Marty Bowen AB ’91 is a film and television producer whose work is defined by emotional intimacy, literary adaptation, and global storytelling. As the co-founder of Temple Hill Entertainment, Bowen has helped bring some of the most resonant stories of the past two decades to the screen, including THE TWILIGHT SAGA, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, SMILE, and THE MAZE RUNNER franchise. Producing across genres that range from YA romance and coming-of-age stories to horror and musicals, Temple Hill’s projects consistently reflect Bowen’s belief that stories endure not because of spectacle alone, but because of emotional truth. Today, Bowen continues to expand Temple Hill’s slate while remaining committed to emotionally grounded storytelling, flexibility in a shift industry, and supporting stories that resonate across cultures and formats. 

When Bowen arrived at Harvard, film and television were far from his mind. Raised in Texas as the son of a banker, he came to campus with traditional ambitions and the assumption that success followed a conventional path—often toward finance or business. He played football, went to class, and believed Harvard was meant to prepare him for that kind of future. “I thought the box that it was supposed to check was to prepare me for a life in finance and business,” Bowen reflects. 

Yet outside of football and academics, he found himself increasingly drawn to performances on campus, carving out time to attend plays and musicals simply because he enjoyed them. “My gut classes were self-studies in film or theater,” he recalls. At the time, those evenings didn’t feel like aspirations so much as escapes. “I didn’t look at that as work. I looked at that as relief,” Bowen says. 

Harvard, for him, was not a place of immediate clarity, but one of possibility—an environment that allowed curiosity to exist without the pressure of knowing exactly where it would lead. It wasn’t until after graduation, as he began questioning the careers he was “supposed” to want, that he realized those so-called side interests pointed more closely toward what genuinely excited him.

After graduation, Bowen moved to Los Angeles without a job, an apartment, or a safety net, giving himself a limited window to try the entertainment industry. “There’s a kind of freedom in having very little,” he reflects. He initially found his way into the mailroom at United Talent Agency, choosing UTA deliberately because it was a young, growing company where he believed he could learn quickly and take on responsibility early. While the uncertainty and rejection of those early months were formative, Bowen also began to recognize that this was a world in which he could succeed. “I did realize that this was a world that I thought I could be good in,” he recalls. 

Bowen entered UTA’s trainee program and rose through the ranks to become a literary agent and eventually a partner, working closely with writers such as Charlie Kaufman (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) and Larry McMurtry (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN). Representing writers at that level sharpened his understanding of storytelling at its most fundamental: voice, character, and emotional authenticity, while teaching him how central trust is to the creative process.

By the mid-2000s, Bowen had reached a point in his career where founding a production company felt possible. After years of working closely with writers and material, he had built the relationships and industry trust needed to take that next step. Yet even as he succeeded as an agent, Bowen began to feel the limits of the role. “I realized as much as I enjoyed being an agent that I didn’t think I could do it for the rest of my life,” he says. For Bowen, it came down to a simple philosophy: “If you are competitive, and you are trying to win a race, if you don’t really care, then it’s probably not a race you should be running.”

In 2006, he left United Talent Agency to cofound Temple Hill Entertainment alongside producer Wyck Godfrey. Built around a commitment to emotionally driven, character-first storytelling, the company’s early projects, beginning with THE NATIVITY STORY, set the foundation for a slate that would grow across film, television, and publishing, while remaining rooted in emotional authenticity.

As Temple Hill expanded throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Bowen’s role evolved from building a slate to shaping a creative philosophy at scale. Producing projects like THE TWILIGHT SAGA tested that philosophy at unprecedented scope, reinforcing his belief that scale only works when grounded in character and emotional truth. Producing across franchises, literary adaptations, and original projects required Bowen to constantly balance emotional intimacy with commercial reach—reinforcing his belief that scale only works when grounded in character and feeling. Temple Hill’s growth during this period reflected Bowen’s ability to shepherd stories that resonated widely without losing their emotional core.

When streaming fundamentally altered the movie industry's structure, Bowen saw it as an opportunity to expand Temple Hill's reach. He began thinking more globally about storytelling and the kinds of voices Temple Hill could support, a shift reflected in the company’s expansion into London. For Bowen, global growth was not about reinvention, but about extending Temple Hill’s core values across new cultural contexts—recognizing that emotionally resonant stories are not bound by geography. As streaming expanded and traditional theatrical models were upended, Bowen adapted without abandoning his guiding principles, allowing Temple Hill to produce across borders and formats while remaining anchored in emotional authenticity.

That philosophy is evident in Bowen’s current work, including Temple Hill’s adaptation of CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE, the bestselling novel by Harvard alum Tomi Adeyemi AB ’15. Drawn to the book’s cultural specificity, expansive world-building, and deeply personal emotional core, Bowen saw the project as emblematic of the stories he feels compelled to champion: narratives that are epic in scale yet intimate at their center. The adaptation reflects both Bowen’s long-standing commitment to literary storytelling and Temple Hill’s evolution into a company that thinks globally about narrative impact, grounded in human experience.

In an increasingly fragmented media landscape, Bowen’s approach to storytelling has only become more intentional. Rather than designing projects to chase algorithms or short-lived trends, he remains focused on sincerity. “Emotion cuts through noise,” he notes. Across Temple Hill’s diverse slate, Bowen finds himself returning again and again to the same emotional terrain: love, fear, identity, and belonging. Genre, for him, is simply a vessel. What ultimately matters is whether a story creates a genuine emotional entry point for its audience.

It is a philosophy Bowen traces back to those evenings at Harvard, sitting in darkened theaters and watching stories simply because they moved him. Decades later, he still returns to the same instinct when evaluating a project: Does this story matter? Does it feel true? The answer determines everything that follows.