From 1978 to 1982, Mechanic worked for Select TV Programming Inc., as vice president of programming. He also held the position of vice president of pay TV and post-theatrical markets for Paramount and senior creative executive at
Paramount Pictures.
1984–1994: At Disney Following a position at
Paramount Pictures, Mechanic moved to Disney in 1984, subsequently building its home-video units both in the United States and overseas from minor industry players to nearly double the size of their nearest competitors. The division grew from $30 million in revenue to over $3 billion and notched the majority of the all-time best-selling videos. Mechanic pioneered the concept of direct sales to mass merchants, which has become an important part of the home entertainment business today. Mechanic had also served as both senior vice president of
Walt Disney Home Video and vice president of pay television sales for
the Walt Disney Company. During this period, he also oversaw network specials for Disney Television that received several
Emmy Awards nominations. which is a corporate division of
News Corporation. In his new position, Mechanic was responsible not only for Fox's home video activities, but for production, marketing, distribution, international theatrical activities, and pay TV as well. Fox produced the number-one grossing films worldwide in 1995, 1996 and 1997 with
Die Hard with a Vengeance,
Independence Day and
Titanic. As a result of his leadership, in 1998, Twentieth Century Fox was the number-one studio in worldwide box-office gross revenue. That same year,
Fox Music produced five of the top ten selling soundtracks:
Titanic,
Hope Floats,
Dr. Dolittle,
Bulworth, and
Ally McBeal. In addition, during his reign, the studio produced six of the top ten grossing movies of all time and six of the top ten selling live-action videos-both domestically and internationally, including the best-selling video in history,
Titanic. Under his management, in all, the studio earned 72
Oscar nominations, including five Best Picture nominations. In June 2000, it was reported that Bill Mechanic was leaving under intense pressure from
Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Fox parent
News Corp, and the mogul's No. 2 executive,
Peter Chernin. Mechanic confirmed in an interview that he was leaving, calling it a resignation. But other sources said Chernin fired Mechanic, and informed Murdoch about it. In 2026, Mechanic stated that Murdoch was never in approval Mechanic's tendency to
greenlight art films and following the string of underwhelming box office performances of art films in 1999 and early 2000 like
Pushing Tin, Fight Club, Anna and the King, and
The Beach, he was outed.
2001–present In 2001, Mechanic became the president of the jury at the
Berlin International Film Festival. In 2006, Mechanic became the jury of international competition at the
Tokyo International Film Festival. In 2007, Mechanic became the head of the jury of the
Lion of the Future prize for first-time filmmakers at the
Venice International Film Festival. In 2010, Mechanic and
Adam Shankman produced the
82nd Academy Awards. In 2015, Mechanic produced
Hacksaw Ridge. Mechanic is currently producing movies through his independent production company, Pandemonium Films. ==Filmography==