Focus Features Taps Dani Weinstein For PR Chief Post

EXCLUSIVE: Dani Weinstein has been named executive vice president of publicity by Focus Features. Weinstein, who last August left her post as The Weinstein Company’s head of publicity, will replace Adriene Bowles. She is leaving to become president of publicity at Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures.

Weinstein will oversee theatrical publicity and awards campaigns for all Focus films. She will operate from New York, and report to Focus Features marketing president Jason Cassidy.

“Dani is a consummate professional who has an incredible track record for spearheading breakthrough publicity campaigns for specialty titles,” Cassidy said. “Her breadth of experience working with world class filmmakers and talent, and collaborative style of leadership, makes her uniquely qualified. We’re thrilled that she is joining the Focus team.”

Weinstein has 17 years of experience in the awards trenches with Harvey Weinstein, and her efforts helped win a lot of Oscars. Among the campaigns she worked on included The Artist, The Imitation Game, The King’s Speech, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained, Stephen Frears’ Philomena, Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York and The Aviator, David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, Stephen Daldry’s The Reader, Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Michael Moore’s Sicko, Todd Haynes’ Carol, Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station and Lee Daniels’ The Butler. She oversaw 15 Best Picture campaigns that led to over 120 Oscar noms and 23 wins. Weinstein began her career as an agent at Don Buchwald & Associate in the Broadcast Department.

Weinstein said she was “thankful to Jason Cassidy, Peter Kujawski, Abhijay Prakash and Robert Walak for giving me the opportunity to join their ranks during this exciting time at the studio. I always strive to work on films that are beautiful in their artistry and impactful, and this is well aligned with Focus’ philosophy. I am eager to begin working in this upcoming slate with such a high-caliber team.”

The 2017 Focus slate is loaded. It includes the Niki Caro-directed The Zookeeper’s Wife with Jessica Chastain, the Colin Trevorrow-directed The Book of Henry, the Sofia Coppola-directed The Beguiled with Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning, the David Leitch-directed action spy thriller Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron and James McAvoy, the José Padilha-directed Entebbe political thriller with Rosamund Pike and Daniel Brühl, the Stephen Frears-directed Victoria and Abdul with Dame Judi Dench as Queen Victoria, and the Joe Wright-directed Darkest Hour with Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill. That culminates in the year end release of the Paul Thomas Anderson-directed untitled film that stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Lesley Manville, and Vicky Krieps.