Ted Hope

Amazon has released 38 films since 2016, notably winning three Academy Awards in the studio’s first year as a distributor for titles Manchester by the Sea and The Salesman.

Hope joined Amazon Studios in January 2015 as the head of the Development, Production, and Acquisitions team. Since July 2018 he has served as the Co-Head of Movies for the studio under Jennifer Salke.

On January 8, 2014, Hope was named CEO of Fandor, a curated online service for independent and international films. He left Fandor at beginning of 2015 to become the head of production for Amazon Original Movies, stating, "To help carry the torch into the feature film world for such an innovative company is a tremendous opportunity and responsibility. Amazon Original Movies will be synonymous with films that amaze, excite, and move our fans, wherever customers watch."

In 2013, IndieWire named Hope to its inaugural list of Influencers, a list "dedicated to 40 of the people and companies who have captured our attention as we watch them try to figure out what the independent film industry is today and, more importantly, what it will become."

Hope announced he would resign as executive director at the end of 2013, citing the challenges of working with a staff of 26 and a board. He said he planned to remain in the San Francisco Bay Area and lead the Film Society's advisory board. In March 2014, Noah Cowen, former director of the Toronto International Film Festival, took over as executive director of the SFFS.

Ted Hope (born 1962) is an American independent film producer based in New York City. He began work as Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society on September 1, 2012. Currently, he serves as Co-Head of Movies for Amazon Studios.

On August 8, 2012, the San Francisco Film Society named Hope as executive director of SFFS effective September 1. Ted Hope began work at the San Francisco Film Society Mid September 2012. Upon taking the position, Hope stated that it was an offer he could not refuse: “to save Indie Film and build it better than it has been before.” Moving away from project-specific producing, Hope has turned his focus on producing an infrastructure that will sustain and nurture diverse artists, discover and promote fresh talent, and advance the tools and practices that will benefit those that create and appreciate truly ambitious art and entertainment.

Double Hope Films is a production company founded by independent film producer Ted Hope and his wife Vanessa Hope in 2010. Double Hope's first film, Dark Horse premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, and the company's sophomore effort, Starlet, premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2012.

This is That's first release, 21 Grams, received two Academy Award nominations and five BAFTA nominations. The company's second release, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, won an Oscar for best screenplay. In 2009, the company released Adventureland, written and directed by Greg Mottola and starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, and in 2010, the company completed SUPER, written and directed by James Gunn, and starring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page and Liv Tyler.

Hope's production of Oscar-winner Alan Ball's feature film directorial debut Towelhead, starring Aaron Eckhart, Toni Collette, and Maria Bello, opened nationwide in September 2008. Towelhead is Hope's 18th production of a first time feature film director.

Anthony Bregman left the company to start his own in 2007. The company closed its doors in 2010 after having the No. 1 film at the US box office (The American) and the first film to sell that year at the Toronto International Film Festival (Super).

Hope had four features released in 2007. One of them, The Savages, directed by Tamara Jenkins and starring Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, was nominated for two Academy Awards including Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay. The three other releases include Hal Hartley's Fay Grim;, The Ex written by David Guion & Michael Handelman and directed by Jesse Peretz; and The Hawk is Dying, starring Paul Giamatti and directed by Julian Goldberger.

Among Hope's twenty-three Sundance entries, are three Grand Jury Prize winners: American Splendor (2003), The Brothers McMullen (1995) and What Happened Was... (1994). American Splendor also won the FIPRESCI Award at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, the Critics prize at the 2003 Deauville Film Festival, and was nominated for five Spirit Awards and one Academy Award. Hope has also produced two Sundance Opening Night selections: Nicole Holofcener's Friends with Money (2006) and Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project (2002), which was nominated for five Emmys.

Hope was instrumental in organizing the successful 2003 antitrust campaign against the MPAA and its ban on screeners, uniting a diverse constituency, strategizing the effort, and ultimately providing in court the oral testimony that helped sway the judgement. Although the MPAA head, Jack Valenti, claimed The Screen Ban was about combating "piracy", it was recognized by the court as stifling competition, particularly that of independent filmmakers against Hollywood. Hope has claimed a double win in the court case, as it is also where he met his wife filmmaker Vanessa Hope.

With fellow Good Machine producers Anne Carey and Anthony Bregman, and Head of Business Affairs Diana Victor, Hope co-founded New York production company This is That in 2002. This is That specialized in unique content and innovative storytelling. This is That has produced seventeen films in the six years since its inception.

In 2001, the partners sold the company to Universal. Schamus and Linde stayed on and merged the international sales company with USA Films to create Focus Features.

Hope and Schamus brought David Linde in as a partner to Good Machine, in order to start their foreign sales arm, Good Machine International. In 2000, the Museum of Modern Art honored Good Machine with a retrospective.

Hope has produced the first films of such notable filmmakers as Ang Lee, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Todd Field, Michel Gondry, Moises Kaufman, and Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, among others. In the early 1990s, Hope co-founded with James Schamus the production/sales company Good Machine, which he and his partners sold to Universal in 2002. That same year he co-founded This is That with his current partner Anne Carey, Good Machine's Head of Business Affairs Diana Victor, and his former assistant, Anthony Bregman.

In 1990, Hope and James Schamus founded Good Machine, an independent film production company based in New York. They started doing line production for hire for various international auteurs, including Claire Denis, Danny Levy, and Jan Schutte.