Laurie MacDonald

Born Laurie MacDonald, c. 1954, in Watsonville, CA; married Walter Parkes, 1983. Born Walter Parkes, c. 1952, in Bakersfield, CA; married Laurie MacDonald, 1983; children: two. Education: Parkes graduated from Yale University, studied documentary film at Stanford. Office— DreamWorks SKG, Motion Picture Division, 1000 Flower St., Glendale, CA 91201. MacDonald modeled for a year in her twenties; produced a television talk show in San Francisco, CA; became junior executive at Columbia Pictures; co–produced True Believers with Parkes, 1988; co–head of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, 1994; co–head of DreamWorks motion picture division, 1994—. Parkes began working in film industry after graduate school; first noted for his documentary The California Reich, 1975; wrote screenplays in the 1980s; produced Awakenings, 1990; co–head of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, 1994; co–head of DreamWorks motion picture division, 1994—. Couple co–produced DreamWorks' first film, The Peacemaker, 1997; co–produced many popular mainstream movies, including Men in Black, Gladiator, The Tuxedo, Road to Perdition, The Ring, and Catch Me If You Can. Laurie MacDonald and Walter Parkes belong to a rare breed in Hollywood. They have been married for more than 20 years, and they work together every day as co–heads of the motion picture division of DreamWorks SKG. The couple produced DreamWorks' first film in 1997, and went on to produce a string of hits. MacDonald and Parkes produced seven films in 2002 alone. These included some of the highest–grossing movies of the year, such as Men in Black II and Minority Report . The two claim to have a remarkably unified vision, agreeing about most things movie–related, and their films seem to have a knack of attracting a very wide audience. MacDonald is said to be the more business–minded of the two, while Parkes, a former screenwriter, brings more writerly skills to movie producing. Few couples in any industry share a job of this magnitude. MacDonald was born in Watsonville, California, where her father was a mining engineer. The family moved around, and she grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, and in Pasadena, California. After modeling for a year in Paris, MacDonald went to work for a local television news program in San Francisco, California. She eventually began producing a live news talk show five nights a week. MacDonald began working as an executive at Columbia Pictures in the early 1980s. In 1982 she met Parkes, who was then a screenwriter. By 1985, MacDonald was vice president of production at Columbia. Her first collaboration with Parkes was in 1988, when they co–produced the film True Believers . Parkes, the son of a plastic surgeon, grew up in Bakersfield, California. He attended Yale University, where he majored in anthropology, and then took graduate courses at Stanford in documentary film. He directed a film called The California Reich in 1975, about the American Nazi party. The California Reich was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Film that year. When Parkes met MacDonald, he was writing a film which won him his second Academy Award nomination, War Games . Parkes moved from writing to producing films. He produced Volunteers for TriStar in 1985 and Project X for Fox in 1987. After collaborating with MacDonald in 1988, the duo's careers became more and more intertwined. The job of movie producer is a complex one, encompassing all aspects of developing a film, from the initial idea to the final product. As producers, MacDonald and Parkes read scripts or listen to pitches, set budgets, arrange financing, find locations, and develop marketing plans. After they married, the couple had two children, and they found that they could incorporate their family life into their careers by working together. Though the job was exhausting, it offered flexibility, and MacDonald and Parkes brought their children with them as they traveled to filming locations. Parkes produced a several