Linda Thurman is an author, speaker, and executive director of Movie Poster Archives, a nonprofit
dedicated to the preservation of film accessories: posters, stills and related papers. Now retired, she was
president and co-founder of Emerald Bayou Studios. Linda is the author of Hollywood South: Glamour,
Gumbo, and Greed (Pelican Publishing). Her eclectic career includes film, television, theater, music, and
publishing.
She held positions at United Artists, Norman Lear’s Act III Productions, and HBO Pictures. Linda was
Managing Editor of the Hollywood Creative Directory where she initiated and supervised the launch of
HCD Online in 1994, the first year of explosive growth for the World Wide Web. The company was
purchased by iFilm.com in 2000.
Linda is the Chief Operating Officer of the New Orleans Entertainment Coalition. In addition to serving
on the board of advisors of the Louisiana Center for Women in Government and Business, she also
serves on the board of advisors of the Louisiana Girls Leadership Academy. She was a founding member
of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmys) Interactive Media Peer Group and served on
the Digital Coast Roundtable (appointed by the Mayor of Los Angeles). She has also served on the
boards of the Association of Internet Professionals, the Louisiana Center for Workforce Recovery, New
Orleans Video Access Center, and on the E-Commerce Advisory Committee for California State
University Dominguez Hills, and the Internet Neutrality Task Force for the U.S. League of Women Voters.
Linda’s talent for combining art and technology surfaced early in her career as a theatrical lighting
designer in New York. Her credits include John Sayles’ Turnbuckle with David Straithairn; Village Wooing
with Rip Torn; and Spider Rabbit with Taylor Meade of the Andy Warhol Studio. Also in New York, Linda
directed the play But Can A Woman Alone which was selected for presentation at the prestigious
Womyn’s Theater Festival in Boston.
Throughout her career, Linda has worked closely with high-profile personalities. A few of her more than
200 films are Fried Green Tomatoes with Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates, Sweet Dreams with Jessica
Lange, and the original cult classic, The Hitcher with Rutger Hauer. Her experience in the music industry
led her to join Cindi Lauper, Michael Bolton, Mike Stoller, and Diane Warren in the American delegation
to the Songwriters Summit in Moscow in 1988.
A native of Louisiana, Linda attended Southeastern Louisiana University majoring in music. While at
SELU, she starred in numerous theatrical productions, including the southern premiere of The Good
Soldier Schweik, performing the four major female roles. Later, she moved to New Orleans to work on
the production staff at the Repertory Theater New Orleans. While in the Crescent City, Linda was a staff
producer at NOVAC (New Orleans Video Access Center) where she negotiated the organization’s first
distribution deal with the City of New Orleans. This deal also created one of the first distribution systems
putting TV monitors in locations to screen product.
Linda was the 2003 honoree for the Tom Bigler Endowed Chair in Media at Wilkes University.
Her articles have appeared in the NATPE News, the Los Angeles Voter, and Woman Spirit Magazine. She
has been quoted in the Los Angeles Times, the Hollywood Reporter, and numerous New Media
publications.