Ted Zachary


Ted Zachary is an American assistant director, production manager, film producer and seasoned movie studio executive known for his sense of humor and his fairness. From the 1970s through the 2000s, Zachary worked as an executive for Viacom, MGM/UA and New Line Cinema as well as having been an assistant director on notable films such as Bob Fosse's Lenny, Shaft and Frank Perry's The Swimmer.

Career Highlights

Zachary started his career working his way up as an assistant film director and production manager based out of New York City / New Jersey, and worked on films such as Frank Perry's The Swimmer, Shaft, Bob Fosse's Lenny and The Gambler as well as having produced nearly a thousand television commercials, including the legendary Coca-Cola "Hilltop" commercial featuring the song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing." From 1977 through 1982 he was Vice President and Executive in Charge of Production at Viacom Enterprises, followed by four years as Senior Vice President of Television production for MGM/UA. While at MGM/UA, Zachary supervised production for all television series, pilots and telefilms, including the popular television series CHiPs and Fame.
In 1985 he went on to become the Senior Vice President of Production at Tri-Star Pictures where he oversaw films such as Look Who's Talking, Peggy Sue Got Married, The Freshman and Steel Magnolias, a position he held for four years. 1991 saw Zachary executive produce the Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor film, Another You. In 1992, Zachary joined Reeves Entertainment as the Senior Vice President of Production where he oversaw television series including Barry Levinson's Zachary moved on to become the Executive Vice President of Production, production administration for New Line Cinema, where he was part of the team who oversaw some of the most successful films of the company's history, such as Dumb and Dumber, David Fincher's Se7en, and several films featuring Marlon Brando including Don Juan DeMarco. In 1998, Zachary executive produced Dance with Me, starring Vanessa L. Williams.
Zachary appears in the behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of The Swimmer, entitled The Story of The Swimmer by Chris Innis. In the documentary Zachary and fellow assistant director Michael Hertzberg detail what it was like to work with Burt Lancaster and director Frank Perry during the film's production.

Selected filmography