million on a $19 million budget. Packer also served as executive producer on NWA biopicStraight Outta Compton and on 2016 television mini-seriesRoots.
He has produced the comediesNight School (2018), starringKevin Hart andTiffany Haddish,What Men Want (2019), starring Taraji P. Henson, andLittle (2019), starringMarsai Martin and Regina Hall,The Photograph (2020), starringIssa Rae[25] and LaKeith Stanfield, andBeast (2022), starring Idris Elba. Packer has been included in several high-profile lists, includingThe Hollywood Reporter's "40(ish) Most Powerful People in Comedy",[26]GIANT magazine's "The GIANT 100",Jet magazine's "Who's Hot To Watch in 2008" andBlack Enterprise's "Most Powerful Players Under 40."[27]
In 2017, Packer launched Will Packer Media, a branded content and digital production company, in partnership with Discovery Communications and Universal Pictures.[28] As part of the launch, the company acquired digital ad firm Narrative_[29] to serve as the new venture's branded content arm, WP Narrative. In 2018, Will Packer Media acquired women's lifestyle site xoNecole.[30]
Will Packer Media produces episodic scripted and unscripted series across television and digital platforms, as well as content for brand clients and short-form digital content for millennial audiences. Current productions includeReady to Love andPut a Ring On It for OWN, andThat Girl Lay Lay for Nickelodeon. Will Packer Media also produces scripted and unscripted podcasts with iHeart Media includingFight Night andThe Lower Bottoms.[citation needed]
Packer served as the executive producer of the remake ofRoots, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. The company's WP Narrative_ division was a 2018 Webby Award Winner[31] and 10th Annual Shorty Award winner[32] for its work producing video short #TakeAKnee. WP Narrative was also honored for its #BackedByAxe campaign created for Showtime'sBillions, winning at the Clio Entertainment awards,[33] 10th Annual Shorty Awards[34] and 2018 D&AD Awards.[35]
Central Ave, an entertainment magazine series, debuted November 4, 2019 on Fox television stations.[36]
Packer was named the Producer of the 94th AnnualAcademy Awards which aired on March 27, 2022. This marked his first "live" television production credit for a major show on a major television network (ABC) and was televised in more than 200 territories worldwide. The 94th Oscars was the highest-rated entertainment special in primetime on any network in two years in both total viewers (16.6 million) and adults 18-49 (3.8/28). Kelly Lawler ofUSA Today wrote of the ceremony, "It was equal parts boring and terrifying, cringe-worthy and interminable."[37]
The show was overshadowed byWill Smith walking on stage andslapping host Chris Rock after he made a joke about Smith's wife's,Jada Pinkett Smith's, hair.[38] Packer immediately tweeted, "Welp... I said it wouldn't be boring", before deleting the tweet after criticism that he was being smug. He later tweeted that it was "a very painful moment for me".[39]Variety reported that Packer "was the key to Smith remaining in his seat".[40] Academy Board of Governors memberWhoopi Goldberg defended Packer's decision to carry on with the show saying, "And the reason they didn't go and take him out is because that would have been another 15-, 20-minute explanation of why we're taking the Black man out five seconds before they're about to decide whether he's won an Oscar or not."[41]
Packer is a member ofAlpha Phi Alpha fraternity (inducted into the Beta Nu chapter at FAMU).[42][43] Packer married his first wife Nina Packer (general manager of Bryant Management and Dir. Of Operations for Blueprint Group, the artist management firm forLil' Wayne and hisYMCMB label from 2007 to 2014). The Packer family is made up of Packer's son Dominique, and two daughters, Maya and Nija, from his previous relationship and Zion with Heather Hayslett.[44] They were divorced in February 2009.[45] Packer proposed to his fiancé Heather Hayslett live on stage at the 2013Essence Music Festival.[46] They were married in August 2015 in Georgia.[47]
Producer
Executive producer
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