Ilana Frank is one of Canada's most prolific and award-winning producer of feature films and prime time dramatic television series.
After several years of professional experience as a producer of theatrical plays, Ilana joined the Toronto-based feature film production and distribution company Norstar Entertainment in the early 1980s. As Norstar's Senior VP of Production, Ilana supervised the development and production of more than twenty in-house feature films as well as features made by independent producers.
In 1996, Ilana started her own production company, Thump Inc. Her first feature film, THE LIFE BEFORE THIS (1998). In 2001, Ilana moved into dramatic series television production as the Co-Creator and Executive Producer of THE ELEVENTH HOUR, a 13-part one hour dramatic television series set in the world of Investigative Journalists at a major television network.
Over the course of its run, THE ELEVENTH HOUR was nominated for more than thirty Gemini Awards, and won more than fifteen Gemini's in all major categories including Best Writer, Director and Actor. In 2006, Ilana again teamed up with THE ELEVENTH HOUR alumnus director David Wellington on a four-hour original mini-series for CTV entitled WOULD BE KINGS.
Ilana is currently in production on a television movie for CTV entitled WHO NAMED THE KNIFE, written by Semi Chellas, and inspired by the memoir of the same title by Linda Spalding. David Wellington directs the MOW which stars Annabeth Gish, Chandra West, Hugh Dillon and Callum Keith Rennie.
Over the years, Ilana has given much now-recognized talent its first break, and she has consistently demonstrated a unique ability not only to identify talent, but also to harness it and integrate it into responsible and commercially viable productions. Ilana's accomplishments were heralded at the 2007 Writer's Guild of Canada Awards when she was awarded the Alex Barris Mentorship Award for her efforts nurturing Canadian talent.
As one of the nine writers who wrote nomination letters for the WGC Award put it: “ Ilana is a mentor, a bodyguard, a hustler, an advocate, a queen of ideas, a negotiator and a true friend. She isn't detached or objective; she isn't remotely hands off. (Thank God) She's passionate, engaged and “all-in” all the time. She believes in the voices of the artists she works with and helps them realize their vision.”
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Presented by
Elyse Allan, President and CEO, GE Canada
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The Creative Excellence Award is awarded to a woman in recognition of the creative excellence and dynamic quality of her work in the screen-based media industries. The recipient’s recent work has gained national and/or international attention in the previous year and has established a standard for those working in screen-based media.
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