Todd Black

Todd Black (born February 9, 1960) is an American film producer best known for producing The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), The Equalizer (2014), Southpaw (2015), The Magnificent Seven (2016), and Fences (2016) for which he received an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination with Scott Rudin and Denzel Washington. He initially started off working at Joe Wizan Productions in the 1980s, who was later evolved into a full partnership to became Wizan/Black Films in 1990. Wizan and Black broke up in 1993 to partner with director Randa Haines and formed Black/Haines Productions. Black later became president of production at Mandalay Entertainment in 1995, only to quit in 1998 to form the production company Black & Blu, with Jason Blumenthal. Blumenthal first met Black while working at Joe Wizan, only to move to Black/Haines Productions at 20th Century Fox in 1993, and both worked at Mandalay Entertainment in 1995 before starting Black & Blu. In 2000, it merged with The Steve Tisch Company, eventually becoming the current Escape Artists, who is still running today.