'The Christmas Shepherd' Production Bios Gerald W
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‘THE CHRISTMAS SHEPHERD’ PRODUCTION BIOS GERALD W. ABRAMS (Executive Producer) – Gerald W. Abrams began his television career in 1965 with WCBS TV as an account executive and worked his way up through CBS Television national sales to head the West Coast Sales Department in 1971. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed General Sales Manager of KCBS, the CBS-owned station in Los Angeles. In 1973, Abrams joined The Jozak Company as Vice President of Creative Affairs and segued into his producing career by producing the Theater Presentation "The Secret Life of John Chapman." While with Jozak, a few of the projects Abrams executive-produced were "James Dean, Portrait Of A Friend," "Red Alert," the Emmy®-winning "The Defection Of Simas Kudirka" and the ABC series "Julie Farr, M.D." Abrams formed his own company, Cypress Point Productions, in 1978. Through Cypress Point, he executive-produced "Flesh And Blood," "Letters From Frank," "The Gift," "Act Of Love," "Berlin Tunnel 21," "Marian Rose White," the CBS series "Cutter To Houston," "Found Money," "Scorned And Swindled," and the Emmy®-winning "Florence Nightingale" and "A Woman Called Golda." In addition to his television credits, Abrams was also the executive producer of "Hearts of Fire," a theatrical film for Lorimar, starring Bob Dylan and Rupert Everett and the Hallmark Channel Original Movie “Fairfield Road.” Abrams formed Phoenix Entertainment Group with Gerald Isenberg in July of 1985. In February of 1989, Phoenix was acquired by The Hearst Corporation and renamed Hearst Entertainment Productions, where Abrams served as the Co-Chairman. Abrams was the producer of the four-hour miniseries "Monte Carlo," shot entirely on location in France and executive-producer of "A Father's Revenge," which was filmed in Berlin. Also in '89, he executive-produced the two-hour movie "Jekyll & Hyde,” starring Michael Caine and Cheryl Ladd, filmed on location in England, which was followed by "Daughter Of Darkness," starring Anthony Perkins, which was filmed in Budapest, Hungary. Abrams also executive produced the mini-series “Family of Spies,” starring Powers Boothe and Lesley Ann Warren, for which she was nominated for an Emmy®. Abrams served on the Board of Directors of the Hollywood Radio and Television Society from 1982 to 1984, and has remained a very active alumnus of The Pennsylvania State University, having served on the Alumni Council and on the Board of Advisors to The College of Communications. In 1984, he was made an Alumni Fellow and received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1986. Additionally, he serves on the Alumni Board of Directors for The College of Communications. The Caucus for Television Producers, Writers & Directors honored Abrams with the Producer’s Award for 2004. Abrams executive produced “Black and Blue,” based on Pulitzer Prize winning author Anna Quindlen’s best selling novel, as well as “Nuremberg,” a four-hour mini-series for TNT, which was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Emmy® and “Second Honeymoon” starring (more) HALLMARK CHANNEL / ‘THE CHRISTMAS SHEPHERD’ – Production Bios – Page 2 Roma Downey and Tim Matheson for CBS. Following the critical success of those films, Abrams executive produced the Hallmark Channel Original Movie “A Christmas Visitor.” In 2003, Abrams executive produced “44 Minutes,” the FX Network’s highest rated show to date, as well as the Emmy® award-winning “Out of the Ashes” for Showtime. In March of 2004, ABC aired “The Mystery of Natalie Wood” executive produced by Abrams and based on Suzanne Finstad’s biography of Natalie Wood. In 2005, he served as executive producer for “See Arnold Run” about the historic California recall election and produced “Four Minutes” starring Christopher Plummer, chronicling Roger Bannister’s feat of being the first to run one mile in under four minutes. Abrams also served as executive producer on two Hallmark Channel films in 2008, “Daniel’s Daughter” and “Charlie and Me.” And in 2012, Abrams executive produced “Duke” for Hallmark Movie Channel. Abram’s wife, Carol, is a Peabody Award winning producer and co-author of “Shared Memories.” They have two children, J.J. Abrams, who has written and produced the motion picture “Regarding Henry,” wrote “Forever Young,” “Armageddon,” directed “Mission Impossible III,” “Cloverfield” and “Star Trek” and is the creator and Executive Producer of the television series “Lost,” “Felicity,” “What About Brian,” “Alias” and “Fringe” and Tracy, a screenwriter who has written for series television. ### ALLEN LEWIS (Executive Producer) - As Vice President of Production at Front Street Pictures, Allen Lewis is fortunate to be involved in many aspects of film making; from early development and budgeting, to a hands on approach with all facets of production and final delivery. Lewis has proudly worked on over 20 films for US and Canadian cable TV as well as several independent films. Most recently Lewis was executive producer on the Hallmark Channel Original Movies, “Debbie Macomber’s Trading Christmas” (Tom Cavanagh, Faith Ford), “Time After Time” (Richard Thomas), “Hitched for the Holidays” and “Smart Cookies.” He was also supervising producer on the Hallmark Channel Original Movies, “Kiss at Pine Lake,” “Call Me Mrs. Miracle” (Doris Roberts) and “Garage Sale Mystery” (Lori Loughlin) as well as Hallmark Channel’s hit series “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” and the Hallmark Movie Channel Original film “Duke” (Steven Weber). Additionally he was supervising producer on “The Pastor’s Wife,” (Rose McGowan) the highly acclaimed “Sins of the Mother” and the award winning “Taken From Me: the Tiffany Rubin Story” (Taraji Henson) for Lifetime. Lewis was also production manager on “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” (Henry Winkler) “Freshman Father,” “Edge of the Garden” and co- producer for “Lies Between Friends,” all for Hallmark Channel. Lewis began developing his producing career at Front Street Pictures in the early 2000's after he received his M.A. in International Relations in Japan. He is a member of the Directors Guild of Canada and lives in Vancouver BC. ### (more) HALLMARK CHANNEL / ‘THE CHRISTMAS SHEPHERD’ – Production Bios – Page 3 TERRY INGRAM (Director) – Terry Ingram is a Canadian citizen with over 30 years of experience in the industry. After years as a theatrical stage manager and an AD, Ingram crossed over to film and television as a director. His movies include “The Woodcarver” (John Ratzenberger), “Christmas Lodge” (Erin Karpluk), “Concrete Canyons” (Polly Shannon), “Angel and the Bad Man” (Lou Diamond Phillips, Deborah Kara Unger, Luke Perry), “All the Good Ones are Married” (Daryl Hannah), “Nightmare” (Haylie Duff), “Stranger Game” (Mimi Rogers), the sci-fi Greek tragedy “Odysseus and the Isle of Mysts,” starring Arnold Vosloo (“Blood Diamond,” “The Mummy”) and “Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Miracle” (George Canyon). His most recent credits include the TV movies “Chupacabra vs. the Alamo,” “Profile for Murder” and “The Good Mistress” and the Hallmark Channel Original Movies, “Hats Off to Christmas!,” “The Wishing Tree” and “My Boyfriends’ Dogs.” Ingram has directed multiple episodes of “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour,” “Health Nutz,” “La Femme Nikita,” “Total Recall,” “Kung Fu: The Legend Continues,” “Relic Hunter” and Peter Benchley’s “Amazon,” to name a few. He has also worked on several feature films, including 2nd unit directing on the outrageous comedy “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.” Ingram is renowned for his extraordinary imagination and command of his craft. ### MICHAEL J. MURRAY (Writer) - Michael J. Murray began his career in television and film as a writer for the 1988 film “The House of Usher.” Since then he has gone on to write numerous projects for NBC, CBS, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, Lifetime Movie Networks, TBS, Paramount, USA and 21st Century Films. These features include “Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders,” “Madonna: Innocence Lost,” “The Christmas Wish,” “A Recipe for Living,” “Witches,” and “When Angels Come to Town.” Murray wrote the Hallmark Channel Original Movie “The Wishing Tree” and for Hallmark Movie Channel the original movie “Duke.” He co-executive produced and wrote the television movie “My Neighbor’s Secret.” Murray was also a supervising producer and writer for “Finding John Christmas,” “A Town Without Christmas” and “Michael Jordan: An American Hero.” He recently wrote “Desperately Seeking Santa” for ABC. -- HALLMARK CHANNEL -- .