AUGUST’S SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: PAULA WAGNER
Tom Cruise's Producing Partner at Cruise/Wagner Productions

PAULA WAGNER partnered with Tom Cruise to form C/W Productions in 1993, and they have been based at Paramount Pictures since their inception. Wagner and Cruise jointly produced the action blockbusters Mission: Impossible and Mission: Impossible 2, which together grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. Wagner and Cruise also produced Cameron Crowe's daringly poetic Vanilla Sky; Without Limits, Robert Towne's critically acclaimed portrait of the late runner Steve Prefontaine; and the chilling supernatural thriller The Others, from emerging international auteur Alejandro Amenabar. Wagner was a producer on Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise, and the executive producer on Billy Ray's directorial debut, Shattered Glass, starring Hayden Christensen and Peter Sarsgaard. In their continuing effort to support new filmmakers, she and Cruise served as executive producers of Narc in 2002.

Most recently, Wagner completed filming Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, starring Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst and Susan Sarandon. She is also producing Ask the Dust, which is written and directed by longtime collaborator, Academy Award? winner Robert Towne, and stars Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. Wagner served as executive producer for Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise. Currently she and Cruise are producing the third installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, which recently began production with J.J. Abrams directing.

In 2001, Wagner was honored by Premiere magazine with the Women in Hollywood Icon Award, and was featured the following year in Bravo's Women on Top, a documentary profiling top women in entertainment. Additionally, Wagner has been the recipient of the Producers Guild Nova Award and was honored by Variety alongside Cruise as a billion dollar producer. She is returning to co-chair the 2005 Hollywood Film Festival for a third year and is a member of the American Cinematheque's Board of Directors. Furthermore, Wagner is a trustee for Carnegie Mellon University and serves on the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television's Board of Directors.

Prior to producing, Wagner spent nearly 15 years at CAA as one of the industry's top talent agents. Before becoming an agent, Wagner was an accomplished stage actress, appearing at the Yale Repertory Theater as well as on and off-Broadway. Also a published playwright, she co-authored Out of Our Father's House.