PRODUCTION TEAM
CHRISTIAN DeFRANK
In one capacity or another, whether credited or un-credited, Christian DeFrank has been responsible for a host of productions which combined excellence and popularity. Whether working with his mentor, veteran producer Dan Curtis, on a vampire soap opera, casting a Redgrave in Turn of the Screw, or editing a Dolly Parton special, he has become the audience’s finest ally.
As a college freshman, he contrived to get a part in the New York based CBS daytime series The Secret Storm, a soap opera known for its strong character driven stories. This led to a long association with daytime television and further roles on Love of Life. Both shows were powerhouses of their era and gave him a healthy and instinctive knowledge of the technical crafts of live television drama.
After the death of King’s Road Entertainment’s founder, Steven Friedman, Mr DeFrank became President and Chief Operating Officer of the company, serving in this capacity from 2001 – 2006. During this period he initiated remakes for some of the company’s iconic film titles including Best of Times and The Big Easy. He acted as Development Producer for Kickboxer and All of Me (2009), an Adam Shankman remake starring Queen Latifah.
As a producer, Christian DeFrank has always maintained an immense respect for the written word, and his work has never ceased to be writer-based. He once commissioned Terry Southern to write a feature film script, a black comedy about MI5 and its surveillance activities of the Third Reich, set against the backdrop of the 1936 Olympics. His transatlantic constellation of writers included such talents as Terry Southern, Marty Feldman, and Graham Chapman.
He was a partner in production house Finecut Films Ltd, in London’s Wardour Street, which provided post production services to such feature films as Heaven’s Gate, The Muppet Movie, Heat and Dust, and Foxbat, among others.
Mr DeFrank has provided 3-D facilities and technical expertise to such film distributors as Columbia-Warner-EMI, the Rank Organization, the Cannon Group, and Entertainment Film Distributors, relating to the distribution of filmed entertainment such as Jaws 3-D, Spacehunter, Friday The 13th Part 3-D, and re-releases of such classics as Dial M for Murder and House of Wax.
RALPH MORRIS Co Executive Producer
Ralph Morris has had a varied marketing career, working in sales and marketing for Southern Television Ltd between 1973 and 1982, then Television South PLC, between 1982 and 1985 in a similar capacity. He, subsequently, set up his own operation, which won the exclusive direct marketing licensing contract from the Walt Disney Organisation for the sales of all Disney merchandise to the UK and the Republic of Ireland between1986 and 1992.
He also acted as a consultant to Talbot Television and Fremantle Television, arranging sponsorship for programmes such as Sale of the Century.
Whilst acting as Marketing Director of Europe's largest natural health clinic, he initiated a series of documentary programmes, which were broadcast on Channel 4. Ralph is now entering into a partnership with Ulster University to create a new Faculty of Jewish Law.