Poppy Hanks

Poppy’s the kind of powerhouse you want steering the ship if you’re making movies or TV that actually matter. She’s been at it for nearly two decades, which means she’s seen more Hollywood nonsense (and genius) than most folks could dream up. Right now, she’s the brains behind MACRO’s film and TV projects—basically, if you see something bold and buzzy from them, there’s a good chance she had her fingerprints all over it. She’s not just pushing paper either; she’s in the trenches with writers and directors, helping them get their wild ideas onto the screen and, yeah, making sure it all actually gets done. Before lighting things up at MACRO, Poppy was running the show as Senior VP at Tyler Perry’s 34th Street Films. That’s not just a fancy title—she actually helped make films like “For Colored Girls” (you know, the one with Thandie Newton and Whoopi Goldberg), and “Peeples” with Kerry Washington. Oh, and she played a key role in getting “Precious”—that gritty, Oscar-nominated heartbreaker—out into the world after spotting it at Sundance. Not bad, right? Go back a bit more and you’ll find her calling the shots as VP at State Street Pictures, where she was wrangling projects like “Barbershop,” “Men of Honor,” and “Soul Food.” She’s not just about business, though. Poppy’s a proud USC alum—graduated with a B.F.A. in Screenwriting back in ’95. So yeah, she’s got the creative chops to match the hustle. Basically, if you’re talking about films with impact, Poppy’s probably somewhere close by.