Austin and Palo Alto, USA — March 11, 2003 — Davis Guggenheim, a celebrated director and producer of both documentary and dramatic film and television, joined the board of directors of Creative Commons this week.

“Davis brings a unique and invaluable perspective to our team,” said Lawrence Lessig, Chairman of Creative Commons and Professor of Law at Stanford.
“His is that rare combination of creative talent: critically acclaimed, commercially successful, and public-minded.”

Lessig announced Guggenheim’s joining Creative Commons during a standing-room-only keynote address at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas this week.

Guggenheim joins a board of directors that includes cyberlaw and intellectual property experts James Boyle, Michael Carroll, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, and Lawrence Lessig, MIT computer science professor Hal Abelson, lawyer-turned-documentary filmmaker-turned-cyberlaw expert Eric Saltzman, and public domain Web publisher Eric Eldred.

More about Davis Guggenheim

In 1999, Guggenheim undertook an ambitious project documenting the challenging first year of several novice public school teachers. Two films resulted from this intensive immersion in the Los Angeles public school system: The First Year and Teach. Both films sought to address the tremendous need for qualified teachers in California and nationwide and to create awareness of this crisis — as well as to inspire a new generation to become teachers. In 2002, Davis received a Peabody Award for The First Year.

Guggenheim was an Executive Producer on Training Day and directed a feature film called Gossip, both for Warner Bros. His television directing credits include recently completed episodes of “The Shield,” “Alias,” and “24” as well as such critically acclaimed programs as “NYPD Blue,” “ER,” and “Party of Five.” He is currently producer and director of the upcoming HBO series “Deadwood.”

Guggenheim’s other documentary films include Norton Simon: A Man and His Art, produced for permanent exhibition at the Norton Simon Museum, and JFK and the Imprisoned Child, produced for permanent exhibition at the John F. Kennedy Library. Guggenheim wrote and edited many films with his father, four-time Academy Award winner Charles Guggenheim. Davis graduated from Brown University in 1986.

More about Creative Commons

A non-profit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works — whether owned or public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org.

Contact:

Glenn Otis Brown
Executive Director (Palo Alto)
1.650.723.7572 (tel)
1.415.336.1433 (cell)
glenn AT creativecommons.org

Neeru Paharia
Assistant Director (Palo Alto)
1.650.724.3717 (tel)
neeru AT creativecommons.org