‘CHRISTMAS IN CANAAN’
PRODUCTION BIOS
MARGARET LOESCH (Executive Producer) – Margaret A. Loesch is the co-founder and former CEO of the The Hatchery LLC, a family entertainment company launched in 2003 with partner and former Co-CEO Bruce Stein and investor/partners Peter Guber and Paul Schaeffer. Loesch transitioned from The Hatchery to the recently formed Hasbro/Discovery Joint-Venture Network as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Loesch remains an integral part of the company, serving as an active board member.
Concurrent with launching The Hatchery with Stein, in 2002-2003 Loesch raised the financing, produced, and in 2004 distributed, the fifth movie in the Benji franchise, “Benji Off the Leash,” with creator/director Joe Camp.
From September 1998 until October of 2001, Loesch was the first President and Chief Executive Officer of Crown Media United States and its U. S. Hallmark Channel, having built and launched that channel after first restructuring and strengthening its predecessor, the U. S. cable channel Odyssey.
Previously, she was President of the Jim Henson Television Group, Worldwide. During her tenure, she supervised the development and production of the award-winning “Bear in the Big Blue House” and served as its Executive Producer. While with Henson, Loesch played a key role in the 1998 acquisition of the Liberty Media-owned Odyssey Channel, which was acquired by the Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment. At the request of Odyssey’s consortium of partners, Loesch moved over to helm that cable channel, and is credited with building its programming strategy and ratings, forging a new management infrastructure, and establishing an enduring foundation for the Hallmark Channel, which she subsequently launched in 2001, replacing the Odyssey programming service. Her accomplishments included successfully securing the rights to the full library of Hallmark Hall of Fame episodes, for which she created a programming strategy that greatly enhanced the channel’s ratings as well as garnered substantially increased sales revenue for the network. In addition, she built an aggressive slate of acquisitions with a programming strategy that substantially built ratings, and are still delivering ratings, for the channel today.
From 1990 through 1997, Loesch was the founding President and CEO, as well as the key architect, of FOX Kids Networks, Worldwide. She reshaped the landscape of children's television with a creative strategy that merged diversified, quality programming with innovative and aggressive marketing. Loesch’s strategy and vision incubated many program concepts and built them into rating hits which included the highly stylized “Batman” series, Stephen Spielberg’s “Animaniacs,” Marvel’s “X-Men” and “Spider-Man” and the “Mighty Morphin Power
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Rangers.” She also successfully expanded Fox Kids into Latin America, Australia, and the United Kingdom. She resigned as Vice-Chairman in late 1997.
From 1984 to 1990, Loesch was President and CEO of Marvel Productions, the film production arm of Marvel Comics. Under her leadership, Marvel’s revenues grew tenfold as she built the company from a production boutique into an animation powerhouse. While helming Marvel, the company earned dozens of Emmy® awards and industry honors for production excellence. During her tenure, Loesch executive produced multiple hit series including “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe,” and enjoyed a six year creative collaboration with the legendary Jim Henson while producing Jim Henson’s “Muppet Babies” and “Fraggle Rock.”
Previously, from 1979 to 1984, Loesch was Executive Vice-President of Hanna-Barbera, where she supervised the development and launch of more than 500 half hours of television production, including the multiple Emmy-award winning series which she developed and proctored, the “Smurfs.”
From 1975 to 1979 she was with NBC TV Network as its Director of Children's Programs, and from 1971 to 1975 she was with ABC TV Network.
Among her awards, Loesch is a four-time Emmy Award winner, a George Foster Peabody Award winner, a Vision Award, and recipient of the prestigious Chair Award from the Caucus for Television Producers, Writers, and Directors.
She serves on the Board of Trustees of Sesame Workshop, producers of television’s most highly acclaimed children’s educational series, “Sesame Street.”
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DAN ANGEL (Executive Producer) - Dan Angel, an Emmy®, Peabody and WGA award- winning writer and producer, has been creating and supervising quality film and television production for more than 20 years. His broad range of experience includes an extensive background in many genres from horror and science fiction to branded family entertainment in all formats. He has been responsible for some of the biggest successes in both family series and longform movies over the past two decades.
Angel joined The Hatchery, a family entertainment production company, as a partner in June 2003, where he has produced and developed a number of television programs in both live action and animation. Newly appointed as the company’s Chief Creative Officer, Angel is responsible for managing all project development, sales and production. Most recently, Angel completed work on “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story.” He served as the Executive Producer on this event movie for TNT. It starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Kimberly Elise and was
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directed by Thomas Carter. “Gifted Hands” had its worldwide premiere on TNT on February 7th 2009 and won the night, beating out all network and cable programming.
