Jeff Dowd is a Los Angeles-based writer/producer, producer’s representative, and a nationally recognized authority on marketing, distribution and exhibition.
Mr. Dowd was a producer of ZEBRAHEAD which Oliver Stone Executive Produced. ZEBRAHEAD won the Filmmakers Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Sony Pictures. He Co-Executive Produced FERNGULLY...THE LAST RAINFOREST, the animated feature starring Robin Williams, Tim Curry and Christian Slater. It was released by Twentieth Century Fox and won the Environmental Media Association (EMA) Best Picture award.
Jeff Dowd helped raise $30 million of financing for independent pictures in recent years.
Jeff is currently attached as one of the producers on several movies that will be made in the next year—all of which set the bar very high. “We will only make movies with great scripts. We believe we can make movies that are entertaining and commercial that will also contribute to a better world for us and our children.” Jeff Dowd
Jeff is now editing his book “The Dude Abides Classic Tales and Rebel Rants Making Our Future the Best of Times”
Mr. Dowd has consulted on the marketing or been a producer's representative of such diverse films as: BLOOD SIMPLE, THE BLACK STALLION, CHARIOTS OF FIRE, THE GREY FOX, GANDHI, HEART LIKE A WHEEL, DESERT HEARTS, WAR GAMES, HOOSIERS, THE STUNT MAN, HEARTS AND MINDS, DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, DREAM WITH THE FISHES, BETTER LUCK TOMORROW, KISSING JESSICA STEIN, THE COCKETTES, SCRATCH, EASY, NEIL YOUNG’S GREENDALE and HEART OF GOLD, METALLICA: SOME KIND MONSTER, GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS, THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS with Peter Falk and Paul Reiser and Carroll Ballard’s DUMA.
Mr. Dowd has been on the board of the Independent Feature Project, the International Documentary Association, the Sundance Film Festival and the Advisory Board of the Sundance Institute.
Mr. Dowd was formerly with the Seven Gables Theatre Circuit of Seattle, Washington. During his tenure there, Seven Gables had the highest screen gross in the United States--on dozens of pictures. In addition, he often developed and supervised Seattle test markets for pictures requiring special handling. While in Seattle, Mr. Dowd was Co-Director of The Seattle Film Festival.
Mr. Dowd was involved in the planning stages of Robert Redford's Sundance Institute. He worked with many noted screenwriters and directors. These talented artists have all helped to enlarge and refine his knowle dge and technique in the craft of screenwriting and film development.
"In my work with Jeff at Sundance, I have found him to be extraordinarily sensitive to the relationship of content and story to the film making process. He has a much wider and fuller understanding of what makes a film work than just his proven expertise in marketing." - Waldo Salt, Two-time Academy Award winning screenwriter (MIDNIGHT COWBOY, COMING HOME)
“If you’re a filmmaker about to enter the world of distribution, Jeff Dowd’s the guy you want on your team. No one knows more about the marketplace. He’ll passionately sell your picture to distributors and then work with you and the distributor throughout the marketing and distribution so the picture can reach the audience it deserves. No on else will do all that.” - Tom Bernard, Co-President Sony Pictures Classics
“Without Jeff Dowd, and the industry he brings with him, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT may well have been yet another film that stayed a “project”. He was the first and probably only person who way back when believed it could make $50 Million or more at the box office. Because he believed, he helped make that a reality. God bless him.” - Kevin Foxe, Executive Producer, BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
“In a business that defeats most people, Jeff Dowd with some 20 years experience, has been a consistent winner. As a producer’s representative (one of his many areas of mastery) Jeff Dowd is at the top of a very long list.” - Bingham Ray, former President of United Artists
"Jeff Dowd...The King of special handling...The master of finding the marketing hook when nobody else can...The man to turn to when you need intense, focused, intelligent, commercial, and a not obvious point of view on your film...He's the best!" - Sidney Ganis, President of the Academy of Motion Pictures, former President of Columbia-Tristar Pictures and Paramount Pictures
“A lot of people even if they may not owe their careers they owe their big breaks to him. I mean certainly the Coen Brothers can talk about that…Quite a few films were navigated through what was at that time a more rigid system and a more difficult system for independent films in a very creative way by Jeff.” - Todd McCarthy, Variety Senior Film Critic
"Jeff Dowd is one of the most knowledgeable people I know of in the area of film marketing and promotion. He combines the passion of an artist with the hard-nosed realism of an exhibitor. He works both sides of the distribution street with unique skill and effectiveness." - Fred Roos, Producer (APOCALYPSE NOW, THE BLACK STALLION, GODFATHER II,)
"Jeff Dowd is an exceptional individual. His proven perception of motion picture marketing goes way beyond the norm that is usually associated with this business." - Barry Reardon, former President of Warner Brothers Distribution
“An independent film can be worth nothing, or it can be worth millions. It’s all in how you perceive it. Meet a master at managing perception: Jeff Dowd, a.k.a. The Dude…Watching Dowd in action is like getting a crash course in Film Festival 101, the main lesson of which, as Dowd will readily explain, is this: ‘The film business is the one business on earth where the worth of the end product bears absolutely zero relation to the cost.’” - Tim Carvell, FORTUNE Magazine
Jeff Dowd has been a featured speaker at the following:
UCLA
USC Film School
University of California Berkeley
UC Hass School of Business
UC Santa Barbara
Boston University
University of Washington
Arizona State University
Skidmore College
Vassar College
Trinity College
Cornell University
Cannes Film Festival
Independent Feature Project East & West
Hollywood Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
Sundance Institute
Sundance Film Festival
Toronto Film Festival
American Film Institute
New York Film Festival
San Francisco Film Festival
Count Basie Theatre
Seattle International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
Chicago Film Festival
SXSW Film Festival
Australian Producer's Convention (SPA)
Paul Kagan Seminars
Florida Film Seminar
Austin Writers Conference
Jeff has had the nickname “the Dude” since kindergarten. It probably has something to do with his last name being Dowd and the fact that he has always been a big guy.
In Joel and Ethan Coen’s movie, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, the lead character, “the Dude” aka Jeff Lebowski, played by Jeff Bridges, is inspired by Jeff “the Dude” Dowd: “His rumpled look and relaxed manner suggests a man in whom casualness runs deep.”
“Everybody knows somebody like the Dude -- and so, rumor has it, do the Coen brothers. They based the character on a movie producer and distributor named Jeff Dowd, a familiar figure at film festivals, who is tall, large, and shaggy and a boil with enthusiasm. Dowd is much more successful than Lebowski (he has played an important role in the Coens’ careers as indie filmmakers), but no less a creature of the moment. Both dudes depend on improvisation and inspiration...” - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
“Mr. Dowd, a Hollywood jack-of-all-trades who's largely unknown to the general public but in the rolodex of nearly every Hollywood power broker, helped the Coens sell their first film, 1984's "Blood Simple." And while he's certainly more successful in real life than his onscreen persona, five minutes with him tells you the Coens nailed the caricature.” - Mark Yost, Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, July 23, 2003