Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree

Jonathan D. Krane

Education

• 1968-72, Bachelor of Arts, St.John's College.  Enrolled at 15 years old and graduated first in class with 4.2 GPA, and won best speaker award
  
  
• 1972-73, Thomas Watson Fellow,  Lived for one year in England, France and Greece, independently studying civil liberties in European criminal justice systems
  
  
• 1973-76, Doctor of Jurisprudence, Yale Law School.  While attending, was Editorial Assistant to Boris Bittker and wrote chapters of the treatise, “Bittker on Taxes”

Movies Produced by Jonathan Krane

The Trail of the Pink Panther	Curse of the Pink Panther	The Man Who Loved Women	Micki and Maude
A Fine Mess	That’s Life	Blind Date	You Can’t Hurry Love
Slipping into Darkness	The Chocolate War	C.H.U.D. II - Bud the Chud	The Experts
Look Who’s Talking	Getting it Right	Catch Me If You Can	Limit Up
Fatal Charm	Without You I’m Nothing	Convicts	Look Who’s Talking Too
Cold Heaven	Chains of Gold	Boris and Natasha	Breaking the Rules
Look Who’s Talking Now	Love Is a Gun	Point of Betrayal	Phenomenon
Michael	The Lay of the Land	Face/Off	Primary Colors
Mad City	A Civil Action	The General’s Daughter	Battlefield Earth
Lucky Numbers	Swordfish	Domestic Disturbance	Bar Hopping

Professional Experience

• 1976 Editorial Assistant to Boris Bittker.  Published article in Journal of Corporate Taxation, "Losses from the Wash Sales of Stocks and Securities"
  
  
• 1977-81 Associate, Irell & Manella.  Specialized in international motion picture taxation and entertainment law at this Los Angeles law firm
  
  
• 1981-87 Co-founder and CEO of Blake Edwards Entertainment (BEE), the first production/management company in the film business
  
  
• 1983-1987 Founder and CEO of Management Company Entertainment (MCE), an independent spinoff from BEE
  
  
• 1987-1990 Founder and CEO, Management Company Entertainment Group (MCEG), the first management/ production/distribution company. Took it public, youngest CEO of a public company. MCEG was the best performing entertainment stock in 1988.  From 17 employees and $1 million in revenue, MCEG grew to 500 employees, over 150 talent management clients and $200 million in revenue by 1990.
  
  
• 1991  Founder and CEO, The Jonathan Krane Group, a production/management company that produced both studio and independent films, and managed a select group of clients, including John Travolta and Kim Basinger
  
  
• 2004-05 Co-Founder and Managing Member of Florida based Krane, DuBois, LLC, parent company of Krane Academy, Krane Productions, Krane Talent Management, Krane Film Market, and Creative Vision Publishing.
  

Teaching Experience

• 2006-present, Founder and Professor, Krane Academy.
  A 20-Month advanced fellowship offering a diploma program in Motion Picture Producing and a Producer’s credit on a Feature Film.
  • 12-Month Theory Program
  • 8-Month Professional Film Production

• 2004-05  Professor, Lynn University.  Taught Motion Picture Production courses based upon Krane’s new textbook,
  A Revolutionary Approach to the Art and Science of Moviemaking: A Treatise on Fixing the Accidental Industry
  
  
• 1984-97  UCLA Extension School - Professor for 14 years on Motion Picture Production and Talent Management. While at UCLA, approximately 10,000 students took class, which was consistently ranked among the highest of all the courses taught at the Extension School, primarily aimed at industry professionals.  Recently, as part of an innovative year-long class, taught and conducted all five stages of producing — from creating an original idea through post-production — with a select group of students chosen from hundreds of applicants.  Called “Movies Kill”, the film is currently in post-production
  
  
• 1980’s  Panelist at the Paul Kagan Seminars on the Motion Picture Industry
  
  
• 1985  Seminar Leader, Hawaii Film Festival
  
  
• 1985  Panelist at the UCLA seminar on the Motion Picture Industry
  
  
• 1986  Seminar Leader, Palm Springs Film Festival
  
  
• 1986  Guest Lecturer at American Film Institute
  
  
• 1986  Panelist at the joint DGA/WGA  Women in Film seminar on “Female Bias in the Film Industry”
  
