Tom DeSanto is the founding writer/producer behind some of the biggest franchises in movie history, including Transformers and X-Men. His films have grossed almost $6 billion dollars worldwide, with billions more in licensing, merchandising, and video games.
As a self-described pop culture junkie, DeSanto dreamed of bringing the characters he loved as a kid to life in Hollywood. X-Men was first on his list, and he saw potential in the stable of characters he grew up with becoming films. DeSanto contacted 20th Century Fox and pushed the film out of a long-stalled development and into production.
DeSanto co-wrote the story and did several rewrites of the screenplay, including the drafts that greenlit the film. X-Men spawned a billion-dollar franchise for Fox and helped Marvel rise out of bankruptcy.
After the success of X-Men, DeSanto pulled another undervalued property, Battlestar Galactica, out of mothballs and developed Galactica for Universal Television. Battlestar Galactica found a home on Sci-Fi Channel and was the number one rated mini-series for all of cable in 2003, helping to brand the network.
DeSanto returned as part of the guiding creative team for "X2: X-Men United", including the continuation of the Phoenix storyline, which he set up in the first film. X-Men was used by Marvel as the template for larger storylines and interconnected characters, which has been the foundation of their success.
DeSanto then went after Transformers, another dormant property that he was a fan of since childhood. He reached out to his friend producer Don Murphy about partnering on the project and they set meetings with Hasbro. Based on DeSanto's pitch and understanding of the universe, Hasbro gave them the rights for free, hoping DeSanto would do for Transformers and Hasbro what he did for X-Men and Marvel.
Transformers was a tough sell for those running the who studios did not grow up with the property and therefore did not understand its potential. After being rejected by every studio in town, DeSanto made a second pass at DreamWorks and after Steven Spielberg read his treatment, he decided his studio would do the film and was an early champion of the idea.
DeSanto set the project up with DreamWorks and Paramount, selling his storyline and attaching as Producer. The first film grossed over $700 million dollars worldwide and DeSanto gave birth to another franchise. Transformers was the first live-action franchise for DreamWorks and Paramount's largest moneymaking series in its history.
DeSanto returned as Producer of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009 and the film became the biggest moneymaker of 2009 with over $800 million in box office alone. He also produced the billion-dollar-grossing Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Transformers: Age of Extinction. DeSanto returned in 2017 for Transformers: The Last Knight and to produce, Bumblebee, a solo Transformers film of the beloved character released December 2018.
In addition to filmmaking, DeSanto has done several documentaries involving various social causes. Kidnapped For Christ, a documentary about abuse of children at religious education camps, won numerous awards including the Audience Award at SlamDance Film Festival and was sold to Showtime.
His next documentary, Lost In America, deals with the problems of youth homelessness and how politics has gotten in the middle finding a solution to getting these kids off the street. It was released to critical acclaim in February 2020 and scores 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
DeSanto is also an activist, having spoken at the Smithsonian, Kennedy Center at Harvard, and the United Nations.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, DeSanto co-founded Facts2Health in partnership with the CDC Foundation to activate Hollywood to help in messaging in the battle against the virus. DeSanto created the Heroes Wear Masks campaign which enlisted pop culture heroes to join the global battle against COVID-19.
The website and social media program helped change the narrative on wearing masks, helping people, especially children and young adults, understand that you wear a mask to protect others. The campaign was cited for excellence in social media in 2021.
DeSanto's world-building continues into the world of digital medicine as he is a Co-Founder of NeuroAnimation. The company uses computer animation and virtual reality to help people recover from stroke and other neurological medical issues.
DeSanto returned to produce Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which released June 9, 2023, and a Transformers feature animated film titled Transformers One for summer 2024. Transformers continues to be Paramount/Viacom's most profitable franchise in studio history, employing thousands of people around the globe.
