Frederick Bailey was born in Dallas, Texas (full
name: John Frederick Bailey II).
He made his debut as a feature
director with a fantasy action/adventure about a sword-wielding
superhero in Shogun Cop (1999), unveiled at the Tokyo International
Fantastic Film Festival. He's worked on a total of 23 scripts that have made
it to the screen (two in foreign languages), plus another 30 that have
yet to see celluloid.
Bailey's written extensively in documentaries, composing the narration
for numerous bonus features included in DVD reissues of classics, such
as The Day The Earth Stood Still, Laura, and the special edition
reissue of The Wizard Of Oz. He wrote narration for profiles on actors
Gail Russell, Ward Bond and Sean McClory, and the screenwriter James
Edward Grant. He wrote narration for numerous Disney short features,
including a time-line on Walt Disney. He also worked on longer
documentaries for The Passion Of The Christ and The Shield. He co-wrote
the narration for Ghost Mountain, shown at the Visitor's Center at
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Borrego Springs, California. With an
equally prolific background in live theatre productions, he's directed
over 100 stage plays in New York City and in various regional,
repertory and stock theaters, including the world premiere of Beth
Henley's Sisters Of The Winter Madrigal. He's a playwright, author of
such stage pieces as The Bridgehead (which was co-winner of First Prize
at the first annual New Play Festival at the Actors Theatre of
Louisville in 1977), No Scratch, Rio Pork, Lonesome Canyon, Walkie
Talkie and Dirty Ugly People & Their Stupid Meaningless Lives. Gringo
Planet, a science-fiction comedy, was produced on the stage in London
in 1982 with a cast that included Peter Wight (Vera Drake (2004),
Another Year (2010), Babel (2006)) and again at the Actors Theatre of
Louisville in 1987. After decades of hands-on experience in the movie
industry, both above- and below-the line, both in front of and behind
the camera, Bailey turned to teaching in 2006. At the International
Academy of Film & Television (IAFT) in the Philippines, he has taught
Intermediate and Advanced Screenwriting and pioneered a course in
Directing Actors, before moving on to the River Hollywood Training
School in Tokyo, where he taught acting classes, drawing on his years
of toiling in the trenches with actors. In 2010, he wrote, directed and
on-screen hosted two 45-minute educational documentaries for IAFT, on
Directing and Screenwriting. He holds a BFA in directing and
playwriting from Southern Methodist University. He's married to
producer Atsuko Ohtani Bailey. They have a son, Angus, born in 2002.