Angel recently completed “Christmas in Canaan,” an original family movie for Hallmark Channel, and is in development on a scripted family show based on the popular Great Brain book series. He also has a new horror series, “Shock Treatment” with partner Billy Brown and horror veteran Sean Cunningham, creator of “Friday the 13th” and “The Last House on the Left.” “Shock Treatment” will premiere first as a new original series on the web. Angel is also developing a feature film based on the hit Broadway musical Jekyll and Hyde. Dune Entertainment and Greg Coote are partners on the project.
In 2007, Angel wrote and produced the first in The Hatchery’s series of direct-to-DVD movies based on R.L. Stine’s Haunting Hour and Nightmare Hour books, in partnership with Universal Home Video. “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: Don’t Think About It” premiered on The Cartoon Network to record ratings in September of 2007 and earned him a WGA writing award nomination for Best Writing in Children’s Long form. The Halloween DVD continues to sell well around the world.
In 2004, Angel did double duty, producing 130 episodes of the game show “Balderdash” and 13 episodes of the swashbuckling adventure “Young Blades,” both for the PAX network under a deal with NBC. He also served as writer and creator of both shows. Over the last four years, Angel has been responsible for the development of a number of properties, including “Scrooge the Musical,” a remake of the Albert Finney classic for CBS and a miniseries for Lifetime, “Ruby,” based on the popular teen girl book series V.C. Andrews. In addition to “Ruby”, Angel is developing a movie remake of the popular V.C. Andrews best seller, Flowers in the Attic for MGM.
Angel has worked closely with American Greetings to help develop a number of their brands into television series. Those properties include “Twisted Whiskers,” “Sushi Pack,” “Mariyoku Yummy” and “The Care Bears Movie 2007.”
Among his other noteworthy accomplishments, Angel secured the movie rights to the inspiring story of Bill Porter after seeing an interview on ABC’s “20/20.” The culmination of a four-year effort by Angel, during which he gathered a top-notch creative team of talent including actor Bill Macy and Helen Mirren, was the production of a two-hour movie event based on Porter’s life entitled “Door to Door.”
Angel served as Executive Producer of the movie, which he had sold to TNT and Johnson & Johnson. In 2003, “Door to Door” was not only one of the most watched but also one of the most honored TV movies of all time including AFI, Peabody, Emmy and Critics Choice honors. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences nominated “Door to Door” with more nominations than any other program that year, 12, and it won six prime time Emmy Awards, the most of any
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program for that year, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries Movie or Dramatic Special and Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special. The six Emmy wins for “Door to Door” made it the most-ever garnered for a single program for TNT.
Previously, from 1995 through 1998, Angel won recognition when he produced, co-wrote and co-story edited “Goosebumps” for FOX Kids Network, winning the WGA Award for Best Children’s Teleplay and a Gemini nomination for Best Children’s Series. TV Guide picked “Goosebumps” two years in a row as one of the best kid’s shows on television. ”Goosebumps” continues to be successful, being one of the highest-rated series on Cartoon Network for the 2007 and 2008 Halloween seasons.
From 1997 to1998, Angel and his partner, Billy Brown, served as Story Editor/Writers on the FOX TV hit, “The X-Files.” 1998 was the only year that the writing staff of the popular sci-fi series took home a Golden Globe for Best Dramatic Writing.
Angel also served as Supervising Producer, in 1998, on “Animorphs,” a television series adaptation of the hit book series for Scholastic Productions and Nickelodeon.
From 1999 through 2001, Angel had an overall writing/producing deal with The Jim Henson Company where, with his former partner, he developed and supervised a variety of projects including “Brats of the Lost Nebula,” which aired on the WB Network, and was selected as one of the 10 best new children’s programs by TV Guide for 1999.
In 2001, Angel created two primetime series: “The Fearing Mind” for the Jim Henson Company and the FOX Family cable channel and “Night Visions” for Warner Brothers and FOX TV Network. “Night Visions” was reprised in 2003 on the Sci-Fi Channel for a number of years and in 2008 was reprised again by Chiller TV.
In 2002, Angel served as Executive Producer and co-writer with Billy Brown for a two-hour original script for the revival of the “Battlestar Galactica” series as part of a development deal with Studio USA. Also in 2002, Angel created, wrote and Executive Produced a drama pilot for the WB television network called “Shadow Walkers.”
Among Angel’s other credits are: Creator, Writer, Executive Producer of the Ace-Award Nominated “John Carpenter Presents Body Bags” for Showtime, and Supervising Writer of Foxboro Entertainment’s “National Lampoon’s Ahead of Its Time.”
