Jake Eberts

A former Wall Street investor, the Montreal-born Eberts began his career in features in the early 1970s arranging financing. After relocating to London, England, where he eventually rose to managing director of Oppenheimer & Co., Ltd., he founded Goldcrest Films, a successful independent production company involved with such high profile films as Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning "Gandhi" (1982), Bill Forsyth's "Local Hero" (1983) and Roland Joffe's "The Killing Fields" (1984). Eberts served as president and CEO of Goldcrest until 1983 when he joined Embassy Pictures. In 1985, he founded Allied Filmmakers and the following year made his debut as executive producer with Jean-Jacques Annaud's "The Name of the Rose" (1986). Among the other features this risk-taking maverick has produced or executive produced are John Boorman's Academy Award-nominated memoir of WWII London "Hope and Glory" (1987), the back-to-back Oscar winners "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989) and "Dances With Wolves" (1990), Robert Redford's "A River Runs Through It" (1992) and the delightful children's film "James and the Giant Peach" (1995). He returned to films with Native American themes as producer or executive producer of "The Education of Little Tree" (1997) and Attenborough's "Grey Owl" (lensed 1998). Eberts also served as an executive producer on the first feature from Aardman Animation, "Chicken Run" (2000), co-directed by Peter Lord and three-time Oscar-winner Nick Park.

• Also Credited As:
  John David Eberts
• Born:
  July 10, 1941 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Job Titles:
  Executive, Producer, Financier

Significant Others

• Wife: Fiona Eberts.

Education

• Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, MBA
• McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Milestones

• 1984 Joined Hollywood film company, Embassy Communications International as an executive
• 1985 Founded and became chief executive of Allied Filmmakers, an affiliate of Pathe
• 1987 Served as executive producer of the Oscar-nominated Hope and Glory
• 1989 Was one of the executive producers of the Academy Award-winning Driving Miss Daisy , directed by Bruce Beresford
• 1990 Executive produced the Oscar-winning Dances With Wolves , directed by and starring Kevin Costner
• 1991 Moved to Paris (date approximate)
• 1991 Reteamed with Beresford for Black Robe
• 1992 Produced City of Joy , directed by Roland Joffe
• 1992 Served as an executive producer of A River Runs Through It
• 1994 Was executive producer of No Escape
• 1996 Executive produced James and the Giant Peach
• 1997 Returned to Native American themes as executive producer of The Education of Little Tree
• 2000 Executive produced Chicken Run , the first animated feature produced through Aardman Animation; directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park
• Founded and served as president and CEO of London-based Goldcrest film company
• Invested his own money in Zulu Dawn (1979); took him almost a decade to extract himself from a $750,000 debt
• Named managing director of Oppenheimer & Co, Ltd in London
• Returned to Goldcrest
• Served as one of the producers of Richard Attenborough s Grey Owl
• Worked on Wall Street