Robert K. Weiss

Change Agent, Filmmaker, Idea generator, Parent, Producer

Mr. Weiss is the President and Vice Chair of the X PRIZE Foundation (www.xprize.org), that awarded the $10,000,000 Ansari X PRIZE for suborbital spaceflight. The X PRIZE Foundation’s mission is to foster revolution through incentivized competition and bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. The Foundation has active competitions in Genomics, Automotive Technology and Lunar Exploration and is now developing X PRIZEs in Healthcare, Bionics, Energy, and Oceanographic Exploration. Weiss is a veteran Hollywood television and film producer having produced over 20 feature films and TV series during the past 25 years. He began his career in the late 1970’s producing the feature film, KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE and later produced the ABC television program POLICE SQUAD! as well as the three NAKED GUN movies starring Leslie Nielsen. Weiss produced the international hit, THE BLUES BROTHERS for Universal Studios. His other feature films produced for Universal include AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON and DRAGNET. Weiss was the Executive Producer for the television series WEIRD SCIENCE and SLIDERS (that he co-created). As president of Broadway Pictures at Paramount, Weiss joined forces with Saturday Night Live Executive Producer and creator Lorne Michaels. Weiss executive produced many films at Paramount including TOMMY BOY, A NIGHT AT THE ROXBURY, SUPERSTAR, and THE LADIES MAN. He went on to produce the international hits SCARY MOVIE 3 & 4, and most recently SUPERHERO MOVIE for Dimension Pictures. Weiss has served as a consultant and team partner to the Boeing Corporation in the development of a global consortium dedicated to the distribution of space related multimedia entertainment and educational programs, products and services. Additionally, Weiss served as Executive Producer for the American Rocket Company producing multimedia connected with the development, testing and launch attempt of their pioneering hybrid rocket. Weiss served on the Board of Directors of IS Robotics (now called iRobot in Cambridge, Massachusetts) from 1990 to 1994. In 2000, he was Executive Vice President and Executive Producer for the Blastoff! Corporation in Pasadena, California; an entertainment company founded to conduct actual space missions as the foundation for high value media and marketing platforms. Weiss currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Rocket Racing League, a 21st Century sport launched to become the NASCAR of the skies (www.rocketracingleague.com). He is a principle in Earthlight, a multimedia production and consulting company. Earthlight has produced award winning productions for the X PRIZE Foundation, The Boeing Company, Zero Gravity Corporation and Anousheh Ansari, the first female private space explorer. Weiss has lectured extensively on subjects ranging from motion picture and television production to science fiction visions of space exploration. He is an astrophilatelist and has amassed a world-class collection of toys, models, art, kitsch and ephemera related to space and popular culture. Mr. Weiss has been the Vice Chairman and Executive Producer for the X PRIZE Foundation since 1996. In the fall of 2004, he produced the award-winning live telecast & webcast of the Ansari X PRIZE space flights. Weiss has been the President of the X PRIZE Foundation since July, 2008.

My family, science education, magic, space and popular culture

Film & TV production, Prizes