Ganis was exposed to the world of entertainment when he worked as an office boy for theatrical publicists
Lee Solters and
Harvey Sabinson. This led him to a film career in marketing and publicity at several studios, including
20th Century Fox,
Columbia Pictures,
Seven Arts and
Warner Bros. He eventually joined
Lucasfilm, where he served as Senior Vice President for several years. There he was responsible for marketing
The Empire Strikes Back,
Return of the Jedi and the
first two installments of the
Indiana Jones tetralogy. In 1986, Ganis joined
Paramount Pictures and eventually would become president of the Motion Picture Group, where he helped launch
Top Gun and
Fatal Attraction. After leaving Paramount in 1990, Ganis became president of marketing and distribution at
Columbia Pictures. He was eventually made vice chairman of the studio. In 1996, he stepped down to produce via his independent production company, Out of the Blue... Entertainment. Under this company, Ganis co-executive produced ABC's
Pan Am (2011–12) along with his wife,
Nancy Hult Ganis, a fellow film and TV producer who developed and executive produced the series. Ganis has been working extensively in China with the Chinese government on various film projects. He is co-founder and Chairman of Jiaflix Enterprises, a US company with a long-term exclusive arrangement with the China Movie Channel and the website 1905, both under SAPPRFT (SARFT). Currently he is producing the feature film SHADOW SONG with partners at The H Collective Holdings in Los Angeles. Shadow Song is based on the short film A Children's Song which he produced in 2015. == References ==