LIN PICTURES VP HONORED IN THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’S NEXT GEN 2009 LIST

Each fall for the past 16 years, the editors of The Hollywood Reporter have evaluated hundreds of 35-and-under executives working in film, television, representation, law and new media for 35 spots on the Next Generation list. Congratulations to the class of 2009.

Jon Silk, 31
VP production, Lin Pictures

Silk always wanted a career in comic books. Even when his professor-scientist parents convinced him to enroll at UC Santa Cruz, instead of the famed Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, he ended up becoming an editor at the Bay Area’s Hippy Comix. There, cartoonists like Mark Evanier told him the real money was in movies, so Silk took off for New York, which had both comics and film scenes. An early gig at Gersh didn’t go well; he started as an assistant, then got demoted to floater and then to reception. “I was working my way to the mailroom,” he jokes. That trajectory reversed itself when Silk became an assistant to uber-producer Scott Rudin, which led to development jobs at Universal and Benderspink. In 2008, Warners-based Dan Lin tapped Silk for a vp position, where he’s now co-producing a new version of Stephen King’s “It” and a feature-length “Tom and Jerry” – and, of course, the comic book adaptations “Hiding in Time” and “Bone.”