Platt started producing in theatre, before moving into film. Platt was a business-affairs lawyer for (ICM)
International Creative Management's superagent
Sam Cohn, laying the essential groundwork of entertainment contacts. He was thirty-three years old when he replaced
Mike Medavoy, at
Orion Pictures, as production chief. After Orion, he served as president of production for two more movie studios:
TriStar Pictures, and
Universal Studios. Platt has since formed his own production company, Marc Platt Productions, within the Universal realm and continues to pursue creative projects. His company is responsible for the
Legally Blonde films and the
HBO miniseries
Empire Falls. Platt has produced a variety of feature films beginning with the 1987 comedy
Campus Man. His films include
Legally Blonde (2001),
Wanted (2008),
Rachel Getting Married (2008),
Nine (2009),
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010),
Drive (2011),
The Girl on the Train (2016), and
Cruella (2021). He also produced critically acclaimed films such as
Steven Spielberg's
Cold War drama
Bridge of Spies (2015),
Damien Chazelle's
musical La La Land (2016), and
Aaron Sorkin's
legal drama The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), all of which earned him
Academy Award for Best Picture nominations. He was executive producer of the two-part docudrama
The Path to 9/11, shown on
ABC on the fifth anniversary of
9/11 on September 10 and 11, 2006. The film was controversial and accused of having a political agenda and fictionalising the events leading up to the
September 11, 2001 attacks, especially those involving the
Clinton administration. He collaborated with
Walt Disney Pictures producing numerous musicals for the studio including
Into the Woods (2014),
Mary Poppins Returns (2018),
Aladdin (2019, as an executive producer),
The Little Mermaid (2023), and
Snow White (2025), as well as Universal's
Wicked films (2024–2025). In 2021 he produced a
film adaptation of the musical
Dear Evan Hansen (2021) which featured a leading performance from his son
Ben Platt, who originated the
title role on Broadway. This casting, however, led to accusations of
nepotism against them for having Ben, at age 27, reprise his role as the teenage title character in the film. For his work on television he produced
Grease Live! (2016),
Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018), and
Rent: Live (2019) as well as the
HBO projects
Empire Falls (2005), and
Oslo (2021).
Theatre Platt has produced numerous productions on the
Broadway stage with his first official credit being
Wicked earning his first
Tony Award for Best Musical nomination. He was also nominated for
Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical for
Pal Joey in 2009 and
Tony Award for Best Play for
Indecent in 2017. He won the
Tony Award for Best Musical for ''
The Band's Visit in 2018 and for A Strange Loop in 2022. He will also produce the upcoming stage adaptation of La La Land''. ==Personal life==