  
• 1989  Founded and financier, USC “First Look” Film Festival
  
  
• 2001  Keynote speaker, Hollywood Film Festival

Publications

• 1977 Losses from Wash Sales of Stocks and Securities
  
  
• 1985  The Future of Independent Film Companies published in the UCLA symposium on the entertainment industry
  
  
• 1989   Revolution, Evolution and the Survival of the Fittest--The Future of Independent FilmsVariety
  
  
• 2005  A Revolutionary Approach to the Art and Science of Moviemaking: A Treatise on Fixing the Accidental Industry published by Creative Vision Publishing, LLC

Motion Pictures Produced (as Producer or Executive Producer)

• 1982    “The Trail of the Pink Panther”
  Director: Blake Edwards; Starring Peter Sellers  (MGM/UA)
  
  
• 1983    “Curse of the Pink Panther Director”
  Blake Edwards; Starring Ted Wass, David Niven  (MGM/UA)
  
  
• 1983    “The Man Who Loved Women”
  Director: Blake Edwards; Starring Burt Reynolds, Kim Basinger (feature film debut), Marilu Henner (Columbia)
  
  
• 1984    “Micki and Maude”
  Director: Blake Edwards; Starring Dudley Moore, Amy Irving (Columbia)
  
• 1986    “A Fine Mess”
  Director: Blake Edwards; Starring Ted Danson, Howie Mandel (feature film debut) (Columbia)
  
  
• 1986    “That’s Life”
  Director: Blake Edwards; Starring Jack Lemmon, Julie Andrews, Sally Kellerman, Robert Loggia (Columbia)
  
  
• 1987    “Blind Date”
  Director: Blake Edwards; Starring Bruce Willis (film debut), Kim Basinger, John Larroquette (Tristar)
  
• 1988    “You Can’t Hurry Love”
  Director: Richard Martini (directorial debut); Starring Bridget Fonda (feature film debut), Kristy McNichol, Charles Grodin (Vestron)
  
  
• 1988    “Slipping into Darkness”
  Director: Eleanor Gaver (directorial debut); Starring Michelle Johnson, Vyto Rugins (MCEG)
  
  
• 1988    “The Chocolate War”
  Director: Keith Gordon (directorial debut); Starring John Glover, Jenny Wright, Adam Baldwin (MCEG)
  
• 1989    “C.H.U.D. II - Bud the Chud”
  Director: David Irving; Starring Robert Vaughan, Garrett Graham (Vestron)
  
  
• 1989    “The Experts”
  Director: Dave Thomas; Starring John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Ayre Gross, Charlie Martin Smith (Paramount)
  
  
• 1989    “Look Who’s Talking”
  Director: Amy Heckerling; Starring John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Olympia Dukakis, George Segal, Bruce Willis (voice of baby) (Tristar)
  
  
• 1989   “Getting it Right’
  Director: Randal Kleiser; Starring Lynn Redgrave, Sir John Gielgud, Helena Bonham Carter (MCEG)
  
• 1989   “Catch Me If You Can”
  Director Steve Sommers (directorial debut); Starring Matt Lattanzi, Loryn Locklyn, M. Emmett Walsh, Geoffrey Lewis (MCEG)
  
  
• 1989   “Limit Up”
  Director: Richard Martini; Starring Nancy Allen, Dean Stockwell, Ray Charles (MCEG)
  
  
• 1990   “Fatal Charm”
  director: Fritz Kiersch; Starring Amanda Peterson, Mary Frann, Christopher Atkins (MCEG)
  
  
• 1990   “Without You I’m Nothing”
  Director: John Boskovich (directorial debut); Starring Sandra Bernhard (New Line)
  
• 1990   “Convicts”
  Director: Peter Masterson; Starring Robert Duvall, Lukas Haas, James Earl Jones (Del Rio Dist.)
  
