Bob Weinstein

Bob Weinstein was born in the New York City neighborhood of Flushing, Queens. He attended the State University of New York at Fredonia, but dropped out to join his older brother Harvey Weinstein in his blossoming career as a concert producer. In 1979, the brothers founded the film distribution company Miramax Films, which began with concert films like Paul McCartney's "Rockshow" (1980) and "The Secret Policeman's Other Ball" (1982) but quickly moved on to narrative features. Bob Weinstein himself tried his hand at screenwriting, first with the horror film "The Burning" (1981), and then with the comedy "Playing for Keeps" (1986), the latter of which he co-directed with his brother Harvey, but never pursued the craft thereafter. Among Miramax's most successful early outings were the comedy "Working Girl" (1987), Errol Morris' documentary "The Thin Blue Line" (1988), and the Daniel Day-Lewis-starring drama "My Left Foot" (1989). Throughout the 1990s, Miramax was instrumental in bringing attention to then-up-and-coming filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez, and Gus Van Sant. In the early 2000s, Bob Weinstein began producing Broadway plays, including "The Producers" (2001) and "Sweet Smell of Success" (2002), and branched out to the world of television by producing the reality show "Project Runway" (Bravo 2004-). In 2005, Bob and Harvey Weinstein left Miramax, at this point owned by Disney, to launch The Weinstein Company. October of 2017 saw the publication of articles in The New York Times and the New Yorker that detailed accusations against Harvey Weinstein of multiple instances of sexual assault and rape of several dozen women who had worked with him over the preceding decades. Bob Weinstein responded by decrying Harvey as "sick and depraved" and severing professional ties with his brother, but was later himself accused of sexual harassment of producer Amanda Segel, as well as of being complicit in having paid off Harvey's accusers in the past and further enabling his brother's allegedly abusive behavior. Nevertheless, Bob Weinstein maintained his attachment to The Weinstein Company and his role as an active producer.