Eric Parkinson
Eric F. Parkinson (born December 15, 1958) is an American entertainment producer and distributor, and is CEO of the Empire Film Group, and President of Hannover House Publishing.
Background
A former news photographer for NBC-Affiliate station KKRD in Wichita, Kansas, Parkinson moved to Los Angeles in 1983 and began working in the emerging home video industry at Continental Video, Inc. He won his first RIAA Platinum Sales Award the next year with his ABC-Sports co-production release of "The 1984 Summer Olympic Highlights" video, the first of 137 sales achievement awards to be earned over the next 25 years. From 1985 to 1988, Parkinson was President of the specialty Video Production Company, Twin Tower Enterprises, Inc. From 1989 to 1991, he was President of A.I.P. Home Video, Inc., before moving to Hemdale Film Corporation in March of 1991 to become President of Hemdale Home Video, Inc. and Hemdale Communications, Inc., with partners John Daly and Derek Gibson. From 1996 to 2001, Parkinson ran Plaza Entertainment, Inc., and in January of 2002, he took over sales, marketing and eventually the ownership of Truman Press, Inc., d/b/a "Hannover House," a respected and modestly successful book publishing company. In January, 2008, Parkinson and his operating partner at Hannover House, D. Frederick Shefte, entered into an agreement to merge with the publicly-traded Empire Film Group, Inc., and to essentially take control over all acquisition and marketing activities. Current releases at Empire under Parkinson's supervision include the controversial film, Hounddog starring DAKOTA Fanning, and the award-winning family drama, War Eagle, Arkansas starring Brian Dennehy, Mare Winningham, Mary Kay Place, Luke Grimes, and newcomer Dan McCabe. Other upcoming releases include "The Countess" starring Julie Delpy and William Hurt, "Chelsea on the Rocks" from film director Abel Ferrara, and the science fiction animated adventure Thru the Moebius Strip.
Personal
Parkinson married actress and novelist Vivian Schilling in Wichita on October 25, 1986. He was an accomplished classical pianist in High School and a USA Paderewski finalist. He attended the University of Kansas beginning in the Fall of 1977 and was a member of the varsity football team, while majoring in Film and Television. His father was public-relations and marketing guru Hank Parkinson (1931-1989) and his mother is Barbara (1933-) resides in Albuquerque, NM. Eric has one brother, Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson, and three sisters, Valerie Rupp, Kathleen Rizutto and Karen West.