Independent film, television producer Wendy Finerman to speak via videoconference Dec. 8

Wendy Finerman, the award-winning independent film and television producer whose credits include “Forrest Gump” and “The Devil Wears Prada,” will present a lecture via videoconference on Thursday, Dec. 8, at 6:45 p.m. in the Lender Auditorium, located on the concourse level of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. The lecture is part of the Bandier Program’s Soyars Leadership Lecture Series in the College of Visual and Performing Arts‘ Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music. It is open to the University community.

Finerman began her career in entertainment at the Movie Channel after graduating from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. After working as a business affairs executive for Universal Television, she joined Tisch/Avnett as vice president of production and development in 1985 before founding Wendy Finerman Productions in 1988. Since then, she has worked with every major motion picture studio, television and cable network and has garnered numerous awards for her extensive list of credits. Collectively, all of her films have grossed $1.5 billion dollars in international theatrical release and been nominated for more than 140 awards.

Finerman spent nine years bringing the story of “Forrest Gump” to the big screen and was rewarded with an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1994; she was the first solo female producer in the history of the Academy to do so. The film was the third-highest-grossing movie after its theatrical release and currently ranks in the top 50 worldwide box office grosses of all time. “Forrest Gump” was nominated for a total of 13 Academy Awards, for which it won six. It also received a Golden Globe Award for Best Picture Drama, Best Film from the National Board of Review and earned more than 60 other award nominations.

Finerman’s other film credits include “I Like It Like That,” “FairyTale: A True Story,” “Stepmom,” “Drumline,” and “P.S. I Love You.” Her upcoming projects include “One for the Money,” “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” and “Into the Beautiful.” Her television credits include “In a Class of His Own” on Showtime and the CBS telefilm “Surrender Dorothy.”

Finerman has served on the Wharton School of Business Executive Undergraduate Board for more than 10 years. She also serves on the board of the CityKids Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports young people as they address complex social issues through artistic expression.

For more information about the lecture, contact David Rezak, director of the Bandier Program, at (315) 443-3280 or dmrezak@syr.edu.