Bill Damaschke

Damaschke is the oldest of seven children, and grew up in Chicago.^[2] He attended St. Bruno Catholic Elementary and Argo Community High School, and graduated at the School of Theatre Arts at Illinois Wesleyan University.^[2]

Initially, Damaschke pursued a career in musical theater, working on Godspell in New York, but soon ended up in Los Angeles as a production assistant on Disney's Pocahontas in 1994.^[2] In 1995, he joined DreamWorks Studios as a production assistant on The Prince of Egypt.^[1][2] He then moved on to become head of creative production in 1999 and head of creative production and development in 2005.^[3] Damaschke served as a producer of Shark Tale (nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2004) and an executive producer of Over the Hedge and Kung Fu Panda. In 2011, he became chief creative officer (CCO) of DreamWorks Animation,^[3] running "the factory floor, working with directors, writers and artists," and "calling the creative shots".^[2] He was also president of DreamWorks Live Theatricals,^[4] and produced Tony Award-winning,^[5] but financially unremarkable,^[2] Shrek the Musical.^[6] In 2013, The New York Times called him "one of the film industry's most important executives".^[2] In January 2015, Damaschke stepped down from his position as Chief Creative Officer at DreamWorks to pursue other interests including: theatrical productions; animated television movies, web series, and live action films. In October 2017, he became the president of Animation and Family Entertainment for Skydance Media. He would also continue operating his StoryKey Entertainment theatrical production company.^[7] In January 2019, Damaschke was replaced by John Lasseter as the CCO of Skydance Animation.^[8] On February 9, 2023, Warner Animation Group was reported to be in talks with him to lead after the departure of Allison Abbate.^[9] On May 5, 2023, it was confirmed in a Warner Bros. Discovery earnings call by CEO David Zaslav that Damaschke had been hired, and was hard at work with Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-CEOs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy on developing a new slate of films.^[10]

Damaschke lives with John McIlwee, a top Hollywood business manager, in Hollywood Hills, in a 1962 house designed by John Lautner, which they bought in 2002 for $1.3 million and renovated for an additional $1 million.^[11]