William Packer (director)
| Will Packer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
William Packer April 11, 1974 St. Petersburg, Florida |
| Residence | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Education | St. Petersburg High School |
| Alma mater | Florida A&M University |
| Occupation | Film producer |
| Notable work | Produced Think Like a Man, Obsessed, Ride Along, About Last Night |
| Spouse(s) |
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Will Packer (born April 11, 1974) is an American film producer. He is the founder of Will Packer Productions. Packer is known for producing low-budget, high-profit movies that have made him one of Hollywood's unsung successes. He has been included in several high-profile lists, including GIANT magazine's "The GIANT 100", Jet magazine's "Who's Hot To Watch in 2008" and Black Enterprise's "Most Powerful Players Under 40."
William Packer was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. He graduated from St. Petersburg High School in 1991 and began attending Florida A&M University that fall. In 1996, Packer graduated magna cum laude from FAMU with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.
It was at FAMU that he started filmmaking with colleague and future business partner Rob Hardy while participating in an internship with veteran producer Warrington Hudlin. In 1994, Packer and Hardy produced their first film, Chocolate City, for $20,000 and Packer helped broker a small distribution deal with Blockbuster video. After graduating, Packer and Hardy moved to Atlanta, Georgia and co-founded Rainforest Films. Packer produced and oversaw the company's studio-financed and self-financed films and distribution projects. Packer and Hardy's vision was to make films that would appeal to black audiences who hadn't seen genre 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.Trois was in the Top 50 Highest Grossing Independent Films of the year, according to Daily Variety, and Rainforest Films was at #34 on the list of Top 100 Film Distributors of 2000 listed by The 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.
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