  
• 1990   “Look Who’s Talking Too”
  Director: Amy Heckerling; Starring John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Elias Koteas (feature film debut) (Tristar)
  
  
• 1991   “Cold Heaven’
  Director: Nicholas Roeg; Starring Theresa Russell, Mark Harmon, Talia Shire (Hemdale)
  
  
• 1991   “Chains of Gold”
  Director: Rod Holcomb; Starring John Travolta,  Marilu Henner, Benjamin Bratt (feature film debut) (MCEG)
  
• 1992   “Boris and Natasha”
  Director: Charles Martin Smith; Starring John Candy, Sally Kellerman, Dave Thomas (MCEG)
  
  
• 1992   “Breaking the Rules”
  Director: Neal Israel; Starring C. Thomas Howell, Jason Bateman, Jonathan Silverman, Annie Potts (Miramax)
  
  
• 1993   “Look Who’s Talking Now”
  Director: TomRopelewski; Starring John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Lysette Anthony (Tristar)
  
• 1994   “Love Is a Gun”
  Director: David Hartwell (directorial debut); Starring Eric Roberts, Kelly Preston (Trimark)
  
  
• 1995   “Point of Betrayal”
  Director: Richard Martini; Starring Rod Taylor, Dina Merrill, Rebecca Broussard, Anne Cusack (Krane Classics)
  
  
• 1996   “Phenomenon”
  Director: Jon Turteltaub; Starring John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, Robert Duvall (Disney)
  
  
• 1996   “Michael”
  Director: Nora Ephron; Starring William Hurt, Andie McDowell, John Travolta (Turner/New Line)
  
• 1997   “The Lay of the Land”
  Director: Larry Arrick (directorial debut); Starring Sally Kellerman, Ed Begely, Jr. Tyne Daly, Sandra Taylor (Krane Classics)
  
  
• 1997   “Mad City”
  Director: Costa Gavras; Starring Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Alan Alda (Warner Bros)
  
  
• 1997   “Face/Off”
  Director: John Woo; Starring John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen (Paramount)
  

• 1997   “Movies Kill”
  Director: Tom Lazarus (directorial debut); Starring Dianne Dilascio, Mark Pellegrino, Jenna Marsh, Harry Groener (Krane Classics)
  
  
• 1997   “Primary Colors”
  Director: Mike Nichols; Starring John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Kathy Bates, Billy Bob Thornton (Universal)
  
  
• 1998   “A Civil Action”
  Director: Steve Zallian; Starring John Travolta, Robert Duval, James Gandolfini, William H. Macy (Disney)
  
  
• 1999   “The General’s Daughter”
  Director: Simon West; Starring John Travolta, James Woods, Madeline Stowe, Timothy Hutton, James Cromwell (Paramount)
  
  
• 1999   “Standing Room Only”
  Director: Gus Van Sant; Starring John Travolta, Kelly Preston (Disney)
  
  
• 1999   “Battlefield Earth”
  Director: Roger Christian; Starring John Travolta, Forest Whitaker, Barry Pepper (Warner Bros)
  
  
• 2000   “Lucky Numbers”
  Director: Nora Ephron; Starring John Travolta, Lisa Kudrow, Bill Pullman, Tim Roth (Paramount)
  
  
• 2000   “Swordfish"
  Director: Domenic Sena; Starring John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Barry, Don Cheadle (Warner Bros)

• 2001   “Domestic Disturbance”
  Director: Harold Becker; Starring John Travolta, Vince Vaughn, Teri Polo (Paramount)

• 2001   “Bar Hopping”
  Director: Steve Cohen; Starring Tom Arnold, Kelly Preston

Awards and Honors

• Winner of “The Hollywood Visionary Award” in 2000
• Honored by Daily Variety who dedicated its June 4, 1999 issue to Mr. Krane’s twenty-year career in show business
• Honored as one of the “Top Fifteen Motion Picture Producers” in a 1998 published survey
• Winner of the Palm Beach Film Festival’s “Golden Palm Award” for “Best Picture” in 1995 for the film “The Point of Betrayal”, written and produced by Jonathan D. Krane
• Honored as one of “The Ten Managers Who Matter Most in the Movie Industry”
• Winner of “The People’s Choice Best Comedy Film for 1989” for “Look Who’s Talking” produced by Jonathan D. Krane
• Winner of “Nickelodeon’s Best Picture of the year for 1989” for “Look Who’s Talking”
• Honored as the producer of the most profitable comedy in history, “Look Who’s Talking”
• Honored by The Hollywood Reporter in profile called “From the Desk of Jonathan D. Krane”
• MCEG honored on the best performing entertainment stock for 1988, when Mr. Krane was Chairman and CEO
• Winner of nomination for the IFP “Best Picture of the Year directed by a first-time director, for 1988”, as the producer of “The Chocolate War” and talent manager of the director Keith Gordon.