Previously Angel helmed production for several companies including the cable network FIT TV, Body by Jake, Tamilee Webb and Palmer/Cablevision of Southern California.
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A graduate of the UCLA Film School, he lives with his wife and three children in the Los Angeles suburb of Toluca Lake.
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HOWARD BRAUNSTEIN (Executive Producer) – Howard Braunstein, a two-time Emmy® nominee, was born in 1961 and raised in Los Angeles. He received his bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies at UCLA and his Master’s Degree from the USC Annenberg School for Communication. He started his career at the FOX Network in 1986, when the network was launched. After working at Fox for five years in the research, scheduling, and current programming departments, he departed in 1991 to pursue his lifelong career goal of becoming a producer. He met long-time producer Michael Jaffe, and they formed their own production company, Jaffe/Braunstein Films, Ltd. Together, they have produced more than 70 television films and six mini-series for the broadcast networks and cable buyers. 2009’s “The Informant” was Braunstein’s first feature film credit.
Recent long-form projects that Braunstein and Jaffe have produced include “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter,” a 2008 telefilm for Lifetime Television and an Emmy nominee for outstanding movie-for-television; the multiple Emmy-nominated “Elvis,” a CBS Television mini-series event starring Golden Globe winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the title role; “The Engagement Ring,” starring Patricia Heaton for TNT; an earthquake disaster mini-series for NBC Universal Television titled “10.5 Apocalypse” -- sequel to the original ratings juggernaut -- featuring Kim Delaney and Frank Langella; “Faith of My Fathers,” based on Senator John McCain’s best-selling book; “Touch The Top of the World,” based on the true story of Erik Weihenmayer -- blind since childhood -- who eventually summits Mt. Everest; and “The Brooke Ellison Story,” directed by the late Christopher Reeve, all for the A&E Television Network.
Additional projects include the three-hour television musical event “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific,” starring Glenn Close and Harry Connick Jr.; “First Do No Harm,” starring Meryl Streep; “Gilda Radner: It’s Always Something;” a remake of the family classic “Sounder,” for ABC’s “The Wonderful World of Disney” franchise; “Deliberate Intent,” starring Timothy Hutton, the first original film for FX Cable Network; “The Rosa Parks Story,” a winner of the NAACP Image Award for outstanding television movie or dramatic special, featuring Angela Bassett in the title role, who earned both an Emmy nomination and an NAACP Image Award for best actress; and “Ice Bound,” starring Susan Sarandon, both for CBS.
Braunstein and Jaffe were also producers and financiers of “The Nero Wolfe Mysteries,” a series for the A&E Television Network, also starring Hutton. They also financed a second series for A&E titled Sidney Lumet’s “100 Centre Street.”
Braunstein has been married since 1992 to the former Beth Alexander, and they have three
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beautiful children: Son Alex, who is 13; and twin daughters, Emma and Lily, who are 11 and, on most days, get along just fine.
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TED BAUMAN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) – Ted Bauman is an accomplished producer who has worked on television series as well as made-for-TV movies. After working as crew and production manager for a number of features, including “No Child of Mine,” starring Patty Duke, and series like “The Odyssey,” Bauman had the opportunity to work on “Night Man.” He produced 10 episodes of the action-adventure series before moving on in 2000 to produce “High Noon,” a remake of the 1952 Golden Globe and Oscar® winner. That same year, he produced the crime drama “Scorn,” which won the Gemini Award for Best TV Movie.
Bauman has also produced the thriller “Ripper,” as well as the romantic comedy “I Want to Marry Ryan Banks” for ABC. His other credits include “The Survivors Club,” based on the book by Lisa Gardner, “The Keeper” starring Dennis Hopper, “The Party Never Stops: Diary of a Binge Drinker” and “Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness,” starring Dean Cain. Bauman is also the executive producer for the 2009 TV movie “Stranger with My Face” and the upcoming TV series “Seven Deadly Sins.”
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NEILL FEARNLEY (Director) – A native of Liverpool, England, Neill Fearnley has more than 40 directorial credits over the course of a career which has spanned more than 20 years. He has directed episodes of such television shows as “21 Jump Street,” “Earth: Final Conflict,” “Kung Fu: The Legend Continues,” “The Outer Limits,” “Witchblade,” “Jeremiah” and SciFi’s 2007 update of “Flash Gordon.”
He has also directed several TV movies, including “A Decent Proposal,” “Christmas in Boston,” “I Dream of Murder” and “The Bad Son.” Recently, he directed the TV movie “Encounter With Danger,” starring Shannen Doherty. In 2008, he directed Hallmark Channel’s “Daniel’s Daughter” and the TV movie “The Boy Next Door,” both of which also showcased Fearnley in supporting roles.
