Moviemaker of the Week: Kevin Scott Frakes

By Noralil Ryan Fores

Original article: http://www.moviemaker.com/blog/?p=394

Before he fell into producing movies, Kevin Scott Frakes’ first love was playing baseball. “I grew up obsessed with the game and didn’t really think about much else. Everything was dictated by my desire to play pro ball,” Frakes admits. As so often happens with athletes, though, Frakes had to reinvent himself after a series of injuries dashed his hopes of playing professionally. “I thought about law school. I thought about coaching baseball,” he enumerates, but Frakes’ future ultimately was decided by a strange twist of fate. “A good friend cast me in a short film,” he explains.“I had always loved movies, and my brother and I quoted our favorites all of the time, but I never had a sense of what it would be like to work in the industry until my friend cast me.”

After studying at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts’ film program and then heading to Yale University to pursue an MBA, Frakes collaborated with Stephan Paternot to found PalmStar Entertainment. With the option deal settled for Kevin Pollak’s film adaptation of Buzz Bissinger’s best-selling 3 Nights in August—a peek into the world of the St. Louis Cardinals and their dynamic manager Tony La Russa—Frakes gets to touch base with his childhood dreams. “It re-opened a world for me that I had loved in the past and was now a part of again,” he says. “I suppose there are some great ancillary benefits to my job.”

For more information on Kevin Scott Frakes and PalmStar Entertainment, visit his website.

Sound Off: Much like Kevin Scott Frakes, many moviemakers don’t take the obvious route leading to their careers in the film world. (For instance, Johnny Depp made his way to L.A. as the frontman for an underground garage band and had plans for making it big in music before a chance meeting with Nicolas Cage turned him on to acting). What other stories about moviemakers’ backgrounds do you find interesting? Talk back in the comments section of our blog!