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Frank Evers (businessman)

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"Francis Anthony Evers" redirects here. For the Irish Gaelic footballer, see Frank Evers (GAA).

Frank Evers
At Duck Key, Florida
Born
Francis Anthony Evers

1965 (age 58–59)
East Jerusalem, Jordan (pre '67)
Alma materHarvard University
Occupations
  • Businessman
  • producer
Spouse
​
(m. 1992)​
Children2
Relatives

Francis "Frank" Anthony Evers (born 1965) is an Irish & American businessman and film/TV producer, the CEO of Institute, Institute Artist, the Story Institute,[1][2][3] and the president of Evergreen Pictures[4] and Girl Culture Films.[5][6]

Early life

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Evers was born to Francis Anthony "Frank" Evers, a senior United Nations official, and Irish actress Theresa (Doyle) Evers. His father was born in Menlough, Galway in 1934, and his mother was born in New York, United States in 1934 but spent most of her young life in Tuam, Galway.[7] He has six siblings—five sisters and one brother. He grew up in the Middle East and Ireland until he moved to the US to attend Harvard University in 1983.[8]

Evers attended secondary school from 1978 to 1983 at Ireland's Gormanston College, and is a graduate of Harvard University (1987), where he earned a B.A. in East Asian Studies.[9] He has held the Irish Junior Men's record in the pole vault (4.60 m) since March 1983.[10]

Career

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Institute (previously Girl Culture Films)

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In January 2019, together with his wife, photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield, Evers launched Girl Culture Films, a commercial, branded content and entertainment production company.[5][6]

Girl Culture Films "seeks to amplify underrepresented voices in the media with outstanding directors who bring world-class storytelling, authentic vision, and diverse perspectives to the table." The company exclusively represents "A-list directors" such as Lauren Greenfield, Pamela Adlon, Catherine Hardwicke, Karyn Kiyoko Kusama, Liz Unna, Dawn Porter, Barbara Kopple, Bao Truong, Courtney Brookes, Courtney Loo, Sandra Winther, Jackie Van Beek, Ray Neutron, Sergeii Shevtsov, and Tash Tung[11]

In November 2022, Girl Culture Films evolved into Institute, broadening its directorial roster to include more underrepresented talent regardless of gender and offering greater integration with sister companies Institute Artist (Photography), and Girl Culture Studios (Film & Television).[12][13]

Institute Artist

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Founded with Matt Shonfeld in 2009, Institute Artist is an artist management, licensing, and multi-platform production company focused on editorial, cultural and commercial clients. Institute Artist represents filmmakers and photographers, and operates out of Los Angeles and London. In 2015, Institute Artist created a distribution arm called The Story Institute, which focuses on the distribution of long-form photographic stories.[14]

Evergreen Pictures

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Since founding the production company in 2003, Evers has run Evergreen Pictures with his wife, photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield.[15]

The company's first feature documentary film, The Queen of Versailles, was directed by Greenfield and debuted at the Sundance Film Festival 2012, where it was selected to be the Opening Night film.[16] The film was acquired by Magnolia Pictures[17] and was theatrically released on July 20, 2012 throughout the US, ultimately grossing over $2,400,000 at the box office.[18] The film was also acquired by Bravo for US television broadcast in Spring 2013.[19] Greenfield was awarded the Directing Award by the Sundance Jury,[20] the Grand Jury Prize from the Brisbane International Film Festival,[21] a Best Director Award from the RiverRun Film Festival,[22] and the Special Jury Documentary Feature prize from the deadCenter Film Festival.[23] "The Queen of Versailles" was also nominated for Best Documentary Film, 2012 by the International Documentary Association (IDA).[24] In April 2023, if was announced that the documentary has been adapted to be a Broadway Musical, The Queen of Versailles (musical), starring Kristin Chenoweth and with music to be composed by Stephen Schwartz (composer).[25]

