Hollywood Reporter Names Film School Alum Top Exec

Recently The Hollywood Reporter went looking for top film industry executives under 35. It came as no surprise to the FSU Film School that alumna Ali Bell was one of their top picks. She graduated from FSU in 1999 with a BFA and headed to Hollywood. While her intention had been to become a director, she landed an internship at Paramount Pictures that led to a marketing job as a junior marketing executive at Nickelodeon. A year later she was promoted to development, where she spent another year as an assistant before being promoted to creative executive. From there she went to Heyday Films, where she was one of three executives working for David Heyman, helping produce films like the Harry Potter series.

Now she is the Vice President of Production/Development for Ivan Reitman's production banner, The Montecito Picture Company. The company recently produced the film Disturbia and is in pre/post-production with a slate of films that include such talent as Atom Egoyan, Jason Jones, Michael Keaton, Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Sudeikus, and Rainn Wilson. At the ripe age of 30, Ali is now in a position to nurture the careers of “younger” artists, helping them develop their projects. And who knows? Maybe one day she’ll still direct; there’s plenty of time for that later.