Walter F. Parkes

'Walter F. Parkes' (qv) was born on April 15, 1951 in Bakersfield, California. He attended Yale University and it was graduated cum laude in 1973. He made its first film project _The California Reich (1975)_ (qv), which was made in 1975.He met 'Laurie MacDonald' (qv) in 1982 and the next year, wrote the script for the film _WarGames (1983)_ (qv) with 'Lawrence Lasker' (qv), of which received a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. The success led to a deal with Paramount Pictures, with no films coming out. In 1985, he produced _Volunteers (1985)_ (qv) with 'Richard Shepherd' (qv), and in 1987 reunited with Lasker on the film _Project X (1987)_ (qv), of which Lasker become a full time partner for four years. Both of them continue its success with _True Believer (1989)_ (qv), _Awakenings (1990)_ (qv) and _Sneakers (1992)_ (qv). Both of them tried to sign a deal with Columbia when its deal with Paramount ended. Both of them produced the TV show _Eddie Dodd (1991)_ (qv) with 'Clyde Phillips' (qv).In 1991, both Lasker and Parkes part ways, in order that Parkes to partner with MacDonald, who left Columbia in the establishment of a production company Aerial Pictures. Aerial had a two year deal at Columbia Pictures, and it was briefly transferred to 20th Century Fox in 1993. Aerial's only product was a little known TV show _Birdland (1994)_ (qv) for ABC.In 1993, both Parkes and MacDonald was approached by 'Steven Spielberg' (qv) to run Amblin Entertainment, thus completely shuttering Aerial Pictures down. He oversaw production of _Little Giants (1994)_ (qv), _Twister (1996)_ (qv) and _Men in Black (1997)_ (qv), the latter of which was originated at Aerial.In 1994, Parkes and MacDonald was approached to start up the DreamWorks studio and served as co-heads of film production. He oversaw more than a few films during his tenure, serving his positions as producer or executive producer, like _The Peacemaker (1997)_ (qv), _Deep Impact (1998)_ (qv), _Gladiator (2000)_ (qv), _The Ring (2002)_ (qv) and _A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)_ (qv).In 2005, while Parkes and MacDonald completed production on a few DreamWorks films like _The Island (2005)_ (qv) and _Just Like Heaven (2005)_ (qv), the duo started up Parkes/MacDonald Productions with a deal at DreamWorks. At that time, Parkes and MacDonald produced these leftover projects originated by DreamWorks like _The Lookout (2007)_ (qv) and _The Kite Runner (2007)_ (qv) as well as 'Tim Burton' (qv)'s adaptation of _Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)_ (qv), the Asian film remake _The Uninvited (2009)_ (qv) and the comedy _Dinner for Schmucks (2010)_ (qv).In 2009, Parkes and MacDonald partnered with Image Nation, and in 2010, signed a television deal with NBCUniversal to produce its television shows. The duo's contributions were the two Men in Black installments: _Men in Black 3 (2012)_ (qv) and _Men in Black: International (2019)_ (qv), the third installment in the "Ring" franchise, _Rings (2017)_ (qv) and original projects like _Flight (2012)_ (qv) and _Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016)_ (qv) as well as television shows like _Crossbones (2014)_ (qv) and _The Slap (2015)_ (qv).In 2016, he was a founding partner and chairman in the virtual reality studio Dreamscape Immersive, with Kevin Wall, Caecila Charbonnier, Sylvian Chaugé and Ronald Menzel.Both Parkes and MacDonald were currently working on future projects like "Gladiator 2" and "Barbie".::D.N.