Tony Krantz

Tony Krantz (born June 16, 1959) is an American television executive, producer, writer, and director. Krantz started his career in the American entertainment industry as an agent, and spent 15 years at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) working in capacities ranging from mailroom trainee and messenger at the start of his career, to eventually running the Primetime Television Department, where he personally packaged ER, Twin Peaks, Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place and The West Wing, among many other television series. Under his leadership, there were 32 shows on the primetime lineup that CAA represented when Krantz left to start the next part of his career. After leaving CAA, Krantz transitioned into producing television, and was one of the founders of Imagine Television and its CEO. Krantz left Imagine in 2002 to pursue a somewhat different path on the creative side of the industry as a film director. He has since directed three films - Sublime, Otis, and The Big Bang - and is currently the principal and owner of the independent production company, Flame Ventures.

Early life

Krantz was born on June 16, 1959,^[1] in New York City to Jewish-American #1 bestselling novelist Judith Krantz^[2] and film producer and writer Stephen Falk Krantz. Krantz graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1977^[1] where he was senior class president, and then went on to college at the University of California, Berkeley. Krantz worked as a concert promoter at Berkeley, producing the U.C. Berkeley Jazz Festival in 1980 among many other punk rock and rock concerts which would later influence his work in many ways.^[3][4] Krantz says he worked on the music side of the entertainment business in college because that is what was available to him in the college setting, but he ultimately wanted to work in film and TV because he felt it was “more interesting, complex and dimensionalized.”^[4] Krantz graduated from Berkeley in June 1981 with a degree in Business Administration.

Career

Krantz started his professional career two weeks after graduating from Berkeley in the mailroom at CAA.^[5][6] He chose this classic path because there was a structured program and path with a clear point of entry into the business. As a messenger in the mailroom, Krantz delivered documents and ran errands for clients and the founding partners at CAA. During his early days in his entry level job at CAA, Krantz relished the opportunity to attend all company meetings led by the head of the company, Michael Ovitz. During those meetings, Krantz was able to glean “a sense of the company’s direction, future, and the power of the vision of the agency.”^[6] After ten months in the mailroom, he was promoted to motion picture literary agent Jack Rapke’s assistant, replacing Mark Rossen who’d just been promoted to agent in the TV Literary Department. While working on Rapke’s desk, Krantz wrote a 100+ page paper about CAA and the music business based on ideas he developed around his work as a concert promoter at Berkeley. In the paper, he detailed a plan for CAA to enter the music business without becoming a straight booking agency. Krantz turned the paper in and was made an agent days later in the TV Literary Department, 16 months after starting at the agency.^[4][6]

As Krantz rose from a TV literary agent to a television packaging agent at CAA, Krantz had a hand in bringing forth many notable series by collaborating closely with well-respected creative forces in the industry, concentrating on the agency’s motion picture clients who at the time viewed the television business with skepticism. In 1990, Twin Peaks creator Mark Frost said he credited the development of the series to Krantz’s “determination to get [Frost and co-creator David Lynch to write a television script.” ^[4][7] Krantz later described packaging Twin Peaks as his personal “artistic high point” as an agent.^[8] Krantz was also the driving force behind the creation of “ER” as a television series. During a development meeting at CAA in 1993, Krantz remembered a film script that Michael Crichton had written years earlier based on his experience at medical school. Krantz re-read the script and then convinced a reticent Crichton and the script’s owner Amblin Television and Warner Bros. to turn that 13-year-old work into what would eventually become the ultra successful NBC drama, “ER.” Krantz found a showrunner for Crichton, John Wells (whom Krantz also represented),^[9] and the pilot was taken word for word from Crichton’s film script.^[4][10] The series ran for 15 seasons^[11] and is widely considered one of the most successful dramas in television history. Other top series Krantz put together include “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Melrose Place” and “The West Wing”.^[2][3][6]

Krantz built a reputation as an expert in his field. In 1996, he taught a course at UCLA Extension’s department of entertainment studies and performing arts titled “Creating a Career in the Entertainment Industry.” The course included discussions of conceptualization, business savvy, selling strategy and global distribution.^[12] He also taught extensively at the U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and for three years to graduate students at U.S.C.’s Peter Stark Producing Program.^[13]

In 1998, Krantz left his career at CAA to produce television, and partnered with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard to found Imagine Television. Krantz served as CEO of Imagine Television and was its principal partner, and executive produced many television shows, including Felicity with JJ Abrams and Matt Reeves, Sports Night with Aaron Sorkin, Wonderland with Peter Berg, The PJs with Eddie Murphy, Mulholland Dr. with David Lynch, and 24 with Kiefer Sutherland.^[2][6][9] After six years at Imagine, a rift with Grazer over Krantz’s plans and vision for growth led Krantz to leave to actively pursue his producing and directing dream at his own company, Flame Ventures.^[2] In 2002, he was replaced at Imagine by former Fox executive Vice President of Programming, David Nevins,^[14] who now runs Showtime.