In 2015, Evergreen Pictures produced a documentary series in partnership with GQ/Conde Nast Entertainment, called Bling Dynasty (3 million views on YouTube), and a short documentary film called Magic City: A Film by Lauren Greenfield (over 17 million views on YouTube, TheScene.com & GQ.com).[26][27][28] In January 2016, "Magic City" was nominated for Best Video by ASME (the American Society of Magazine Editors).[29]

In May 2011, Evergreen Pictures produced "Beauty CULTure", a 30-minute-long documentary film by Greenfield for The Annenberg Space for Photography (Annenberg Foundation).[30] "Beauty CULTure" had its US theatrical debut at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, where it was selected for the Shorts Documentary competition.[31]

In December 2010, Evergreen Pictures produced a series of "documercials" for Chiat Day/Gatorade, called BECOME and directed by Greenfield, in conjunction with an accompanying national advertisement print campaign for Gatorade (also photographed by Greenfield).[32]

Earlier in 2010, Evergreen Pictures produced a short video, Fashion Show, which debuted on New York Magazine's website,[33] accompanying a photographic portfolio by Greenfield as part of New York Magazine's annual Fashion issue. An exercise in the deconstruction of fashion and fashion week in Paris, Milan and Yew York, "Fashion Show" was screened by the Sundance Institute as a short film accompanying Isaac Mizrahi's documentary film, Unzipped, and the short was screened in a number of film festivals.

In 2007, Evergreen Pictures produced "kids + money"[34] a 14-minute series of webisodes for The New York Times Magazine, after which it shot additional materials and produced an expanded 32-minute short film, which was sold to HBO, was distributed around the world, and garnered numerous international short film awards.

In addition to producing documentary films, Evergreen Pictures has developed Greenfield's books and photography as feature films and television series with Columbia Pictures, Fox Searchlight, Universal Pictures, and NBC. Evergreen Pictures has also been responsible for the design, production and management of several traveling exhibition programs for Greenfield - Fast Forward, "Girl Culture", and Thin, which have appeared in more than 50 venues worldwide and seen by more than a million visitors.

In 2018, Evers produced Generation Wealth (Amazon Studios), and followed that up in 2019 with The Kingmaker (film) (Showtime Networks).[35] Both films were directed by Lauren Greenfield.

New York Photo Festival

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Evers is also the cofounder and former cochair of the New York Photo Festival,[36] a festival dedicated to contemporary photography. The third New York Photo Festival 2010 (NYPH'10) took place from May 12 to May 16, 2010.[37] Evers resigned from the New York Photo Festival in June 2010 to co-create and start up the Future of StoryTelling with Charles Melcher and Melcher Media.

VII Photo Agency

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From late 2004 to mid-2008, Evers stepped in to help effect a turnaround of the VII Photo Agency,[38] where his wife (Greenfield) was an owner-member at the time. During this period, the agency expanded its roster and sales operation, opening offices in New York and Los Angeles, while creating a number of branded initiatives, including the VII Network, VII Masterclass, VII Seminar, VII gallery, VII bookstore, and VII Visionaires. He left to launch an artist management company, INSTITUTE. Greenfield subsequently left VII in September 2009 to join INSTITUTE.

Video game production

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Before entering the photography business, Evers ran video game production studios producing over 100 interactive games for Sierra Entertainment, Activision and Disney Interactive (1995–2002). His most successful video game series were MechWarrior, Interstate '76, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and the Kingdom Hearts series (over 36 million units sold generating over $1.8 billion in retail sales), a joint venture between Disney Interactive and Square Japan.[39] In addition to producing games, he was also the Director of Silent Thunder: A-10 Tank Killer II and The Mask, one of the first CD-ROM interactive comic books.[40][41]

Film production

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Earlier in his career, Evers was the film executive responsible for finding the script and packaging the movie Swimming with Sharks, while also handling finance and distribution for Cineville, which produced "The Crew" (1994) and "Mi Vida Loca" (1993).

