Billy Frolick
Encyclopedia
Billy Frolick is an American writer
and film director
.
Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Frolick graduated from NYU
film school, where he studied under the famed professor (and Martin Scorsese
mentor) Haig Manoogian.
In the eighties, Frolick moved to Los Angeles and worked at various agencies, studios and production companies as a script reader, agency assistant, and development executive
. When the Writers Guild of America, west
went on strike in 1988, his career as a journalist began.
His first Premiere Magazine story, “Sink or Float,” served as the prototype for the magazine’s popular “Life at the Bottom” column. Frolick’s work has also appeared in The New Yorker
, Movieline, TV Guide
, The Huffington Post
, and The Los Angeles Times, for which he interviewed such personalities as Milton Berle
and Richard Pryor
. He also conducted dozens of videotaped interviews with survivors of the Holocaust for Steven Spielberg
’s "Survivors of the Shoah" project.
Frolick has served as the pseudonymous author of several book-length parodies: The Philistine Prophecy, Dumpisms, and The Ditches of Edison County, a national bestseller which was translated into Japanese and Italian. In 2005 Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, released the latest, The Five People You Meet in Hell. Frolick’s 1995 Dutton book What I Really Want to Do is Direct tracked seven film school graduates over three years. Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh
wrote, “If you are reading my words right now, you need to buy this book. Billy Frolick has produced the definitive text on what it’s like to make a start in the film business. I found it absolutely riveting.” And from Publishers Weekly
: “Essential reading.”
Frolick's directing debut, It is What it Is, a full-length feature from his original screenplay, starred Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernie's) and featured Stephen Tobolowsky (Memento) and Joshua Malina (The West Wing). It is What it Is screened at several global festivals, including the 2003 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Picture, as well as prizes for Best Screenplay and Best Directorial Debut. The film's cultural significance was noted by William Safire
in his March 5, 2006 New York Times Sunday Magazine column "On Language," entitled "It Is What It Is." "A burst of the sentence's activity," Safire wrote, "followed Billy Frolick's movie with that title in 2001."
For DreamWorks Animation
, Frolick has written the feature screenplays Holy Cow
(with Chicken Run
writer Karey Kirkpatrick
) and Madagascar
(with directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, and Mark Burton, co-writer of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit). Madagascar stars the voice talents of Ben Stiller
, Chris Rock
, Jada Pinkett Smith
and David Schwimmer
, and grossed over a half a billion dollars worldwide during its 2005 theatrical release.
In addition to moderating and appearing on many international film school and festival panels, Frolick is an adjunct professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he teaches Screenwriting.
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
.
Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Frolick graduated from NYU
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
film school, where he studied under the famed professor (and Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
mentor) Haig Manoogian.
In the eighties, Frolick moved to Los Angeles and worked at various agencies, studios and production companies as a script reader, agency assistant, and development executive
Development executive
In film production, a development executive is a high-level position generally above a Creative Executive on the Studio Executive totem pole, their duties are tasked with reading scripts and finding source material which can be turned into motion picture content .-References: What A Development...
. When the Writers Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, West is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. The Guild was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, which include the Screen Writers Guild...
went on strike in 1988, his career as a journalist began.
His first Premiere Magazine story, “Sink or Float,” served as the prototype for the magazine’s popular “Life at the Bottom” column. Frolick’s work has also appeared in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Movieline, TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
, The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
, and The Los Angeles Times, for which he interviewed such personalities as Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
and Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
. He also conducted dozens of videotaped interviews with survivors of the Holocaust for Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
’s "Survivors of the Shoah" project.
Frolick has served as the pseudonymous author of several book-length parodies: The Philistine Prophecy, Dumpisms, and The Ditches of Edison County, a national bestseller which was translated into Japanese and Italian. In 2005 Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, released the latest, The Five People You Meet in Hell. Frolick’s 1995 Dutton book What I Really Want to Do is Direct tracked seven film school graduates over three years. Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
wrote, “If you are reading my words right now, you need to buy this book. Billy Frolick has produced the definitive text on what it’s like to make a start in the film business. I found it absolutely riveting.” And from Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
: “Essential reading.”
Frolick's directing debut, It is What it Is, a full-length feature from his original screenplay, starred Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernie's) and featured Stephen Tobolowsky (Memento) and Joshua Malina (The West Wing). It is What it Is screened at several global festivals, including the 2003 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Picture, as well as prizes for Best Screenplay and Best Directorial Debut. The film's cultural significance was noted by William Safire
William Safire
William Lewis Safire was an American author, columnist, journalist and presidential speechwriter....
in his March 5, 2006 New York Times Sunday Magazine column "On Language," entitled "It Is What It Is." "A burst of the sentence's activity," Safire wrote, "followed Billy Frolick's movie with that title in 2001."
For DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
, Frolick has written the feature screenplays Holy Cow
Holy cow
Holy cow may refer to:* Holy cow , an exclamation of surprise* Cattle in religion, particularly in Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Ancient Egyptian religion* Bull , as it pertains to ancient mythology-Proper names:...
(with Chicken Run
Chicken Run
Chicken Run is a 2000 British stop-motion animation film made by the Aardman Animations studios, the production studio of the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit films...
writer Karey Kirkpatrick
Karey Kirkpatrick
Karey Kirkpatrick is an American screenwriter and director. His films include James and the Giant Peach, Space Jam, The Iron Giant, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Charlotte's Web and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy adaptation. He has also directed the films, Imagine That starring Eddie Murphy as...
) and Madagascar
Madagascar (2005 film)
Madagascar is a 2005 computer-animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation, and released in movie theaters on May 27, 2005. The film tells the story of four Central Park Zoo animals who have spent their lives in blissful captivity and are unexpectedly shipped back to Africa, getting shipwrecked...
(with directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, and Mark Burton, co-writer of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit). Madagascar stars the voice talents of Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller
Benjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....
, Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...
, Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith is an American actress, producer, director, author, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman. She began her career in 1990, when she made a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom True Colors. She starred in A Different World, produced by Bill Cosby, and she featured...
and David Schwimmer
David Schwimmer
David Lawrence Schwimmer is an American actor and director of television and film. He was born in New York City, and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was two. He began his acting career performing in school plays at Beverly Hills High School. In 1988, he graduated from Northwestern...
, and grossed over a half a billion dollars worldwide during its 2005 theatrical release.
In addition to moderating and appearing on many international film school and festival panels, Frolick is an adjunct professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he teaches Screenwriting.