Indian American Abhijay Prakash Named President of Film and Television Production Company Blumhouse
- Formerly, President of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, who succeeded eight-year Blumhouse veteran Charles Layton, he will oversee all business aspects of the company.
In the two weeks that Abhijay Prakash has joined film and television production company, Blumhouse, as president, the genre company founded by Jason Blum has won American Cinematheque’s ‘Power of Cinema Award,” and has a film premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York later this month.
Prakash was appointed at the production house last month. According to a May 16 report in Variety, Prakash, who succeeded eight-year Blumhouse veteran Charles Layton, “will oversee all business aspects of the company.” Layton will segue to vice chairman, “staying on in a strategic and advisory role for the next two years.”
Prakash was formerly president of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. In that role he was responsible “for driving the studio’s strategic and long-range planning, also overseeing the business operations of UFEG including finance, business development and administrative functions,” as reported by Variety.
Before UFEG, Prakash served as the chief operating officer for DreamWorks Animation, overseeing the studio’s strategic planning and primary business operations including finance, business development, technology and administrative functions, while working closely with other Universal leaders on release planning, franchise management and brand development.
He was earlier COO for Focus Features, and also served as executive vice president, Film Strategy and Operations for Universal Pictures.
“From my vantage point at Universal over the years, it was clear that nobody else in the business was as adept at figuring out how to create value from content as the Blumhouse team,” said Prakash to Variety. “I’m thrilled to make the leap to join this entrepreneurial team in helping further build this beloved, global brand, and leveraging the company’s strengths and unique business approach to access all the emerging opportunities in the film and television space.”