Personal life

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Evers is married to photographer and director Lauren Greenfield,[7] with whom he has two sons, Noah and Gabriel. They reside in Venice, California.[42]

References

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  1. ^ "Frank speaks to "this is the what" Blog". Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  2. ^ "Frank Evers speaks to Foto 8".
  3. ^ "Frank Evers speaks to Photonews 2013".
  4. ^ "Evergreen Pictures on IMDb.com". IMDb.
  5. ^ a b "Shoot Online "Lauren Greenfield Launches Girl Culture Films"".
  6. ^ a b "AdAge "Lauren Greenfield opens Girl Culture Films"". 30 January 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Marriage Announcement, New York Times". The New York Times. 11 May 1992. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  8. ^ "10 Minutes with Frank Evers".
  9. ^ "10 Minutes with Frank Evers".
  10. ^ "Irish Junior Men's Indoor Records".
  11. ^ "Girl Culture Films' website".
  12. ^ "Lauren Greenfield on How Girl Culture Films Became INSTITUTE".
  13. ^ "Lauren Greenfield's Girl Culture Films Evolves Into INSTITUTE".
  14. ^ "Institute Artist website".
  15. ^ "Lauren Greenfield's Generation Wealth About page".
  16. ^ ""The Queen of Versailles" is Opening Night film for the Sundance Film Festival 2012". Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  17. ^ Belloni, Matthew. "Sundance 2012: Magnolia Buys 'Queen Of Versailles' Documentary". The Hollywood Reporter.
  18. ^ "Box Office Mojo report for 'The Queen Of Versailles'".
  19. ^ Miller, Daniel (3 April 2012). "Bravo Acquires Sundance Documentary 'The Queen of Versailles'". The Hollywood Reporter.
  20. ^ "Lauren Greenfield Wins top Directing honors at Sundance".
  21. ^ "Lauren Greenfield Wins 2012 BIFFDOCS Competition". Archived from the original on 27 September 2013.
  22. ^ "Lauren Greenfield awarded Best Director, Documentary Feature by RiverRun Film Festival". Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  23. ^ ""The Queen of Versailles" wins Special Jury Documentary Feature from deadCenter Film Festival, June 2012". Archived from the original on 16 December 2012.
  24. ^ ""The Queen of Versailles" nominated for Best Documentary Feature, 2012 by the IDA". Archived from the original on 19 April 2012.
  25. ^ "Kristin Chenoweth To Reteam With 'Wicked' Composer Stephen Schwartz On 'Queen Of Versailles' Stage Musical Adaptation". 24 February 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  26. ^ "Bling Dynasty series on GQ website".
  27. ^ "Magic City A Film by Lauren Greenfield on Evergreen Pictures website".
  28. ^ "Magic City A Film by Lauren Greenfield on GQ website".
  29. ^ "Ellies 2016 Finalists Announced". Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  30. ^ "Beauty CULTure wins Lucie Award for Best Curation 2011". Archived from the original on 29 December 2011.
  31. ^ "Beauty CULTure selected for Shorts Competition at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival".
  32. ^ "Lauren Greenfield photographs and directs short docs for GATORADE".
  33. ^ "Lauren Greenfield's "Fashion Show"".
  34. ^ ""kids + money", Greenfield/Evers LLC 2008".
  35. ^ "Evergreen Pictures' Filmography on imdb". IMDb.
  36. ^ "New York Photo Festival". Archived from the original on 5 May 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  37. ^ "NYPH'10 Main Exhibitions". Archived from the original on 4 May 2010. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  38. ^ "How photojournalism's biggest agencies are combatting harassment".
  39. ^ "Square Enix Annual Report".
  40. ^ "Video game career".
  41. ^ "Evers to tinker in Disney (Variety announcement)".
  42. ^ "Commarts profile of Lauren Greenfield". June 2011.
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