Scott Gardenhour

Scott Gardenhour (born March 10, 1961) is a feature film producer and the co-founder and executive producer of the Emmy award-winning commercial production house, The Institute.

A seasoned producer early on, Gardenhour worked on many large-scale commercial and music video projects with award-winning directors before being courted by Propaganda Films, one of the world’s most influential production houses that launched the careers of Michael Bay, David Fincher, David Lynch, Spike Jonze and Mark Romanek.

Gardenhour produced the ‘Aaron Burr’ and ‘Baby Cat’ spots directed by Bay for the original 'Got Milk?' campaign that went on to win numerous awards including a Clio and Cannes Gold Lion. That same year Bay was awarded the DGA's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for their work together.

With numerous years as a producer, Gardenhour went on to become Executive Producer and later, Vice President of Propaganda’s Commercial Division. Under his leadership he led Propaganda Films to be recognized with the industry’s highest honor, the Palme d'Or, for Best Commercial Production Company at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Seeking new challenges after Propaganda, Gardenhour went on to begin his feature film career working onArmageddon, Coyote Ugly, Pearl Harbor and Jumper.

In 2001, Gardenhour and Bay opened The Institute. Gardenhour has guided the success of the company with campaigns for Nike, AT&T, Victoria’s Secret, and a Cannes Gold Lion winning commercial for Audi. In 2007, The Institute was awarded an Emmy for the Gardenhour produced spec commercial ‘Required Reading’, for Hallmark.

Invited to speak by the Wharton School of Business, Gardenhour talked about the discipline of Brand Marketing and the value it holds to Hollywood as a means to successfully develop, produce and market entertainment products.

Most recently, with his focus on feature film, Gardenhour has executive produced Pain and Gain and 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.

In 2001, Scott Gardenhour and Michael Bay partnered to start, The Institute, aka The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness an Emmy Award-winning production company.The firm is focused on commercial advertising, branded entertainment, feature films and content development for the globalized, webbed world.

In 2006, The Institute garnered an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Commercial, for Hallmark's "Required Reading."

The Institute represents a varied roster of commercial and feature directors such as Michael Bay, Oliver Castro, Marco Gentile, Rupert Smith, Tim Story, and Prakash Varma.