Broken Frontier

Film production executive Jeffrey D. Erb and
entrepreneur Robert L. Robinson, Jr., both Philadelphia area businessmen, announced today that they have created a new film production shingle, Framelight Productions, LLC. Erb and Robinson, who partnered together in three previous companies, Xportical, Supply Marketing and Kindred Media Group, identified a niche in comic book films and joined forces to bring special titles to the silver screen.

Framelight plans to produce six to eight films over the next five years in the $20 to $100 million range, focusing on strong stories populated with powerful characters.

The first properties optioned by the company include “Deadworld,” published by Caliber Press and Image Comics, and created by Gary Reed; “Renfield” published by Image Comics and created by Gary Reed; “1001 Arabian Nights” and “Sins Of The Fallen,” both published by Zenescope and created by Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco, “Kill Zone,” to be published by Zenescope in 2009 and created by R. L. Robinson; “Dr. Deth With Kip And Muffy,” published by Marvel Comics and created by famed GI Joe author, Larry Hama; and one other soon to be announced.

“This is a natural for us,” says Robinson. “Our focus is to work in partnership with the creators, in ways Hollywood has rarely ever done. The film “Sin City” was a great example of the power and intelligence of having the creator as your partner and that’s the model we want to follow.”

"I'm excited about the focus," said Erb. “The type of stories and characters we went after weave strong mythologies that audiences dive into head first and which creative talent love to bring to life, both in front of and behind the camera.”

“Our model is different,” begins Robinson, “so our approach has to be different. We don’t want to traditionally option a title; we want to partner with the creator on every aspect of the production. Nothing bothers us more than going to a movie based on a comic book we love, and seeing a film that doesn’t close resemble the source material. That won’t happen with us.”

“We were selective about the creators and titles we worked with, and that’s what attracted them to us,” added Erb. “We weren’t the only producers wanting to make movies based on their babies. But we were the only ones inviting them in as co-producers.”

"It is an amazing opportunity for us to partner with Framelight on this venture and we're thrilled to be a part of this project," begins Ralph Tedesco, Co-Founder of Zenescope Entertainment. "We always wanted to be involved in the process of adapting our titles and producing them as films and when we first met Jeff and Bob we knew that we wanted to work with them because we all shared the same vision," continues his partner, Zenescope President Joe Brusha.

"Deadworld has a big story and one that will play out well on screen," noted Deadworld scribe and creator Gary Reed. "It's funny that after all this time, Deadworld has renewed life (pun intended) with the role playing game, masks, t-shirts, and now the film. Deadworld is much more than a zombie chase concept and it's encouraging to see how Bob and Jeff get what it's about. Regarding Renfield, think of all the stories that I have written, Renfield remains one of my favorites. I enjoyed the experience immensely and the artist, Galen Showman, did a great job with it."

“Dr. Deth seems to be a 10-year-old boy who wanders a post-apocalyptic New Jersey on a motorcycle accompanied by two buxom babes named Kip and Muffy,” states Creator Larry Hama. “They are armed with a variety of automatic weapons which they employ to blow apart hordes of mutants and other irradiated monstrosities that cross their path. Although symbolism could be read into the concept, it is simply a violent fantasy that should make for a fun movie. I can’t wait to see it!”