As producers and former studio heads, Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald have been responsible for some of the most iconic motion pictures in recent memory, films which run the gamut of genres while sharing a commitment to artistic and intellectual integrity.  

​

Films produced or executive produced by Parkes and MacDonald have garnered numerous awards, have grossed over $6B worldwide, and include Gladiator, Minority Report, the Men In Black series, Free Solo, Flight, Catch Me If You Can, Awakenings, The Kite Runner, He Named Me Malala, The Mask of Zorro, Amistad and many others. As the founding co-heads of DreamWorks Studios, the team was responsible for the development and production of the studio’s diverse slate of films which included, for only the second time in Motion Picture Academy history, three consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners American Beauty, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind.    

As a screenwriter, Parkes is largely acknowledged as a pioneer, along with writing partner Lawrence Lasker, in the development of the "cyber-thriller" genre with WarGames, a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominee, and Sneakers, starring Robert Redford. MacDonald’s work as a Television Producer includes My Lady Jane, named by Forbes and other outlets as one of the best shows of 2024.  

In 2021, Parkes turned his attention to education, and is the Co-Founder, along with Arizona State University President Michael Crow, of Dreamscape Learn, an education technology company aimed at the merging of advanced pedagogy, unique virtual reality technologies, and the power of emotional cinematic narrative to redraw the map of learning for students from middle school through university and beyond. Beyond acting as its Chairman, Parkes serves as Dreamscape Learn’s Creative Director and is responsible for supervising its educational content. Over 50,000 students at ASU alone have completed Dreamscape’s virtual re-invention of Introductory Biology, with learning outcomes such that the university has discontinued the traditional “wet labs” for first-year students. Dreamscape Learn slate of courseware is expanding to Chemistry, Astronomy, Climate Science and Art History, and is being adopted by colleges, high schools and elementary schools nationwide.  

Mr. Parkes’ experience in education incudes serving on the Yale University Council for ten years, and as its President for four. He is presently a Director of Para Los Ninos, a service organization that operates three charter schools in Downtown LA, and is an Advisor to the Center for a New American Security. In 2023, Parkes, along with writing partner Lawrence Lasker, received the “Future of Life” award for the impact WarGames had on alerting the public to the dangers of thermonuclear war and its subsequent impact on national policy. In 2024, Arizona State University conferred upon Parkes an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters for his contributions to both Cinema and Education. 

Mr. Parkes and Ms. MacDonald live in Santa Monica, and have two children:  Jane, a Demonstration Teacher at the UCLA Lab School, and Graham, a filmmaker and game developer.