Krantz’s opportunity to direct came with the development of the Raw Feed project, a series of direct-to-DVD movies that represented a first of this format for Warner Bros. Studios under their Warner Home Video division.^[15] Krantz told Elyse Eisenberg at Warner Home Video that his dream since the third grade was to direct. Eisenberg told him “Warner Bros would approve you as a director in a heartbeat.”^[3] So Krantz became part of a trio of directors (alongside Daniel Myrick, director of the “Blair Witch Project” and John Shiban, writer and executive producer for “Supernatural” and “The X-Files”)^[4] who were tapped to create “Raw Feed,” a series of films that in part were a modernized homage to Rod Serling’s TV series “The Twilight Zone.” In March 2007, the second film in the 6-part film series, a surreal psychological sci-fi thriller called Sublime, was released. The film was directed by Krantz and written by Erik Jendresen. Krantz described it as “a thinking man’s horror film” with a huge twist at the end.^[16] In 2008, the fourth film of the Raw Feed series, a black comedy/horror film entitled Otis was released. The film was co-penned by Jendresen and directed by Krantz during an 18-day shoot. The film stars Daniel Stern, Ileana Douglas and Kevin Pollack.^[17] In a 2008 interview at SXSW where it opened the festival in its midnight slot, Krantz described Otis as a purposeful satire on the over-abundance of torture and gore porn movies, but also a “meditation on the Iraq war.”^[16]

The independent thriller, The Big Bang, was Krantz’s most involved directing project to date. In a 2011 interview, Krantz stated that directing the indie thriller, The Big Bang, was "the most fun [he’s] ever had professionally.”^[18] He was involved in the project from its creative conception to its completion. Krantz developed the concept from scratch alongside the writer (frequent collaborator Erik Jendresen, who wrote Sublime and co-wrote Otis). The script was completed within four months. Krantz and Jendresen were influenced by the Coen Brothers and David Lynch ^[3] with the concept of putting a mystery story about particle physics into the middle of a neo-noir detective thriller about the search for a missing girl.^[19]

Agent Ed Limato of the William Morris Agency read the script, fell in love with it and gave it to Antonio Banderas, who quickly agreed to star in the film.^[3] Banderas was knowledgeable about astrophysics and particle physics, and immediately appreciated the hidden meanings in the script.^[4] Once he agreed to do the movie, the film was financed despite a difficult financial environment for independent film financing at the time. Actors were attracted to the unique film despite its lower budget. Casting director Kerry Barden helped Krantz reach out to bigger name actors than might have been typical for a film with a similar budget and a relatively inexperienced director.^[19] Along with Banderas, the cast included Thomas Kretschmann, William Fichtner, Delroy Lindo, Autumn Reeser, Sienna Guillory, James Van Der Beek, Sam Elliott, Jimmi Simpson and Snoop Dogg.

Krantz assembled a well-known team of artists to help bring the film to life. Much of the look of the movie was a result of Shelly Johnson’s work in collaboration with Krantz as cinematographer. The film’s visual style was also inspired by the surreal photography of Gregory Crewdson.^[2] J. Todd Anderson, a storyboard artist who works primarily with the Coen Brothers, agreed to work with Krantz to storyboard The Big Bang. Johnny Marr, acclaimed lead guitarist for The Smiths, wrote the score, the first time Marr had ever done a score for film. The film was shot over 30 days, which felt luxurious to Krantz compared with his other projects.^[4]

In 2011, Flame Ventures hired Reece Pearson as Director of Development and stepped up its television efforts, selling eight projects in the span of several weeks using an indie model similar to the structure used by DreamWorks Television, in which projects are sold directly to the networks and then passed on to the studios affiliated with those networks.^[20] In late 2011, Krantz left his representation at WME and went back to CAA,^[21] this time as a client. Among the eight projects that were part of that big push was Scruples, an adaptation of a 1978 novel written by Krantz’s mother, Judith Krantz. The project was executive produced by Krantz with Natalie Portman.^[20] That project did not go forward to series. In 2013, Krantz’s “Dracula” aired as on NBC as a series, starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in the titular role.^[22]

Drew Comins is the current Executive Vice President of Production and Development at Flame Ventures.^[23]

