Alumni Spotlight

Damon Wolf ‘89

The Dunham musical Anastasia opened on March 28 2025, which inspired our focus on the arts and the interview
with Damon Wolf who was a producer and financier of Broadway’s Legally Blonde. Damon Wolf, a graduate
of Dunham during its founding years is also the Creative Strategist, Marketing and Distribution Advisor, and
Film Producer with more than 30 years in Hollywood with his firm Howling Wolf Films. He has also led movie
studios such as Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and TriStar Pictures and movies such as the John
Wick Franchise, Baby Driver, Knives Out, and The Hitman’s Bodyguard.

The journey of movies began as a child when his grandparents owned movie theaters in New Orleans, and he
started to love the business side of movies. This led to studying advertising at LSU in Baton Rouge. At the
time, there was not a major in movie marketing, social media or digital marketing. “You learn on the job, and
you learn from those around you,” he said.

After college and in a Jeep with no doors, Wolf and two friends drove across the country to Los Angeles to start
their careers. Wolf’s first job paid $16,000 and was a temporary position as a receptionist at an advertising firm,
which specialized in movie campaigns and posters for films. After 6 months, he was promoted to billing clerk,
and it was there that he was inspired to open his own firm.

“Movies are a multifaceted industry, and it’s a business of relationships,” he said. Building relationships quickly,
Wolf was able to build an empire touching Broadway, studio, and independent films.

With $30,000, a $10,000 investment from the three founders, Wolf and two friends purchased three iCandy
iMACs, and rented a 1,000 square foot office next to a dentist. From here Crew Creative Advertising became
pioneers in the growing digital media space. During a time when MySpace and other online communities were
in their formative years, the term digital marketing did not exist, Wolf grew this agency and started another,
Fanthropology, which provided digital marketing insights and strategies for studios producing The Twilight
movies, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, and more. From there, Wolf would become president of worldwide
marketing for TriStar Pictures and Screen Gems before becoming president of global marketing and
distribution for Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.

Wolf mentioned that it was lessons of faith learned at The Dunham School that has helped him throughout his
career. “You can’t have fear and faith at the same time. Having a class with a collective group of people to talk
about faith taught me about living outside of my comfort zone. I’m able to take risks now because of my faith.

“Being an artist is a risk. You’re putting something out in the world and asking them do you like it, which is also
saying do you like me? Attending Dunham or Chapel/Trafton added the practice of faith to my life.”

See more about Damon Wolf and his projects and films at at linkedin.com/in/damonwolf.