References (published quotes)

Sherry Lansing, Chairman, Paramount Pictures, says:
Jonathan gets involved in all aspects of production; he’s also a lovely, lovely human being and impeccably honest.  Paramount’s doors are open to him.  I get jealous when I hear he’s doing movies somewhere else.
Variety June 4, 1999

Hollywood Film Festival program says:
“Jonathan Krane’s career exemplifies innovation, extraordinary accomplishment, and tremendous ability.  Over the past 20 years, Mr. Krane has achieved expertise, recognition and success as a motion picture producer of more than 40 feature films, as a manager of more than 150 actors and directors, many of whom he discovered and guided to stardom, as a writer, as a financier, as a teacher, among other areas of work in the entertainment industry.”

“Jonathan D. Krane is well known for accomplishing improbable, and extremely innovative achievements in the industry.  Throughout his life, doing things others hadn’t done, or thought of, has been Mr. Krane’s main source of fun.  The best way to get him to do anything, is to say it can’t be done.” 
Hollywood Film Festival Program, August, 2000

Richard Lovett, President of Creative Artists Agency, in his Presentation of Jonathan Krane to CAA says:
A financier in the mold of Irving Thalberg, Krane will fund films in new and creative ways.  Not since David Selznick has an industry leader so completely understood the intricate process of production and distribution.  Perhaps only Lew Wasserman could compare with Krane’s skill in identifying and nurturing creative talent.

This combination of talent, production and finance is the life’s work of one of the industry’s most thoughtful and talented Producer/Managers. 

Krane has gained stature as a scholar and lecturer on the economics and dynamics of the entertainment industry.  Following his tenure at Blake Edwards, Krane founded Management Company Entertainment Group (“MCEG”) in 1981 and became the first Producer/Manager in the motion picture business.  Industry sages regularly cite Krane as one of the top 10 producers and managers in Hollywood.  No one in Hollywood today has Krane’s combination of experience in business, production or management.

John Goldwyn, President, Paramount Pictures, says:
Jonathan was always reasonable, saying, ‘You know what?  Those are good ideas - good for the movie.  Let me take care of it.’  When he came back, it was handled.  He was always enthusiastic, always available.
Variety June 4, 1999

Ron Bass, Academy award winning screenwriter of Rain Man, also, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The American President, Dangerous Minds, Waiting To Exhale, Stepmom, Entrapment, What Dreams May Come, The Joy Luck Club, Sleeping With The Enemy, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, etc, says:
Krane is extremely supportive.  You feel like you’re in partnership, rather than working for him.  He likes figuring out how to do something with his own hands.
Variety June 4, 1999

Amy Pascal, Columbia President, says:
I had a great experience on Michael.  Jonathan’s very creative and he knows how to make movies. 
Variety June 4, 1999)

Simon West, Director of Con Air and The General’s Daughter, says:
The bottom line with Jonathan is, he backs the director and supports him.  He’s like the lubricant in the process, not the grit in the gears.  It comes from a lack of nerves, and having done it so much.”
Variety June 4, 1999

ShowBiz, The Entertainment Search Engine, says:
Jonathan Krane is one of the top 15 Producers in Hollywood [out of hundreds of thousands of producers working in the Industry today.]
ShowBiz, The Development Source, July 1, 1998

Neal Israel, Creator of Police Academy and Director of Breaking The Rules and Bachelor’s Party, says:
His background is fascinating.  He is fluent in nuclear physics, of all things, says Neal Israel, director of the Krane produced Breaking the Rules.  He reads physics books and papers the way people in this town read the trades.  He’s interested in architecture.  He’s erudite.  You can have discussions with him that don’t have to do with the movie business.
Fame, March 1990

Randal Kleiser, Director of Grease, Blue Lagoon, and Getting It Right, says:
Jonathan was completely supportive and hands-off.  It was a dream experience.
Variety June 4, 1999

Keith Gordon, Director of “The Chocolate War, Midnight Clear and Mother Night, says:
He just had a sense that I could do it.  I got to make a story I wanted to make, from a script that I wrote and felt good about, with my own vision, with the actors I wanted.  I was given total freedom, yet Krane was always there as a guiding presence.
Premiere, February 1989

Amy Heckerling, Writer/Director of Fast Times At Ridgemont High and Look Who’s Talking, says:
People he believes in, he keeps them going.  He doesn’t lose faith.  Jonathan has one of my favorite qualities, which is extreme loyalty.
Variety June 4, 1999

Fame says:
“Profit isn’t an unexpected bonus; it’s a given with a Krane film.”

