Joey Franks(I)

Born in Oceanside, California, Franks, daughter of an oil executive, spent much of her childhood traveling the world including several years in Saudi Arabia. Finally settling in California, she attended high school in Sacramento. Although she was an accomplished violinist and a three-year member of the Sacramento All-City Orchestra, she chose to attend California State University to study Archaeology. After college Franks followed her muse to more creative endeavors. She worked at several professional repertory theaters as a dancer in classic musical productions from West Side Story to Showboat. Eventually she made the transition from performer to choreographer and relocated to Los Angeles.

Franks' career shifted gears when she became Manager, then Director of Personnel for The American Film Institute, the prestigious center for advanced film and television studies in Los Angeles. While troubleshooting productions and directing personnel efforts for the west coast, she developed relationships with many of the industry's future writers, directors, producers and cinematographers.

She then moved on to E-Ticket Productions during the making of the quirky hit Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), where she spearheaded the company's search for film properties, writing coverage of screenplays and meeting with writers.

At Disney Educational Productions Franks worked as an independent Associate Producer, Casting Director and Production Coordinator for several 30-minute dramas. Her responsibilities included all phases of preproduction, production and post. Each film was a multiple award-winner at major international festivals.

Franks briefly worked in the commercial world as a casting associate at HMK Productions, and Danny Goldberg Casting. Clients included Sprite, Mattel, and Estee Lauder. She also helped cast C-TV (a 30-minute film to introduce civics to classrooms nationwide) for The Close-up Foundation and Executive Producer, Richard Dreyfuss.

In 1990, Franks began her long stint at Warner Bros. Studios as Executive Assistant to President Jean MacCurdy at a time of resurgence at Warner Bros. Animation, including the start of their association with Steven Spielberg and the production of Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) and Animaniacs (1993). She was soon promoted to Manager of Creative Affairs, overseeing development and taking outside pitches. During this time the studio produced such hits as Batman: The Animated Series (1992), Pinky and the Brain (1995), and Superman: The Animated Series (1996), among others.

Her promotion to Director of Creative Affairs for Warner Bros. Animation coincided with the launch of The WB Network. At the network, her responsibilities were expanded to include the development of animated and live-action properties for The Kids' WB and other outlets, as well as Executive in Charge of Production on series such as B.R.A.T.S. of the Lost Nebula (1998), a Jim Henson production.

In January 1998 Warner Bros. promoted her to Vice President, Creative Affairs. In 2001 she began working freelance developing live action features for independent production companies. Today she works for various production companies as a pitch consultant and story editor of feature scripts.