Sandy Frank
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Sandy Frank (born Sundel Francous; July 11, 1929) is an American television producer, distributor, and marketer of TV shows to US networks.


Early life and career

Frank grew up in Mount Kisco, New York. He started his career as a sales executive for Paramount Pictures, subsequently moving on to Guild Films, and
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
television. Later, he was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales with the television division of the Wrather Corporation, which produced and distributed the '' Lassie'' and ''
Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...
'' TV programs. In 1964, he opened Sandy Frank Program Sales Inc. as his first company. His first distribution successes were ''
You Asked For It ''You Asked for It'' is a human interest television show created and hosted by Art Baker. Initially titled ''The Art Baker Show'', the program originally aired on American television between 1950 and 1959. Later versions of the series were see ...
'' and ''Lassie'', for which he had acquired the rights from the Wrather Corp.


Sandy Frank Entertainment

Among the programs Frank's company produced or distributed were ''
Name That Tune ''Name That Tune'' is an American television music game show. Originally created and produced by orchestra conductor Harry Salter and his wife Roberta Semple Salter, the series features contestants competing to correctly identify songs being p ...
'' (1984–1985), '' Face the Music'' (1980–1981), ''The New Treasure Hunt'' (1973–1977), ''
The Bobby Vinton Show ''The Bobby Vinton Show'' was a Canadian musical variety television series produced for the CTV Television Network between 1975 and 1978, with a total of 52 episodes broadcast. Featuring Bobby Vinton, a best-selling popular music singer since the ...
'' (1975–1978), ''
The Bill Cosby Show ''The Bill Cosby Show'' is an American sitcom television series, that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday night schedule from 1969 until 1971, under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble. There were 52 episodes made in the series. It marked Bill ...
'' (1969–1971), ''
The Dating Game ''The Dating Game'' is an American television game show that first aired on December 20, 1965, and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s. ABC dropped the show on July 6, 1973, but it ...
'' (1973–1974), and '' Lee Mendelson's Superstar Specials''. Frank later produced and distributed ''
Name That Tune ''Name That Tune'' is an American television music game show. Originally created and produced by orchestra conductor Harry Salter and his wife Roberta Semple Salter, the series features contestants competing to correctly identify songs being p ...
'' and ''
Battle of the Planets ''Battle of the Planets'' is an American adaptation of the Japanese anime series '' Science Ninja Team Gatchaman'' (1972). Of the 105 original ''Gatchaman'' episodes, 85 were used in the ''Battle of the Planets'' adaptation, produced by Sandy Fr ...
''. Frank was also the leading distributor of travel adventure shows including ''America'', ''High and Wild'', ''Across the Seven Seas'', ''The Traveler'', and ''American West''. The company obtained rights and provided English dubbing for the entire line of
Daiei Film Daiei Film Co. Ltd. ( Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ''Daiei Eiga Kabushiki Kaisha'') was a Japanese film studio. Founded in 1942 as Dai Nippon Film Co., Ltd., it was one of the major studios during the postwar Golden Age of Japanese cinema, producing ...
monster movies. Due to the constraints of airing in the then-new
UHF television UHF television broadcasting is the use of ultra high frequency (UHF) radio for over-the-air transmission of television signals. UHF frequencies are used for both analog and digital television broadcasts. UHF channels are typically given high ...
"movie of the week" format, however, the English versions are substantially shortened from the Japanese originals. Many of these films have now lapsed to the public domain. These versions are best known for their frequent appearances on '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'', where some of the company's dubs of Japanese films were lampooned, including a song titled "The Sandy Frank Song". In 1972, the cover of ''
Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...
'' read: "Sandy Frank Film Syndication, Inc. sets a new syndication sales record with ''
The Parent Game ''The Parent Game'' is an American game show that ran in syndication from 1972–1973. The show was hosted by Clark Race, a Los Angeles radio personality, with Johnny Jacobs as the announcer (although Charlie O'Donnell handled these duties on th ...
'': 125 markets sold in just 100 days of selling."


''Battle of the Planets''

In April 1977, Frank attended the MIP-TV conference in Cannes. It was here Frank first encountered the Japanese animation ''
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman is a Japanese animated franchise about a five-member superhero ninja team created by Tatsuo Yoshida and produced by Tatsunoko Productions. The original anime series, which debuted in 1972, was eponymously entitled ''Kagaku Ninja-tai Gatcham ...
'' from producer
Tatsunoko Production and often shortened to , is a Japanese animation company. The studio's name has a double meaning in Japanese: "Tatsu's child" (Tatsu is a nickname for Tatsuo) and "sea dragon", the inspiration for its seahorse logo. Tatsunoko's headquarters are i ...
run by the Yoshida brothers. Frank committed to release the series in the United States after he saw the success of '' Star Wars'' in May 1977. ''
Battle of the Planets ''Battle of the Planets'' is an American adaptation of the Japanese anime series '' Science Ninja Team Gatchaman'' (1972). Of the 105 original ''Gatchaman'' episodes, 85 were used in the ''Battle of the Planets'' adaptation, produced by Sandy Fr ...
'' is the title of the American adaptation of this series, created by Frank. He authorized new footage and hired writers to add dialog to fit the look of the animation without reference to original scripts. Of the 105 original ''Science Ninja Team Gatchaman'' episodes, 85 were used in the ''Battle of the Planets'' adaptation produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment in 1978.


Later career

In 2000,
NATPE The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) is a professional association of television and emerging media executives. The organization was established in 1963. NATPE implements its mission by providing members with educati ...
, the professional organization of television program executives, featured Frank in the video ''The Legends of Syndication'', an overview of the history of syndicated media selling. Frank formed alliances in 2011 with a number of companies such as
The Asylum The Asylum is an American independent film company and distributor that focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. It is notorious for producing titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, often using film titles and sc ...
in the United States and Sony in other countries. SFE has marketed ''Dangerous Minds'' (hosted by Rudy Giuliani) for Primetime Network, ''You Asked for It'' for Prime Time Network, and ''Face the Music'' which is being re-launched in a new prime time version.


Film tax credit suit

In 2011, Frank filed suit against the denial of a
tax credit A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state. It may also be a credit granted in recognition of taxes already paid or a form of state "dis ...
to his production under Michigan's system of offering of up to 42% tax credits for the production of films in
Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
. The films supported are subject to restrictions such as that Michigan residents must be portrayed in a positive way, and
game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...
s are not supported. Frank described his show as a reality show about the making of a game show and said that he made commitments of $350,000 after being told by state officials that his show would qualify for the credit, which was denied in 2009. The lawsuit claimed the restrictions were enforced arbitrarily, as other shows about competitions, including '' Crash Course'' and ''The Wedding Day'', had received state support, as had potentially negative depictions in ''
Hung Hung may refer to: People * Hung (surname), various Chinese surnames * Hùng king, a king of Vietnam People with the given name Hung include: * Hung Huynh, Vietnamese-American chef, winner of the third season of the television show ''Top Chef'' ...
'', '' A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas'', and '' Up In The Air''. According to ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'', Sandy Frank Productions claimed "violations of Michigan's film tax credit law, Michigan's administrative procedures act, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation, and violation of equal protection and due process under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution." A federal district court judge dismissed the complaint on January 4, 2012.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Sandy Television producers from New York City 1929 births Living people