With a media and entertainment career spanning over four decades, Rich Frank has amassed a diverse and impressive slate of accomplishments. He currently executive produces Royal Pains for USA and serves as an executive producer on FX’s Wilfred.
Prior to that Frank was Chairman of Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications and headed Disney’s syndication arm, Buena Vista. He was the President of Walt Disney Studios for nearly a decade and also oversaw the development of The Disney Channel. Before his tenure at Disney, Frank was President of the Paramount Television Group and of Chris Craft Television and was also one of the founders of the USA Network and served on their board. Under Frank's leadership, television and movie properties such as Cheers, Taxi, Family Ties, Shogun, Winds of War, Entertainment Tonight, Golden Girls, Home Improvement, Ellen, Regis and Kathy Lee, Dead Poet’s Society, Good Morning Vietnam, Pretty Woman, Father of the Bride, Aladdin and The Lion King achieved phenomenal success.
Later, Frank merged his brand, advertising and marketing strategy company, Integrated Entertainment Partners (IEP), into The Firm, one of Hollywood’s largest and most successful talent management companies, where he was named Chairman.
Previous to founding IEP in 2003, Frank served as Chairman of C3, a partnership with Comcast Corporation where, among other things, he acquired the E! Entertainment Network.
A native of Bayside, New York, Frank graduated from the University of Illinois and began his career in the 1960s at the advertising agency BBDO in New York City. He then moved to Los Angeles as Sales Manager at KTLA-Channel 5. He also served as President of KCOP-Channel 13 and Chris-Craft Broadcasting.
Frank was President of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for an unprecedented six years and a Board Member of the MPAA for eight years. He is presently Vice Chairman of the American Film Institute (AFI).
In June of 2011, he received an Honorary Doctorate degree from the American Film Institute (AFI), along with Helen Mirren and Spike Lee. Frank currently splits his time between Los Angeles and Napa, California, where he devotes himself to Frank Family Vineyards, a highly successful Napa Valley winery he established in the 1990s.
