Sid Ganis began his film career in marketing and publicity, and landed at Lucasfilm during the production of The Empire Strikes Back. He then became president of the Motion Picture Group at Paramount Pictures, eventually leaving to join Columbia Pictures, where he rose to vice chairman. From 2005-09, he served as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nancy Hult Ganis has worked with numerous filmmakers including Saul Zaentz, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg, and with studios such as Lucasfilm Ltd., Columbia Pictures, and Paramount. Together Sid and Nancy Hult Ganis have founded a successful motion picture production company, Out of the Blue . . . Entertainment.

Co-produced by Sid Ganis and actor Laurence Fishburne, Akeelah and the Bee is the story of Akeelah (Keke Palmer), an eleven-year-old from a disadvantaged background who is a gifted speller. When her father is killed in a drive-by shooting, the troubled youth is taken under the wing of Professor Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), who preps her for the coming National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. A “genuinely sweet family film” (Los Angeles Times), Akeelah and the Bee “makes for an uncommonly good movie, entertaining and actually inspirational” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times).