Marty Bowen '91 (Producer, Temple Hill Entertainment)

By Kim Bendheim '81

In January 2006, Marty Bowen '91, then a partner at United Talent Agency, left to start the production company Temple Hill with long-time friend and New Line Cinema creative executive, Wyck Godfrey. The company is named after the house they once shared together with John Goldstone '91 in LA. Godfrey was the odd man out -- he went to Princeton. Bowen and Godfrey's first production, THE NATIVITY STORY, came out a few weeks ago. Another project they are developing is an old-fashioned country-western love story called PAPER WINGS. Their third endeavor, GOD, THE DEVIL AND LUCY, is a love story about the battle between God and the Devil for the affections of a human heart.

Asked if and how his Harvard experience helped him in his present career, Bowen laughed and replied, "It didn't help me get into a mailroom." Bowen started in the mailroom at UTA and worked his way up to being a partner at the agency. Notable clients included Larry McMurtry (LONESOME DOVE) and Charlie Kaufman (BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND). What Harvard did for Bowen, he said, was "to help me to organize my thoughts and put them into a formative structure. It didn't change my core intelligence. I'm as dumb now as I was then. Probably waiting tables helped me more directly in that first job. Harvard gave me credibility that I might not otherwise have. The Good Housekeeping seal of approval." Bowen majored in American history and graduated cum laude. At the time he didn't know he wanted to go into the entertainment business, but for all of his electives he chose film and theater classes.

Asked if he's religious, Bowen said "yes." He's Catholic, but he describes himself as a "cafeteria Catholic" -- meaning he picks and chooses which church doctrines he follows. He sees himself as more of a cultural than a believing Catholic, "but if you ask me if I'm Christian, if I'm Catholic, if I say my prayers, the answer is yes." He was brought up in Fort Worth, Texas by Catholic parents. Being Catholic and being Texan are important parts of his identity.

When Bowen left UTA, he realized he had enough money for the next ten years and "couldn't do it as an agent anymore." He wanted to do something new, something that moved him. "I wanted to tell stories that speak to the human condition without being politicized." Favorite films of this seasoned agent and budding producer include THE NOTEBOOK, LORD OF THE RINGS, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. "Those are films I would have liked to have made," said Bowen, adding that he "loved the stories."

After graduating from Harvard, Bowen gave himself a year to move to Hollywood and see how it went. By then, he knew he wanted to be in the movie business. He explains it this way: "Like most people, I got swept up in the other life you can have going to the movies. I thought if you're going to be a salesman in life, you might as well love what you're selling. If you give me a choice between selling widgets or movies, movies are going to win every time."

Bowen thought he'd get sick of the life in a year, but as a self-described "alpha male," he loved working at the agency. "The famous people, the glamour," were all appealing. Most people, as he discovered, "don't live the sad Hollywood stories you hear about; most people aren't addicts." Bowen himself has a civilized lifestyle. On the Saturday after this reporter interviewed him, he was going to have cocktails at Harvard screenwriter (and last month's profilee) Aline Brosh McKenna's home.

Bowen's father, an investment banker, thought his son was wasting a good education and chasing after a pipe dream by going into the entertainment business. However, his dad came around, and "not one person was more supportive in this new venture," says Bowen proudly. His mom? "My mom would be supportive if I told her I wanted to be a serial killer."

Although he says he enjoyed it, Bowen's feelings about Harvard are ambivalent. He wouldn't be heartbroken if a child of his elected not to go. As far as contributing to Harvard goes, "Not until they improve the food. Give me some ice cream and a piece of meat I can actually eat!" More to the point, he asks, "Do we really need to add to the $44 billion endowment?" As Bowen sees it, at Harvard "you are surrounded by people who've been told how special they are in high school. It's hard to feel, in the annals of that school, that you were an important part of it. Harvard gets the best students and then gives them the opportunity to distinguish themselves." When Bowen's girlfriend goes back to the University of Texas at Austin, she feels it's home for her. Bowen doesn't have that feeling about Harvard; in fact, at Harvard he felt like a visitor. As he wryly observes, however, "certain places you've been, they will probably be in your obituary," and Harvard is one of them.