“Brilliant is the word that often trips off the tongues of Krane’s friends and colleagues when they are asked to describe the lawyer turned mogul.” (March 1990).

“Indeed, Krane’s preoccupation with work, with deal-making, is legendary: His button-pushing finger never rests.”  (March 1990).

“Krane, in addition to encouraging new and neglected talent, put the rest of his battle plan into action: small budgets ($8 million is the current ceiling for an MCEG film); tight production schedules; clients who would bring the projects ‘they believed in’ and whom he would pay with credits, creative control, and opportunities instead of cash.”
Fame, March 1990

Larry Kasanoff, Producer of Mortal Combat and President of Vestron Pictures, says:
He’s got a great nose for talent as demonstrated in the little movie we made for around a million bucks or less, 1988’s “You Can’t Hurry Love.”  It went onto sell about a gazillion videocassettes.”
Variety June 4, 1999

Cassian Elwes, head of William Morris Independents, says:
Krane picks up a lot of slack in terms of what it takes to get movies done.  He’s really been through the process, from big ones to little ones.  He’s a great partner because he really gets it; we have a kind of shorthand.
Variety June 4, 1999

Daily Variety says:
“The only limit producer and manager Jonathan D. Krane has ever set for himself was the sky.  While there have been a few air pockets along the way, he’s nonetheless managed to grab large chunks of the heavens in his hands.”

“Long before manager/producers became a Hollywood staple, Krane new the synergy between the two showbiz spheres.”
Variety, June 4, 1999

“‘Look Who’s Talking’ grosses $12.1 million in it’s first weekend, drenching a record set for the highest grossing fall release in history.”
Variety, October 17, 1989

Drama-Logue says:
“Jonathan D. Krane is a far cry from the image of the stereotypical movie mogul.  He’s young, handsome and an intellectual with a background in international law.  Krane also has considerable business savvy.”
(March 7-13, 1985).

Success says:
“Krane took bold risks to make...films, offering actors a chance to direct movies, and directors an opportunity to film their favorite book.  The strategy worked.”
(September 1989).

Carlos de Abreu, Founder of The Hollywood Film Festival says:
Mr. Krane’s body of work is a demonstration of his great independent spirit.  With Jonathan, the impossible becomes possible.
The Hollywood Reporter, July 2000)

Richard Perry, Music Producer, says:
He has a tremendous ability to grasp the essence of what the story is about.  He’s always there to help bring ideas out of you - and keep the fires stoked.
Variety June 4, 1999

Playbill says:
“In the last five years, MCEG Chairman and CEO Jonathan D. Krane has built a broad reaching motion picture company of the sort that hasn’t been seen since the 1940’s - and in the process established himself as a major Hollywood figure.”
(March 1988).

Newsday says:
“Not since MCA grew from a talent agency to ownership of Universal Pictures in the 1950’s...has Hollywood seen a power play like the one...Jonathan Krane is trying.”

“Krane, the curly haired son of a Los Angeles auto-leasing executive, is a classic over-achiever.”
(January 26, 1989).

Business Week says:
“‘Look Who’s Talking’ is a good example of Krane’s talent for cutting costs.  Krane cut nearly $6 million from the studio’s projected $14 million budget.”
(December 11, 1989).

Neal Israel, Director, says:
He’s so supportive of artists.  He loves the creative process.  He’s not on some ego trip to impose his own trip on top of that.  It makes you want to do your best.
Variety June 4, 1999

Keith Gordon, Director, says:
He really loves movies.  If I hear, ‘The audience is stupider now’ in one more meeting, I’m gonna kill someone.  But I think Jonathan really cares about making films that say something.
Variety June 4, 1999

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