Tony Krantz

Tony Krantz (born June 16, 1959) is an American film and television producer, writer, and director.

Krantz started his career in the American entertainment industry as an agent, spending 15 years at Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

He started there as a mailroom trainee and rose to eventually run the primetime television department, where he personally packaged the television series ER, Twin Peaks, Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place and The West Wing, among many others.

He also put together the movies The Doors and Wild at Heart.

Under his leadership at CAA, there were 32 shows on the primetime lineup that the agency represented when Krantz left to start the next part of his career.

Krantz transitioned into producing television, and was one of three founders of Imagine Television, serving as its co-chairman and CEO.

There he produced Felicity, Sports Night, The PJs, 24 and the movie Mulholland Drive.

Krantz was born on June 16, 1959, in New York City to novelist Judith Krantz and film and television producer Stephen Falk Krantz.

Krantz graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1977 where he was senior class president.

He then went on to college at the University of California, Berkeley where Krantz worked as a concert promoter for the student body.

Krantz produced the Berkeley Jazz Festival in 1980 among numerous punk rock and rock concerts which would later influence his work.

Two weeks after graduation, Krantz started his professional career in the mailroom at CAA.

After being promoted to assistant, Krantz quickly proved his knowledge and merit in the industry.

Michael Ovitz noticed his potential and he was made an agent in the TV Literary Department shortly thereafter.

As Krantz rose from a TV literary agent to a television packaging agent at CAA, one of his early movie of the week packages won the Emmy for best television movie: Inherit the Wind, starring Kirk Douglas and Jason Robards directed by David Green.

Afterwards, Krantz expanded into series, largely working with the agency's motion picture clients who at the time viewed the television business with skepticism.

In 1990, Twin Peaks creator Mark Frost said he credited the development of the series to Krantz's "determination to get Frost and co-creator David Lynch to write a television script."

Krantz later described packaging Twin Peaks as his personal "artistic high point" as an agent.

Krantz also packaged "ER."

During an internal development meeting at CAA in 1993, Krantz remembered a film script that Michael Crichton had written years earlier based on his experience at Harvard medical school.

Krantz re-read the script and then convinced a reticent Crichton and the script's owner Amblin Television and Warner Bros. to turn that 13-year-old work into what would eventually become the ultra successful NBC drama, "ER."

Krantz found a showrunner for Crichton, John Wells (whom Krantz also represented), and the pilot was taken word for word from Crichton's film script.

The series ran for 15 seasons and is widely considered one of the most successful dramas in television history.

Other top series Krantz put together include "Beverly Hills, 90210," "Melrose Place" and "The West Wing".

Krantz built a reputation as an expert in his field and in 1996, he taught a course at UCLA Extension's department of entertainment studies and performing arts titled "Creating a Career in the Entertainment Industry."

The course included discussions of conceptualization, business savvy, selling strategy and global distribution.

He also taught extensively at the U.C. Berkeley's Haas School of Business and for three years to graduate students at U.S.C.'s Peter Stark Producing Program.

In 1998, Krantz left his career at CAA to produce television, and partnered with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard to found Imagine Television.

Krantz served as CEO and co-chairman and was its principal partner.

He executive produced many television shows, including Felicity with J. J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, Sports Night with Aaron Sorkin, Wonderland with Peter Berg, The PJs with Eddie Murphy, Mulholland Drive.

with David Lynch, and 24 with Kiefer Sutherland.

After six years at Imagine, Krantz chose to leave and pursue his producing and directing dream at his own company, Flame Ventures.

Krantz left Imagine in 2002 to pursue his path as a film and television director and writer.

He has since directed three films, Sublime, Otis, and The Big Bang, and is currently the principal and owner of the independent production company Flame Ventures.

In 2002, he was replaced at Imagine by former Fox executive Vice President of Programming, David Nevins, who now runs Showtime.

Krantz's opportunity to direct came with the development of the Raw Feed project, a series of direct-to-DVD movies that represented a first of this format for Warner Bros. Studios under their Warner Home Video division.

Krantz told Elyse Eisenberg at Warner Home Video that his dream since the third grade was to direct.

Eisenberg told him "Warner Bros would approve you as a director in a heartbeat."

So Krantz became part of a trio of directors (alongside Daniel Myrick, director of The Blair Witch Project and John Shiban, writer and executive producer for Supernatural and The X-Files) who were tapped to create "Raw Feed," a series of films in the sci fi, horror, and thriller genres.

In March 2007, the second film in the 6-part film series, a surreal psychological sci-fi thriller called Sublime, that marked Krantz's first directorial effort, was released.