Chinatown, Marathon Man, Rosemary’s Baby and Wayne’s World are just a sampling of the films on Hollywood producer and former assistant director Hawk Koch’s resume, and next November the former Motion Picture Academy president will chronicle his career in a memoir titled Magic Time: My Life in Hollywood. Publishing…

Former AMPAS president Hawk Koch has joined the chorus of voices seeking ways to remedy the exclusion of black nominees in the past two Academy Awards. Here is his open letter: A Letter to the Entertainment Industry I am a former President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and volunteer on several com…

The first NYC edition of the PGA’s `Produced By’ confab launched this morning with a conversation between former PGA president and producer Hawk Koch and Nightcrawler‘s Jake Gyllenhaal, also in town prepping for his Broadway debut in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Constellations. Pointing out that Gyllenhaal…

Deadline Hollywood has been breaking news at the Cannes Film Festival for quite some time. But this year, we decided to close our laptops and turn off our phones (just for a little bit) and hold what is the first of many big splashes on the Croisette. Deadline Hollywood’s Cocktails on the Croisette — sponsored by…

When I ran into Ben Affleck at the Golden Globes on Sunday he told me he thinks this wide open Oscar race won’t really come into focus until the Producers Guild names its choice for Best Picture on January 19th at the Beverly Hilton. Of course Affleck (with George Clooney and Grant Heslov) won at the PGA last year for…

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today that Hawk Koch rejoins Mark Gordon as President of the PGA after a leave to serve a one-year term as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Gordon and Koch were first elected Presidents of the PGA in 2010, and were reelected in 2012. "We work…

UPDATE, 8:52 PM: The Academy tonight has also elected Disney/Pixar’s John Lasseter as First VP, the position Cheryl Boone Isaacs held before being voted president earlier in the night by the Board of Governors. Jeffrey Kurland and Leonard Engelman were elected to VP posts, Dick Cook was elected treasurer, and Phil…

On Tuesday night the new Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will meet to pick a new president. Current one-term president Hawk Koch has served nine years on the board and is prohibited by a dopey Academy rule from running again as governors are termed out after nine years. It seems odd…

Today’s announcement revealing the results of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences‘ annual Board Of Governors election was a historic one, at least as far as women and their power position in the organization is concerned. That is something that makes outgoing President Hawk Koch very happy. He…

Listen to (and share) episode 33 of our audio podcast Deadline Awards Watch With Pete Hammond. Deadline's awards columnist talks with host David Bloom about whether one of Hawk Koch's last initiatives, making the Motion Picture Academy membership more diverse, may have the most long-term impact; weekend events…

With 276 membership invitations going out today — exactly 100 more new members than were invited to join the elite 6000+ organization last year — the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has clearly begun to live up to its goal of being more inclusive. And not only in increasing its numbers but also in the…

An insider tells me that, at the most recent and always secret Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences‘ Board Of Governors meeting, president Hawk Koch “went around the room asking if ‘anybody is friends with Nikki Finke?’ before beginning”. Gotta say, Hawk made my…