Amy Lanier
- Producer
- Talent Agent
- Manager
Ms. Lanier attended the University of Maryland for pre-Law before graduating from SUNY Purchase with a tri-major in Art History, Film & Literature. She embarked on her decades long career in entertainment: first at the prestigious Sterling Lord
Agency (signing clients Robb Forman Dew and Ted Mooney) then Dino De Laurentiis Productions (including pre-production on the original "Dune" and "The Bounty").
She left to work with Academy Award-winning composer, Michael Gore ("Fame") on the album soundtracks for Terms of Endearment and Pretty in Pink after which she continued working with Gore, his sister, singer Lesley Gore, writer-producer Lawrence D. Cohen ("Carrie, Ghost Story") as well as actors Peter Boyle, Betty Buckley, Patti LuPone and Timothy Scott. During this time she would co-produce Buckley's first solo concert - with special guests Susan Osborn (vocalist) and Lyle Mays (keyboardist-partner of Pat Methany) and recorded 'live' by Randy Ezratty. This would become her first solo album; mixed at The Hit Factory and released by Rizzoli Records). Also Buckley's first cross-country solo tour as well as her Carnegie Hall debut (Benefit for Lenox Hill Hosp with Ray Charles and Marvin Hamlisch and The New American Orchestra). When Gore & Cohen landed an overall deal with 20th Century Fox she joined them to launch White Cap Productions with 2 additional projects at United Artists and Warner Bros. She was hired away to form Stella Productions - which produced Cats and Starlight Express in Bochum, West Germany (for which she oversaw the building of a new theatre) and Carrie, a co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company; presented in England (starring Barbara Cook) and on Broadway (starring Betty Buckley).
As an independent producer, she also worked with producer Victoria Maxwell on the Broadway production More to Love, directed by Jack O'Brien, starring Dana Reeves and Rob Bartlett as well as the indie, feature film Lipstick Camera. During the same time, she served as Producer and Special Consultant to The Independent Feature Project (IFP) in Berlin and NYC.
Moving to Los Angeles, she worked on the films "Beethoven," "The Fisher King" and Nora Ephron's directorial debut "This Is My Life" Over the next four years, she Exec Produced nearly 100 music videos and commercials working with such diverse artists as Al Jarreau, Soul Asylum, Jon Secada, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, 311, Suicidal Tendencies/Infectious Grooves, Des'ree and Sheryl Crow. She formed Flat Penny Films and began optioning properties / setting up film projects including "State of the Union" based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Lovers Leap" with Ron Bass (Rain Man, The Joy Luck Club) and Pierce Brosnan at New Regency, "Spyglass" also with Brosnan at Universal, One Hundred Days of Darkness at FoxTVS/Showtime written by Stuart Beattie ("Collateral") and authored an original pilot for 20th Century Fox TVS based on her original screenplay.
In 2010 she added Executive Consultant to the Dances With Films Festival to her work load: helping create and form a Board of Directors as well as launching their Industry Panel Series, Cocktails & Conversations, Industry Choice Award and securing Sponsorship support from CAA, ICM, SAG-Indie, Final Draft, Gravitas Pictures, to name just a few.
In 2019 Amy joined Kazarian/Measures/Ruskin and Associates to create a Literary Department.
Since its inception, Ms Lanier has attracted and signed a roster of nearly 40 writers, representing among others Tony Award-winner Ali Stroker ("Oklahoma" Chance to Fly) Dominick Burgess ("Feud: Bette & Joan") award-winning writer-directors Eric Law Anderson ("The Looking Planet"; winner of Best Animated Film/ComicCon) Paul Sado (The Cobbler, Sandy Wexler, The Do-Over) and Michael Phillips Edwards ("Runt" also Best Actor, Dramalog Award and NAACP nom for "The Visit") selling original screenplays - television series to Freeform, MGM, Netflix, Vortex, Hallmark, Lifetime, etc and books to Disney Channel, HarperCollins, and Abrams Books.