Peter Safran

Peter Safran is the son of Ordell and Henry Safran, of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.^[2] After growing up in the UK, Safran graduated from Princeton University. He earned his J.D. degree at the New York University School of Law.^[3] He worked as a corporate attorney in New York City, before becoming an assistant at United Talent Agency in Los Angeles.^[4][5]

He became a talent manager at Gold-Miller Co and stayed there until 1998.^[1] He then was a manager at Brillstein-Grey for five years, before he was named president of Brillstein-Grey Management in 2003. As president, he was made responsible for day-to-day activities of the department, which had over 200 clients, including Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, Nicolas Cage, and Courteney Cox.^[6] He left Brillstein-Grey in 2006, to launch The Safran Company, and took his entire client list with him.^[4] As manager, he represented Sean Combs, Adam Shankman, David Hyde Pierce, Jennifer Lopez, and Brooke Shields.^[1]

Safran was able to build on the success of The Conjuring Universe,^[7] going on to produce films such as Aquaman, Shazam!, The Suicide Squad, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods, as well as the television series Peacemaker, and others under his banner through his first-look deal with Warner Bros.^[8][9]

In October 2022, Safran and James Gunn were named co-chairs and co-CEOs of DC Studios, assuming their positions on November 1 of that year. Since then, they have overseen the division’s film, television and animation projects, with Gunn handling the creative side, and Safran handling the business side. They had previously collaborated on several projects, starting with the 2000 superhero comedy film The Specials, written by Gunn with Safran as co-executive producer, and including: Gunn's 2008 short films Sparky & Mikaela and Humanzee!; the television series James Gunn's PG Porn (2008–2009); The Belko Experiment (2016); and the DCEU film The Suicide Squad (2021). In their roles as co-heads of DC Studios, Safran and Gunn are involved in casting characters for the wider DC Universe (DCU) franchise, and Safran produces all films in the franchise.^{[10][11][12][13]}