Academy Award-Winner Marvin Levy Segues to New Role as Senior Advisor to Steven Spielberg
Dan Berger Joins as EVP & Head of Communications, Leading Corporate Communications, Publicity and Marketing
LOS ANGELES, CA — SEPTEMBER 13, 2019 — Amblin Partners today announced changes to its marketing and communications leadership, including legendary publicist and marketer Marvin Levy segueing into a new role as Senior Advisor to the company’s Chairman, Steven Spielberg; and Dan Berger joining as EVP & Head of Communications, a role in which he will oversee the company’s corporate communications, marketing and publicity efforts, while also serving as Mr. Spielberg’s chief spokesperson.
The changes were announced today by Mr. Spielberg, who commented: “The term ‘second family’ is often used to reference the very closest relationships we build in the workplace, but that term does little justice to the collaboration that Marvin Levy and I have enjoyed as we enter the fifth decade of our working friendship. Marvin is, as he has always been, simply family. I’m overjoyed to continue calling him both a friend and a colleague, and that our partnership - one of the longest of my career - will go forward as he takes on this new role. We are so fortunate to welcome Dan Berger into this role, and to call on his broad experience across so many facets of the entertainment industry. From film to television to digital, his expertise will be invaluable — both for Amblin Partners as a whole and for me personally — as we strategically express our vision within the ever-evolving media landscape.”
Said Marvin Levy, “I happily welcome Dan into our Amblin family. He brings his wide-ranging experience to us as we continue to dedicate ourselves to the work and interests of Steven and the company. I have always felt it is a privilege to be here, and I look forward to my continued years working with the team.”
Marvin J. Levy is a marketing and communications executive, and long-time close associate of Steven Spielberg having first worked with him on 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Throughout Levy’s storied career he has worked at Amblin Partners, DreamWorks Studios, Amblin Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, Cinerama Releasing Corp, and MGM. Among the other film marketing campaigns with which he was involved have been such successes as The China Syndrome, Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice, the Back to the Future films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Men In Black, and the Steven Spielberg films E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, the Academy Award-winning Schindler's List, and the acclaimed Saving Private Ryan, as well as the DreamWorks Academy Award-winners American Beauty and Gladiator. He is currently working on Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of West Side Story. Levy served on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 23 years, many of those years where he was the Chairman of its Public Relations Branch. In 2018, he was honored with an Academy Award at the annual Governors Awards, the very first honorary Oscar ever for a member of the Academy's publicity branch.
“I am incredibly grateful to Steven and the entire Amblin Partners family for welcoming me to this amazing team and affording me the opportunity to support such an iconic and beloved brand,” said Berger. “I can’t wait to get started.”
Berger joins Amblin Partners having most recently served as EVP and Head of Global Corporate Communications for Twentieth Century Fox Film Group, a role in which he oversaw all internal and external communications for the studio from January 2017 through its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in early 2019. During his tenure, the studio released a number of critically-acclaimed box office hits, including Academy Award-Winners Bohemian Rhapsody, The Shape of Water, The Greatest Showman and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, as well as worldwide blockbusters Deadpool 2 and Logan. Prior to TCFF, he led communications for DreamWorks Animation, working closely with its Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg until DWA’s acquisition by Comcast/NBCU in 2016. Previously, Berger served in a number of senior corporate communications roles at 21st Century Fox and its corporate predecessor, News Corporation. From 2008-2013, he was VP of Corporate Communications for News Corporation and, following the Company’s separation into two separate entities, was elevated to SVP of Corporate Communications at 21st Century Fox. He also served as a VP of Fox Interactive Media, News Corporation’s digital media group. Prior to News Corporation, Berger held a number of PR and Communications roles in the media group at Yahoo!, Inc, and began his career in New York at the PR agencies Edelman Worldwide and GCI Group.
About Amblin Partners
Amblin Partners is a film and television production company, led by Steven Spielberg, that develops and produces films using the Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks Pictures and Participant Media banners and includes Amblin Television, a longtime leader in quality programming. The company’s investment partners include Participant Media, Reliance Entertainment, Entertainment One (eOne), Alibaba Pictures and Universal Pictures.
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