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DONALD DAVENPORT (Book Author/Screenwriter) – Born in Detroit, Donald Davenport grew up in Southern California. His initial career goals were academic, earning an M.A. in American Literature and a French Language certificate from the University of Paris at the Sorbonne.
Turning to writing, his first produced film, “Doomsday Ward,” earned the Gold Medal for Public
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Service Television at the 1977 Houston International Film Festival, now WorldFest. This was followed by a series of international documentaries, shot throughout Asia, dealing with world food issues and local economies. Davenport both directed and produced them for a humanitarian relief organization.
In 1984, he wrote and produced the award-winning “Lesson in Loving,” starring Mel Ferrer and Lee Meriwether, a film that chronicled the trials of a family raising two children born with cystic fibrosis.
Approached in 2000 by country music icon Kenny Rogers to collaborate on a Christmas book, Davenport eagerly agreed and the result was Christmas in Canaan (HarperCollins 2002). In 2008, he was assigned the screen adaptation of Ira Avery’s charming fable, The Miracle of Dommatina for Hallmark Channel, which aired in January 2009 as “Expecting a Miracle.” He wrote “Love Finds a Home,” also for the Hallmark Channel, and the TV movie “Christmas at Cadillac Jack’s.”
Davenport lives with his wife in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is an accomplished yachtsman, a private pilot and a marathon runner.
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KENNY ROGERS (Book Author) – By now, Kenny Rogers has become such an icon that it’s easy to forget how he got there. The songs on 42 Ultimate Hits, bringing together his top songs from the late 60s up to his current return to the charts, are a reminder that Rogers is a star who excels at his craft. For more than five decades, Rogers has delivered memorable songs, drawing fans among rock, pop, soul and country audiences.
Houston-born Rogers formed his first band while in high school in 1956 and never quit making music from that point on. The rockabilly group called The Scholars got a record deal and released two singles with local success, and performed a spot on American Bandstand. Soon afterward, Rogers joined the Bobby Doyle Trio, playing stand-up bass and appearing on their album. In 1966, he became a member of the New Christy Minstrels, the popular folk group which he left a year later to form The First Edition with other members of the troupe.
The spotlight started focusing on Rogers when the group got their first hit, “I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” Within a year, the band was called Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, and his distinctive voice led the group to both pop and country chart success with “Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town,” written by Mel Tillis. The double- genre success struck again with “Reuben James” and the group’s own TV variety show.
In 1974, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition disbanded, leaving Rogers to pursue a solo career in country music. “Love Lifted Me,” went Top 20 in 1975, but it was the “Lucille” that shot him
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into the stratosphere. Tops at country, it also succeeded on the pop chart, was named the CMA's Single of the Year and was certified Gold.
“Daytime Friends,” “Sweet Music Man,” and “Love or Something Like It” continued his run of success. Then came “The Gambler,” a story song so vivid it not only delighted country and pop fans, it also became a TV movie, starring Rogers himself in the title role. The movie spawned four follow-ups, making it the longest running miniseries franchise on television. It started Rogers on a second career as an actor on television and movies, including another TV movie based on one of his hit songs, “Coward of the County.”
Rogers dominated the pop charts, consistently finding songs with universal appeal. In the 1980s, he came to embody the role of the sensitive male, singing such romantic hits as “Through The Years,” “She Believes In Me,” “You Decorated My Life” and “Lady,” the biggest song of his career. Those songs are classics today, sung at countless weddings, and even engraved on tombstones.
As the 1980s wound down, so did Rogers’ chart success. Gone from the radio, Rogers kept busy in other ways, establishing himself as a well-respected photographer, publishing several books and being invited to the White House to shoot a portrait of First Lady Hillary Clinton. He authored several short stories and appeared off-Broadway in his Christmas musical, The Toy Shoppe.
In 1999, after forming his own record company, Dreamcatcher Entertainment, Rogers found himself back on the country chart with “The Greatest,” a touching story song about a young boy playing baseball. When the follow-up, “Buy Me a Rose,” hit No. 1, Rogers proved that his talent was just as vibrant and meaningful as it was when he first started out.
On 42 Ultimate Hits, every great Kenny Rogers song from his career is included. The collection also has two new songs, “We Are The Same,” an anthemic call to focus on what we in the world have in common rather than pointing out our differences, and “My World Is Over,” a duet with new artist Whitney Duncan.
A 1987 Golden Globe nominee, Rogers’ has been recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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