DENISE DI NOVI (Producer)

DENISE DI NOVI (Producer) made her producing debut on the cult hit comedy "Heathers," for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. She then began a long association with groundbreaking filmmaker Tim Burton, during which time she produced such diverse hits as "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman Returns," "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "Ed Wood" and "James and the Giant Peach." Her early credits also include the 1994 remake of "Little Women," as well as "Practical Magic" and "Message in a Bottle," both of which took first place at the box office in their opening weekends.

Her more recent film producing credits include "Original Sin," "A Walk to Remember," "What a Girl Wants," "New York Minute," "Catwoman," "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and Curtis Hanson's "Lucky You," as well as the upcoming release "Nights in Rodanthe," a romantic drama based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane reunited under the direction of George C. Wolfe.

In addition to her film credits, Di Novi has also ventured into television production. She served as an executive producer on the longform projects "Eloise at Christmastime," "Eloise at the Plaza," and "The '70s," as well as the critically acclaimed series "The District."

Di Novi started out in journalism, rising from copy editor at the National Observer (a Dow Jones weekly) to staff writer for "Canada AM" in Toronto. Segueing to the film industry, she began her career as a unit publicist. In 1980, she became a principal in the Montreal-based production company Film Plan, acting in various production capacities on nine major studio releases, including "Scanners" and "Videodrome." In 1983, Film Plan relocated to Los Angeles and merged with Arnold Kopelson's Film Packages.

She then joined New World Pictures as Executive Vice President of Production, later shifting into an overall deal as an independent producer. From 1989 to 1992, she headed Tim Burton Productions, where she produced several of the director's most successful films. In 1993, she set up her own production company, Di Novi Pictures, at Columbia Pictures.

Di Novi currently has a production deal at Warner Bros. Pictures. She has a number of projects in various stages of development, including "The Illustrated Man," with director Zack Snyder, based on a collection of Ray Bradbury stories; the love story "Last Summer of You and Me," based on the book by Ann Brashares; "The Jetsons," written and directed by Robert Rodriguez; and "Larklight," based on a Philip Reeve novel.