Stephanie Allain
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Stephanie Allain (born October 30, 1959) is an American film producer.


Career

She began her film career in 1985 at
Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency, LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016, it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous client ...
, first as a script reader, then as a staff reader. As a story analyst, she worked for
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
,
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
, and finally in 1989, at
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
. There, Allain was one of twelve readers at the studio, and one of only two African-American readers. She rose through the ranks to become Senior Vice President of Production and was influential in encouraging and developing an African-American filmmaking community in Hollywood in the 1990s. During her tenure at Columbia, Allain launched the careers of several young filmmakers including
John Singleton John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing '' Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for ...
,
Robert Rodriguez Robert Anthony Rodriguez ( ; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ...
and Darnell Martin. She personally pitched to Columbia's executives Singleton's ''
Boyz n the Hood ''Boyz n the Hood'' is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood crime drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube (in his film debut), Morris Chestnut, and Laurence Fis ...
'' (1991). The controversial film would become a critical and commercial hit, garnering Singleton two
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
nominations. Among the films under her supervision were ''
Poetic Justice Poetic justice, also called poetic irony, is a literary device with which ultimately virtue is rewarded and misdeeds are punished. In modern literature, it is often accompanied by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own action, h ...
'' (1993), '' I Like It Like That'' (1994), and '' The Craft'' (1996). In 1996, Allain left
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
to become President of Jim Henson Pictures. During her 4 years there, she produced Caroline Thompson's '' Buddy'', as well as Henson brand movies, '' Muppets from Space'' and ''
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland ''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'' (or simply ''Elmo in Grouchland'') is a 1999 American musical adventure comedy film directed by Gary Halvorson (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Mitchell Kriegman and Joe ...
''. After her stint at Henson, Allain joined 3Arts Entertainment, where she developed projects for clients and produced Reggie Rock Bythewood's ''
Biker Boyz ''Biker Boyz'' is a 2003 American sports action drama film, directed by Reggie Rock Bythewood and written by Bythewood and Craig Fernandez, based on the 2000 '' New Times LA'' article of the same name by Michael Gougis. The film is about a group ...
''. In 2003, Allain sold her house and founded Homegrown Films. Teaming with John Singleton, Craig Brewer's ''
Hustle & Flow ''Hustle & Flow'' is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Craig Brewer. The film stars Terrence Howard as a Memphis hustler and pimp who dreams of becoming a rapper. The ensemble cast includes Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning, Ta ...
'' was produced. ''Hustle & Flow'' was sold to MTV/
Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...
for 9 million dollars and went on to win the Audience Award at Sundance in 2005, an
Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the Film industry, motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who h ...
and earned a Best Actor nomination for
Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor performing on film and television. He has received a Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden ...
. In 2006, Allain and Homegrown Films produced another first time director,
music video director A music video director is the head, overseer or facilitator of music video production. The director conceives of videos' artistic and dramatic aspects while instructing the musical act, technical crew, actors, models, and dancers. They may or ...
, Sanaa Hamri's '' Something New'', starring
Sanaa Lathan Sanaa McCoy Lathan (; born September 19, 1971) is an American actress. She is the daughter of actress Eleanor McCoy and film director Stan Lathan. Her career began after she appeared in the shows ''In the House'', '' Family Matters'', ''NYPD Bl ...
and
Simon Baker Simon Lucas Baker (born 30 July 1969) is an Australian actor and director. He first gained prominence on the Australian soap opera ''E Street (TV series), E Street'' (1992–1993). He later starred in the CBS legal drama ''The Guardian (TV ser ...
. She also worked again with producer John Singleton, partnering with Craig Brewer and his Southern Cross the Dog
production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...
based at
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
.
Paramount Vantage Paramount Vantage, Inc. (formerly known as Paramount Classics, Inc.) was a film production label of Paramount Pictures (which, in turn, has Paramount Global as its parent company), charged with producing, purchasing, distributing and marketing ...
released their latest film, '' Black Snake Moan'', starring Samuel L. Jackson,
Christina Ricci Christina Ricci ( ; born February 12, 1980) is an American actress known for playing unusual characters with a dark edge. Ricci works mostly in Independent film, independent productions, but has also appeared in numerous box-office hits. She is ...
and
Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...
on February 23, 2007. She was the Festival Director for the
LA Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...
from 2011 to 2016. In 2021, she received a first look deal with Endeavor Content.


Filmography

She was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.


Film

;As an actress


Television


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Allain, Stephanie American women film producers Living people African-American film producers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 1959 births