RDF founder was one of the UK’s most influential indie execs
David Frank, one of the founding fathers of the British indie community, has died aged 63.
He passed away suddenly at the weekend, at home. Arrangements for the funeral have not yet been made and Broadcast will publish further details in due course.
Frank created RDF Television (later RDF Media Group) in 1993 and through a mixture of outstanding programming, astute business acumen and clever deal-making grew it to become one of the industry’s most important indies.
In its early 2000s heyday, the potent combination of Frank and director of programmes Stephen Lambert generated shows including Faking It and Wife Swap and the company won Broadcast’s Best Independent Production Company award three times between 2002 and 2006.
Frank worked closely with his brother Matthew, who led the company’s international distribution strategy, and guided RDF through a series of mergers and acquisitions, public listings and management buyouts, culminating in it being bought by Zodiak Entertainment in 2010. Frank then became chief executive of the wider group, before leaving Zodiak in 2013.
After that he went on to create investment vehicle DialSquare86, programme distribution platform TRX and distributor Rocket Rights.
Frank was an investment banker in the 1980s before changing his career to become a freelance business journalist. He then worked as a reporter for the BBC, on the likes of Newsnight and the Money Programme, before launching RDF.
A full obituary and industry tributes will be published at a later date.
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