User:JSFarman/sandbox/Leslee Dart

Leslee Dart is an American publicist and entrepreneur. She is the founder and co-CEO of 42 West (formerly the Dart Group), which prior to its 2017 acquisition was the largest independently-owned public relations firm in the entertainment industry.

Dart's work has been focused on both actors and filmmakers since the start of her career. She has represented actors including Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Hanks, and Jessica Lange, and directors Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Mike Nichols, Woody Allen, and Sydney Pollack. Dart directed the publicity campaigns for Academy Award-winning films Lincoln, No Country for Old Men, The Departed and Chicago, among others.

Early life and education
An only child, Dart was born and raised in Los Angeles. She attended the University of Southern California, where she initially studied fine arts. After her father suggested she consider journalism or public relations, she enrolled at the USC School for Communications. She graduated with a degree in public relations in 1976.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Rogers and Cowan
Dart worked briefly in corporate PR after her graduation, first as an in-house publicist, and later on behalf of corporate clients at an agency. In 1977, she was hired by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. While working on the Academy Awards, she met warren Cowan, the co-founder of Rogers & Cowan. A "mastermind of the modern day Oscar campaign," he incorrectly assumed Dart had established relationships with the press, and hired her on the spot. Dart was mentored by Cowan as well as Sam Cohn, who would later introduce her to directors including Allen.

PMK
At 28, Dart partnered with Pat Kingsley and Lois Smith to form the PR agency PMK, the successor to Smith and Kingley's firm Pickwick/Maslansky/Koenigsberg. She moved from Los Angeles to New York to head the New York office of PMK in 1983, and became an owner of the company with Kingsley and Smith in 1985. During her 23-year tenure at the agency, it became the leading PR firm in entertainment. Revenue grew from $1.5 million to $14 million annually, as the PMK roster grew to more than 200 clients. In 2001 a photo of Dart, Kingsley and Smith ran in the "Legends of Hollywood" issue of Vanity Fair with the caption "Not since the heyday of MGM have three little letters wielded so much power." In 2004, The New York Times wrote: "With the explosion in media interest in celebrity over the last decade, publicists have become a power center in their own right. For many years, Ms. Kingsley, based in Los Angeles, and Ms. Dart, her New York-based partner in privtely held PMK, were indisputably the most influential among them."

PMK was sold to advertising company Interpublic in 1999, and its focus shifted away from Hollywood talent toward high-paying corporate clients. Dart brokered partnerships with brands such as Coca-Cola and General Motors,, but said in a 2004 interview with Newsweek that her "passion" was always for filmmakers and talent. As the concentration on brands intensified, Kingsley and Dart became increasingly estranged. In November 2004, Kingsley fired Dart, then the president of PMK, stating that her contract would not be renewed. It was reported that Dart's dismissal was based on a protracted power struggle, a "succession drama" between Kingsley, then 72, and Dart, more than 20 years her junior. Dart's termination and the resulting exodus of talent from PMK was a major media story, with New York writing that "the ultimate test for any publicist is spinning her own dismissal, and this Leslee Dart has done masterfully."

The Dart Group, 42 West
The weekend after she was fired from PMK Dart established the Dart Group, working with one assistant from a midtown Manhattan hotel room. The filmmakers and actors who left PMK for the Dart Group included Demme, Hanks, Jessica Lange, Anthony Minghella, Nichols, Pollack, Scorsese, Streep and Sigourney Weaver. Several film projects moved from PMK to the Dart Group, and in early 2005, Dart recruited Robert Garlock, a 16-year veteran of PMK, as a partner. Garlock brought Uma Thurman, Penelope Cruz, Hugh Grant, Clive Owen, Kate Winslet and Natasha Richardson with him. In 2006, after partnering with Amanda Lundberg and Allan Mayer, the Dart Group was renamed 42 West. As the company expanded, its roster grew to include musicians such as Rihanna, The Weeknd, and Pharrell, and directors including Darren Aronofsky and Denis Villeneuve.

Controversy
As a partner at PMK, Dart became known for "not only for promoting clients who wanted coverage but also for protecting those who did not." She has represented Allen since the mid-1980s, and has received significant media attention related to her actions on his behalf. Variety wrote: "Even the efforts of Allen’s longtime publicist, Leslee Dart, to counter the initial tide of negative stories itself became a news item."

Recognition
Dart received the Matrix Award for Women in Communications in 2009. She has appeared on the Crains list of the "Most Powerful Women n New York,"  Nikki Finke's list of the most influential women in TV and film for Elle, the Hollywood Reporter "Women in Entertainment Power 100," the PR Week "Power List," and  New York magazine's "Most Influential People in Movies." In 2015, 20 years after she orchestrated Hugh Grant's mea culpa on the Tonight Show following his arrest for lewd conduct, The Independent wrote that it was "the greatest PR save of all time."

Personal life
Dart and her husband, Michael Leon, were married in 1996. They have two sons, Matthew and Adam, a director and screenwriter.