Derek Frey (born April 23, 1973) is an American film producer and director who is the current head of

Tim Burton Productions Tim Burton Productions is an American film production company, founded by Tim Burton in the late 1980s. Denise Di Novi once headed the banner from 1989 to 1996. The company was not usually credited on films directed or produced by Burton. Filmo ...

and Lazer Film Productions. He has been a producer on numerous

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

-directed films including ''

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'' is a contemporary fantasy debut novel by American author Ransom Riggs. The story is told through a combination of narrative and a mix of vernacular and found photography from the personal archives ...

'', '' Frankenweenie'', ''

Big Eyes ''Big Eyes'' is a 2014 American biographical drama film directed by Tim Burton, written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. It is about the relationship between American artist Margaret Keane a ...

'', ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'', ''

Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, a ...

'', and others.

Early life and education

Frey was born on April 23, 1973 in the

Drexel Hill Drexel Hill is a neighborhood and census-designated place (CDP) located in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The population was 29,181 at the 2020 census, up from 28,043 at the 2010 census, and accounting for over a third of Upper Darby's population. G ...

section of

Upper Darby, Pennsylvania Upper Darby Township, often shortened to Upper Darby, is a home rule township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The township borders Philadelphia, the nation's sixth most populous city as of 2020 with 1.6 million residents. As of the 2020 ce ...

near

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He graduating from

Upper Darby High School Upper Darby High School (UDHS) is a four-year public high school located in Upper Darby Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, as part of the Upper Darby School District. UDHS is also the oldest high school in Delaware County, ha ...

. Frey attended

West Chester University West Chester University (also known as West Chester, WCU, or WCUPA, and officially as West Chester University of Pennsylvania) is a public research university in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The university is accredited by the Middle ...

and graduated with a BA in

communication studies Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differen ...

Career

Andy Richards, Mike Higham, Derek Frey and Ric Levy at Air Studios, 2011

Frey began his career in the film industry in 1996 as an assistant for Tim Burton and an employee of Tim Burton Productions. He worked as Burton's assistant on ''

Mars Attacks! ''Mars Attacks!'' is a 1996 American science fiction comedy film directed by Tim Burton, who also co-produced it with Larry J. Franco. The screenplay by Jonathan Gems was based on the Topps trading card series of the same name. The film featu ...

'', '' Sleepy Hollow'', ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...

'', and ''

Big Fish ''Big Fish'' is a 2003 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Tim Burton, and based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace. The film stars Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, ...

''. In 2001, he became the head of Tim Burton Productions. He would go on to earn producer credits in a variety of Tim Burton films including ''Alice in Wonderland'', ''Big Eyes'', ''Frankenweenie'', ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'', ''

Corpse Bride ''Corpse Bride'' (also known as ''Tim Burton's Corpse Bride'') is a 2005 stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton with a screenplay by John August, Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler based on char ...

'', and ''

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial ''The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London urban legend, legend. A barber fr ...

''. Frey also directs and produces under the banner, Lazer Film Productions. The company largely produces short films and music videos. His 2016 short film, ''Green Lake'', was shown at over 40 film festivals at which it earned 47 awards including "Best Horror" at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards. Other short films produced and directed by Frey include ''Kill the Engine'', ''Motel Providence'', ''Sky Blue Collar'', ''The Day the Dolls Struck Back'', ''The Ballad of Sandeep'' (starring actor,

Deep Roy Gurdeep Roy (born Mohinder Purba; 1 December 1957), known professionally as Deep Roy, is a Kenyan-British actor, puppeteer, and stuntman. At tall, he has often been cast as diminutive characters, such as Teeny Weeny in ''The NeverEnding Story' ...

), and numerous others. Frey produced Burton's live-action adaptation of ''

'', which was released in March 2019.

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frey, Derek Living people 1973 births People from Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania Film producers from Pennsylvania West Chester University alumni Film directors from Pennsylvania