Michael Philip was born and raised in Santa Monica, California. The grandson of Producer and President of Columbia Pictures, Mike Frankovich (The Shootist) and stepson of Academy award-winning film editor, Carl Kress (The Towering Inferno), Michael has had an insider's view to the workings of Hollywood. He spent the first 10 years in the business honing his skills as an assistant editor working on such films as Stroker Ace, Cannonball Run II, Deepstar Six, & Bloodsport.

In 1994, after supervising post on the production of Arizona Dream, (Johnny Depp) directed by Emir Kusturica, he co-founded Nichol Moon Entertainment, a production service company designed to help facilitate independent films, most notably the film Swingers. As an independent producer Michael helped produce and package The Curve (Keri Russell), Lip Service (Jami Gertz), Who Is Cletis Tout? (Tim Allen) and The Movie Hero (Jeremy Sisto).

In 2005, Michael wrote and directed Drop Dead Sexy (Jason Lee & Crispin Glover), which premiered at SXSW and was released by Lion's Gate.

From 2006-2015, Michael spent much of his time in Eastern Europe, where he was appointed Head of Production at several studios, most notably Kentarous Studios in Bucharest and Raleigh Film Studios in Budapest. During this European tenure, Michael partnered with Arnold Rifkin to produce, Timber Falls (Beth Brodrick), Night Train (Danny Glover) Stag Night (Scott Atkins) and independently, Battledrone, a stylized action film released by Netflix.

In 2016, Michael moved back to the states to direct Frat Pack (Danny Trejo), released by Lionsgate and later, producing Becoming (Toby Kebbell) and Disturbing The Peace (Guy Pearce).

At present, Michael has co-founded Cr8iv DNA with Jason Moring (Double Dutch Int'l). The new banner is in post-production on The Doorman (Ruby Rose) for Lionsgate and involved in a slate of new and exciting projects.

Digging Up the Dirt: Making 'Drop Dead Sexy'

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Michael Philip

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Second Unit or Assistant Director

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