DeVon Franklin

Devon Franklin (born April 13, 1978) is an American producer, author, and motivational speaker.

He is best known for the films Miracles from Heaven, Heaven Is for Real, and The New York Times Best Seller book The Wait, which he co-wrote with his then-wife Meagan Good.

Franklin was raised in Oakland, California, the son of Donald Ray Franklin and Paulette Franklin.

Franklin has two brothers, Donald Ray and David Brandon.

The couple would ultimately separate, and Paulette and her three young boys moved into her parents' home.

A few years later, Franklin's father died at the age of 36 after suffering a heart attack.

His mother, grandmother and her seven sisters formed what Franklin has called a "coalition" of strong women that guided him and his brothers in the absence of their father.

Franklin graduated from the University of Southern California in 2000 with a major in Business Administration and a minor in Cinema-Television.

Franklin began his career during his time as a student at University of Southern California as an intern at Overbrook Entertainment, working for Will Smith and James Lassiter.

Upon graduation from USC, Franklin accepted a full-time position at Overbrook.

Following this, he worked in Tracey Edmonds' company Edmonds Entertainment as a junior executive.

Franklin made the transition into Hollywood's studio system in 2003 when he took up a creative executive position at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In his book, Produced by Faith, Franklin describes his time at MGM as critical in reaffirming his passion for filmmaking thanks to the creative input his new role afforded him in helping contribute to projects like John Travolta's 2005 crime-comedy Be Cool.

"Following my policy of trying to add value and contribute wherever possible, I managed to make an impact despite being the lowest man on the corporate ladder."

His time at MGM, however, would be short-lived.

In 2005, following months of rumors, Sony Pictures Entertainment bought out MGM.

Following the sale, Franklin was offered a position and brought on as a Director of Development at Sony's Columbia Pictures.

In his new role at Columbia, Franklin would oversee a number of the studio's hit films, like The Pursuit of Happyness, Hancock and Seven Pounds.

Not only would his work on these projects lead to his eventual promotion to VP at Columbia, but they would also be a full circle moment of sorts for Franklin, who would collaborate with his former boss and mentor from Overbrook Entertainment, Will Smith, in making these movies.

In an interview with Millennial Magazine, Franklin discussed how The Pursuit of Happyness showed him what was possible for his work within Hollywood and so drove him to make films that trigger audiences to go after something.

He explained: "I want people's hearts to be touched, their lives to be touched, and I want the evidence of that to show up at the box office."

During his time as VP at Columbia Pictures, Franklin supervised a variety of films.

He helped produce The Pink Panther 2, the faith-based film Not Easily Broken, The Ugly Truth, and Whitney Houston's Sparkle (released in 2012).

Not only did he champion box-office hits like The Karate Kid and Jumping the Broom, he was also recognized as one of the youngest and most influential executives under 35 years of age by The Hollywood Reporter.

And he was given the title of a Top 10 Industry Impact Player by the NAACP.

In 2012, following these sweeping successes, Franklin continued to rise in the ranks at Columbia, becoming Senior Vice President of Production, which made him one of the youngest people in the industry to hold such a position.

In this position, Franklin developed and supervised production of new commercial material, and honed his focus for urban and faith-based markets with films like the diversified remake of Annie and the sleeper hit Heaven Is For Real.

One of Franklin's first projects as Senior VP was adapting the New York Times bestseller Heaven is for Real into a feature-length film.

Reading the book in one sitting, Franklin was immediately engrossed by the material and the message; he helped develop the script and oversaw the entire project.

"[I wanted the movie to be] a message of peace to those who have lost loved ones and who may be wondering what happens next," he stated.

Having lost his own father at a very young age, Devon wanted audience members who could relate to the Burpo family to walk away with a sense of hope, peace and inspiration.

Produced on a modest $12 million budget, Heaven is for Real outpaced all industry estimates and grossed more than $100 million at the box office, making it one of the highest-grossing faith-based films of all time.

One of Franklin's final projects during his time as a studio executive was the reimagining of the classic story "Annie."

Franklin served as an executive on the project alongside Sony's Ange Giannetti, who Franklin has since called a mentor in his time at the studio.

In his role as an executive on the film, he developed the script, put the movie together, oversaw production, and even helped promote the film when it was being released.

In a 2016 Mother's Day essay, Franklin wrote of his upbringing: "While she did make sure we had strong males in our life, like my grandfather and my pastor (who was also my uncle), my mother wanted to give us something more than that. My mother's answer was to bring together a coalition of women, the same women who she was raised with…. They were always an integral part of her life and naturally became an integral part of our life too, even more so after my father died. These nine women (my mother, Grandmother, Aunt Nuna, Aunt Jayne, Aunt Ida, Aunt Enis, Aunt Chrystal, Aunt Donna and Aunt Sondra) were not only the village that would raise us, but also formed the foundation of who we would become as men."

Following his father's death, Franklin threw himself into academics and activities as means of coping with the loss.

This would ultimately lead to his interest in theater and his passion for movies and television.

As a teenager, he would study different movies and television shows to figure out how stories and scenes were put together in the hope of understanding how to move and inspire people through entertainment, the way The Cosby Show and The Color Purple had inspired him.

During this time, he also began helping out at his uncle's church and preached his first sermon at the age of 15.