The Time Warner Foundation is donating $1 million to the American Film Institute in recognition of Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO Barry Meyer and President and COO Alan Horn, the foundation announced Thursday.
Horn is retiring in April. Meyer is retiring in 2013.
Here is the foundation's announcement:
LOS ANGELES, CA, February 24, 2011 – The American Film Institute (AFI) today
announced that the Time Warner Foundation is donating $1 million to AFI in
recognition of Barry Meyer and Alan Horn’s years of leadership at Warner Bros. (as
Chairman and CEO, and President and COO, respectively). The honor will be
acknowledged with the rededication of the Warner Bros. Building on the AFI
Campus.
The Warner Bros. Building is the cornerstone of AFI’s eight-acre campus located in the hills overlooking Hollywood and has served as the training ground for generations of established, award-winning filmmakers including Caleb Deschanel, Marshall Herskovitz, Janusz Kaminski, David Lynch and Ed Zwick, to name a few. This year alone, AFI Awards, the Institute’s almanac which honors the top movies and television programs of each prior year, included the contributions of 24 AFI Conservatory alumni — among them Darren Aronofsky, Jon Avnet, Pieter Jan Brugge, Jay Cassidy, Robert Elswit, Brad Falchuk, Carl Franklin, Lesli Linka Glatter, Matthew Libatique and Wally Pfister.
“Warner Bros. has been a proud supporter of AFI’s mission to preserve the history of
the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next
generation of storytellers since its establishment in the White House Rose Garden in
1965,” said Robert A. Daly, Chairman of the AFI Board of Directors and former
Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. “I am honored to serve with Alan and Barry on
the AFI Board of Trustees and it is only fitting that their success at Warner Bros. over
the past 12 years is memorialized on this historic building that serves to train the best
and the brightest future filmmakers.”
"Barry and Alan have overseen one of the most creative and successful periods in
Warner Bros.’ history,” said Jeff Bewkes, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Time
Warner Inc. “The company is proud to support AFI in its mission and to honor the
many contributions that Barry and Alan have made to our company and to the
industry.”Under Meyer and Horn’s leadership, Warner Bros. enjoys unmatched success across
its global entertainment businesses. Warner Bros. Pictures has surpassed the billiondollar mark at both the domestic and international box offices for 10 consecutive
years and, in 2010, set new benchmarks for both international and global box office
grosses, while retaining its number one domestic box office ranking (after achieving a
record gross in 2009). Warner Bros.’ television and home entertainment operations
are also industry leaders, producing some of the world’s most popular and profitable
television series, video games and digital entertainment offerings.
Meyer and Horn assumed their current positions in 1999. Meyer joined the Studio in
1971 in the business affairs department of Warner Bros. Television and held a
number of positions before being named Chairman and CEO. Horn joined Warner
Bros. in 1999 upon acceptance of his post as President and COO.
About the American Film Institute
AFI is America’s promise to preserve the history of the motion picture, to honor the
artists and their work, and to educate the next generation of storytellers. AFI
provides leadership in film, television and digital media and is dedicated to
initiatives that engage the past, the present and the future of the moving image arts.
AFI preserves the legacy of America’s film heritage through the AFI Catalog of
Feature Films, an authoritative record of American films from 1893 to the present,
and the AFI Archives, which contains rare footage from across the history of the
moving image.
AFI honors the artists and their work through a variety of annual programs and
special events, including the AFI Life Achievement Award and AFI Awards. For 38
years, the AFI Life Achievement Award has remained the highest honor for a career
in film while AFI Awards, the institute’s almanac for the 21st century, honors the
most outstanding motion pictures and television programs of the year. AFI’s 100
Years…100 Movies television events and movie reference lists, as well as AFI Night
at the Movies, have introduced and reintroduced classic American movies to millions
of film lovers. And as the largest nonprofit exhibitor in the United States, AFI offers
film enthusiasts a variety of events throughout the year, including AFI Fest presented
by Audi, the longest running international film festival in Los Angeles; AFI-Discovery
Channel Silverdocs, the largest documentary festival in the US; and year-round
programming at the AFI Silver Theatre in the Washington, D.C. area.
AFI educates the next generation of storytellers at its world-renowned AFI
Conservatory, offering a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree in six filmmaking
disciplines: Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production
Design and Screenwriting. AFI also explores new digital technologies
through special workshops.
Additional information about AFI is available at AFI.com.
