František "Frank" Daniel (April 14, 1926 – March 29, 1996) was a Czech-

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

screenwriter, film director and teacher. He is known for developing the sequence paradigm of screenwriting, in which a classically constructed movie can be broken down into three acts, and a total of eight specific sequences. He served as co-chair of the Columbia University film program, and as a dean of FAMU, the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

and the USC School of Cinema-Television. He was also an Artistic Director of the Sundance Institute.

Life

Czechoslovakia

František Daniel was born in Kolín, Czechoslovakia. He earned a master's degree in music before studying film at VGIK in Moscow. Daniel was a member of a production unit Feix-Daniel at state-owned Barrandov Studios. In addition to that he wrote screenplays and taught screenwriting at FAMU. Among his students were

Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech and American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the United States in 1968. Forman ...

, Věra Chytilová or Pavel Juráček. In 1959 he had to leave Barrandov after the movies he worked on were criticised for having "liberal tendencies" by

František Kahuda František Kahuda (January 3, 1911 – February 12, 1987) was a Czechoslovak physicist and educator. Between 1954 and 1963 he served as the Minister of Education, and from 1967 to 1985 he was one of the major promoters of psychotronics, within w ...

. In 1956, Daniel and Miloš Kratochvíl published the screenwriting textbook ''Cesta za filmovým dramatem''. In 1965, he produced '' The Shop on Main Street'', which won an Oscar for the best foreign language film. In 1968 he served as dean of the Faculty of Film and Television – FAMU, part of the

Academy of Performing Arts in Prague The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague ( cs, Akademie múzických umění v Praze, AMU) is a university in the centre of Prague, Czech Republic, specialising in the study of music, dance, drama, film, television and multi-media. It is the larg ...

United States

Daniel first toured the United States at the behest of

W. McNeil Lowry Wilson McNeil Lowry (February 17, 1913 – June 6, 1993) was an American businessman. He served as the vice president of the Ford Foundation. Lowry was honored the Special Tony Award at the 17th Tony Awards. He died in June 1993 of esophageal ...

of the Ford Foundation, who commissioned him to do a survey of film education in the United States and make recommendations for its future development. Daniel subsequently immigrated to the United States in 1969 after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1969 he became the first dean of the

, where he taught

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

and Terrence Malick. Daniel left the Institute in 1976 to become Henry Luce Professor at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

in Minnesota. In 1978, he moved to Columbia University, where he was reunited with

, his former student, with whom he co-chaired the Columbia University School of the Arts Film program. When

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...

founded Sundance Institute in 1981, Daniel was recruited by Sundance Executive Director

Sterling Van Wagenen Sterling Gray Van Wagenen (born July 2, 1947) is an American film and stage producer, writer, director, and convicted sex offender. He is a co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival, and, in association with former brother-in-law Robert Redford, he ...

to be the Institute's first

Artistic Director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

, a guiding post he held for over a decade. He taught at Columbia University until 1986. After Columbia he became the dean of USC School of Cinema-Television, a post he stepped down from in 1990, continuing to teach screenwriting in the Graduate Screenwriting Division. He continued to develop

scripts Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of ha ...

. He was an advisor to the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

, consultant to David Rockefeller, member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...

. He was married twice and had two sons. Michal, a photographer, and Martin, a film professor. Daniel lived in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

until his death on March 29, 1996. He was 69 when he died of a heart attack. He is buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.

Books

* 1956 ''Zlatá zeď (Golden Wall)'' – novel based on his experiences in China * 1956 ''Cesta za filmovým dramatem (The Path to Film Drama)'' * 1957 ''Stručný přehled vývoje evropských dramatických teorií (The Compact Overview of European Dramatic Theories)''

Filmography

* '' Není stále zamračeno'' (1950), Screenwriter * ''

O věcech nadpřirozených ''O věcech nadpřirozených'' is a 1958 Czechoslovak film. The film was directed by Jirí Krejcík, Jaroslav Mach, and Milos Makovec, and starred Josef Kemr Josef Kemr (20 June 1922 – 15 January 1995) was a Czech actor. He starred in the 1 ...

'' (1958), Screenwriter * '' Kam čert nemůže'' aka '' When the Woman Butts In'' (1959), Screenwriter * '' Spadla z Měsíce'' (1961), Screenwriter * '' Hledá se táta'' (1961), Director/Screenwriter * '' Prosím, nebudit'' (1962), Screenwriter * '' Deštivý den'' (1962), Screenwriter * '' Letos v září'' (1963), Director * '' Dva tygři'' (1966), Screenwriter * ''

Last Rose from Casanova A last is a mechanical form shaped like a human foot. It is used by shoemakers and cordwainers in the manufacture and repair of shoes. Lasts typically come in pairs and have been made from various materials, including hardwoods, cast iron, ...

'' (1966), Screenwriter * '' Přísně tajné premiéry'' (1967), Screenwriter * '' The Shop on Main Street'' (1968), Producer * '' In the Wee Wee Hours...'' (1987), Producer

References

* 1983 "The Czech Difference" in ''Art and Commitment in the East European Cinema'', edited by David W. Paul, pp. 49–56, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel, Frank 1926 births 1996 deaths Czech film directors Czechoslovak film directors Czech screenwriters Male screenwriters Czech male writers Czech film producers Film producers from California People from Palm Springs, California USC School of Cinematic Arts faculty Carleton College faculty Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography alumni 20th-century American businesspeople Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States American people of Czech descent Writers from Kolín Burials at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City) 20th-century screenwriters