Film
production executive Jeffrey D. Erb and entrepreneur Robert L. Robinson,
Jr., both Philadelphia area businessmen, announced today that they have
created a new film production shingle, Framelight Productions, LLC. Erb and
Robinson, who partnered together in three previous companies, Xportical, Supply Marketing and Kindred Media Group, identified a niche in comic book
films and joined forces to bring special titles to the silver screen.
Framelight plans to produce
six to eight films over the next five years in the $20 to $100 million
range, focusing on strong stories populated with powerful characters.
The first properties optioned
by the company include "Deadworld," published by Caliber
Press and Image Comics in association with Desperado Publishing, and created
by Gary Reed; "Renfield" published by Desperado and Image
Comics and created by Gary Reed; "1001 Arabian Nights" and "Sins Of
The Fallen," both published by Zenescope, "Dr. Deth With Kip And Muffy,"
published by Marvel Comics and created by Larry Hama;
and one other soon to be announced.
"This is a natural for us,"
says Robinson. "Our focus is to work in partnership with the creators, in
ways Hollywood has rarely ever done. The film "Sin City" was a
great example of the power and intelligence of having the creator as your
partner and that's the model we want to follow."
""'m excited about the
focus," said Erb. "The type of stories and characters we went after weave
strong mythologies that audiences dive into head first and which creative
talent love to bring to life, both in front of and behind the camera."
"Our
model is different," begins Robinson, "so our approach has to be
different. We don't want to traditionally option a title; we want to partner
with the creator on every aspect of the production. Nothing bothers us more
than going to a movie based on a comic book we love, and seeing a film that
doesn't close resemble the source material. That won't happen with us."
"We were selective about the
creators and titles we worked with, and that's what attracted them to us,"
added Erb. "We weren't the only producers wanting to make movies based on
their babies. But we were the only ones inviting them in as co-producers."
"Deadworld has a big
story and one that will play out well on screen," noted Deadworld
scribe and creator Gary Reed. "It's funny that after all this time,
Deadworld has renewed life (pun intended) with the role playing game,
masks, t-shirts, and now the film. Deadworld is much more than a
zombie chase concept and it's encouraging to see how Bob and Jeff get what
it's about. Regarding Renfield, I think of all the stories that I
have written, Renfield remains one of my favorites. I enjoyed the
experience immensely and the artist, Galen Showman, did a great job with
it."
