Sandra Rabins

Executive Vice President, Paramount Animation | USA

Sandra Rabins is one of the most respected Live Action and Animation executives in the industry. She is known for her ability to assemble top artistic talent, problem solve and streamline productions.

Born and raised in Hollywood, Rabins began her career at Paramount Pictures as a production accountant working on such films as Flashdance, Terms of Endearment, and Witness. In 1985 she moved to Walt Disney Studios, where she was responsible for establishing the production entities to create and animate Roger Rabbit, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas, and James and the Giant Peach in San Francisco. She was also instrumental in helping Pixar establish itself as a digital film entity to create Toy Story. In addition to working on up to twenty studio films a year, her responsibilities included overseeing traditional animation as well as Theme Park Films. In 1993 Rabins became the Senior Vice President of Production and Finance for Buena Vista Pictures, where she worked on 30 films including The Joy Luck Club. She served as Executive Producer on the summer hit Dangerous Minds, starring Michelle Pfeiffer.

Always attracted to new challenges, Rabins helped build the animation division of DreamWorks Studios from scratch, and was instrumental in the purchase of PDI, helping to build it into a digital effects theatrical giant. Rabins produced DreamWorks’ first traditionally animated feature, The Prince of Egypt and followed that up with the computer animated Antz, which marked the first feature from PDI/DreamWorks. In 2001, Rabins served as an executive producer on the computer animated blockbuster box office hit comedy, Shrek, which won the People’s Choice Award for best comedy feature, and the first Academy Award for best animated film. In addition to her producing responsibilities, she was responsible for the preparation of the studio’s business plan (television, animation, theatrical, distribution, marketing, and music).

From 2002-2009 she served as Senior Executive Vice President of Sony Pictures Animation, where she worked on the hit comedy Open Season, the critically acclaimed Surf’s Up, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Hotel Transylvania. Sandra Rabins and her producing partner, Penney Finkelman Cox, co-own the independent live-action production entity, Patchwork Productions, which executive produced the 2007 feature film Snakes on a Plane. In 2010 she was asked to join DreamWorks Animation Television as a senior executive producer overseeing Dragons: Riders of Berk, a new television series based on the worldwide hit film How to Train Your Dragon. It began airing on Cartoon Network in 2012, and in February 2013 it won four Annie Awards, including Best Animated TV Production for Children. In 2016 she produced with Kathryn Bigelow the award winning short Last Days of Ivory. Rabins recently completed work on the animated motion picture entitled Duck Duck Goose for the animation company Original Force.

In 2018, Rabins was hired by Paramount Animation as EVP, overseeing a slate of projects. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as the PGA and ASIFA.