Projects in Development

Among many projects in development, early in 2013, Krantz partnered with Origin Entertainment to produce a film on the life and work of Mother Teresa. Oscar nominated Hotel Rwanda screenwriter, Keir Pearson, was hired to write the screenplay. Krantz gave “final approval” for the film to the Mother Teresa Center (MTC), a non-profit organization established and directed by the Missionaries of Charity to be a centralized and authoritative source of information on Mother Teresa.^[24] Krantz’s willingness to work with the MTC is the reason he was given permission to make the first and only authorized film on her life.^[25] The focus of the film will not be Catholicism, but instead Mother Teresa’s good works and her life, which, in Krantz’s words, fully embodied “total commitment, faith, charity and love.”^[26]

Krantz made his foray into screenwriting with his first script, Saboteurs, an international series about the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Krantz wrote the script on spec and sold it in a competitive bidding situation with several interested buyers. Given the scope of 'Saboteurs,' Krantz elected to send his script to eOne Television, a television content business known for their international productions and collaborations. Apparently Krantz was uneasy about his first venture into the world of screenwriting; he did not disclose to Entertainment One that he had written the script until after they contacted him with an offer to purchase the project,^[27] using the pen name Zachary Falk (Krantz’s name for the first 24 hours of his life until his parents changed it to Anthony, thinking the name Zachary was too odd).

Since then, Krantz has gone on to write multiple scripts for both film and television, including his adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera^[28] as a series with Endemol Studios, 2419, the origin story of Anthony Rogers who would go on to become Buck Rogers in the famous comic strip, and Six, a sci-fi thriller he will also direct,^[24] among others.

Creative Influences

Krantz describes his work as a concert promoter at Berkeley as the major early influence on his career, because it was all about “idealism, spirituality and artistic integrity.” He says one particular concert with Talking Heads in San Francisco was the “coolest concert that ever was.”^[3]

Apocalypse Now is Krantz’s favorite film.^[8]

When interviewed about his perhaps unique transition from agent and executive to director and writer, Krantz shared that has wanted to direct since he was in third grade at Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, but he knew that it would be difficult to enter that realm.^[3][8] As a child, he wrote letters to Woody Allen, Francis Coppola and Miloš Forman, asking them what it was like to be a director.^[3] He says the directing heroes of his life are Mike Nichols, Coppola, the Coen Brothers and David Lynch because of their artistry.^[2][3] He acknowledges that he joined CAA at the start of his career mostly because he was looking for a job with structure and a path to earn a living after college. CAA had a training program, so it made sense to start there. As an agent, the transition to producer was more seamless, and then he finally came around to being the director he always wanted to be.^[29] Krantz believes life is a process, not a destination, where fear has to be conquered. Although his life as a director-producer is the life he always wanted to live, he did not believe he was abandoning his ability to sell, package and produce projects. He was simply transitioning to “the next step, moving from macro to micro.”^[3] He defies a widely held conception in Hollywood that agents and even producers are not creatively inclined.

Krantz is not interested in making films that are just pure entertainment or only popcorn. Because his livelihood is established, he does not have to worry like a lot of young filmmakers about commercial success only. He believes great actors and a director’s vision of a movie are key. There needs to be something deeper than a commercial exercise for the film to transcend and break through and be meaningful.^[4]

Krantz advises emerging filmmakers to find a great writer to collaborate with. Filmmakers get hired based on material they control that established actors want to be involved with. He also believes beginning filmmakers should get as much experience as they can through theater and television, and remember that the entertainment business is mercurial and difficult for everybody, no matter the level. Everything takes time in the entertainment business, and that’s just the way it is.^[4] In Krantz’s TV background, the writer is king. The script is fundamental to making a good movie, and he considers the writer as the key resource along with actors as a project is being executed by him as its director.^[8] Film is widely known only as a “director’s medium,” but Krantz disagrees.

Personal life

Krantz is married to Kristin Dornig, the co-founder and CEO of Prana Studios.^[30] They met at CAA and live together in Beverly Hills, California, and their home in Soho, New York City. Tony has a brother, Nicholas Krantz.^[1]

When Krantz was worried about leaving his established, comfortable career at CAA to produce television, it was Dornig who encouraged him to pick up the phone and call Brian Grazer to inquire about a partnership, after the couple saw the movie “Ransom” in San Francisco. This call eventually led to the founding of Imagine Television with Grazer and Howard, who directed that movie.^[16]

Political Life

Krantz is active in Democratic politics and attended a 2008 fundraiser for Barack Obama at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills at $28,500 per plate with his wife and mother.^[31]

In May 2014, Krantz hosted a Foreign Policy Roundtable (on which he serves as a board member) at his home in Beverly Hills where attendees listened in on a conversation between Ari Shavit, noted Israeli journalist and author of My Promised Land, and Jessica Yellin, former CNN White House correspondent.^[30]

Awards

Krantz’s shows have won numerous Emmys and Golden Globes. In 2002, Krantz received the Producer’s Guild Award for best dramatic series for his work on 24 as its executive producer.^[32]

References