Biography
Jordan Kerner was a film producer that was born on February 5, 1950 in Los Angeles, California. After graduating from high school, he persuaded an entertainment career. He kicked off his career in 1971 when he worked with Group W for KPIX San Francisco. In 1976, he became an attorney at the law firm of Ball, Hunt, Hart and Baerwitz. In 1977, he left to join CBS Entertainment as a program and talent negotiator. In 1978, he then switched to Universal Television for NBC, taking the position of assistant to the senior VP.
Two years later, he also took on the task of director of program development QM Productions. The following year, he changed jobs and became the director of dramatic series development at ABC Entertainment. He was promoted to vice president of dramatic development in 1983.
Although he met producer/director Jon Avnet in the 80s, the success of the television movie Between Two Women (1986) caused Kerner to end his role on ABC, and shifted focus on producing. He partnered with Avnet to start out The Avnet/Kerner Company. His first project under the Avnet/Kerner empire was Less Than Zero (1987). In 1989, The Avnet/Kerner Company, along with Michael Jaffe Films, Spectacor Films, Von Zerneck/Sertner Films, The Konigsberg/Sanitsky Company, Robert Greenwood Productions and Leonard Hill Films were one of the founding members of Allied Communications Inc., a syndicator of telemovies.
Throughout the 1990s, Avnet/Kerner was an active producer for theatrical and television films. The producing duo was a major player for Walt Disney Studios, holding a first look deal, and producer for blockbuster hits like The Mighty Ducks (1992), which spawned a franchise, including sequels, George of the Jungle (1997) and Inspector Gadget (1999), the latter two films were based on animated television series that was quite popular, and spawned direct-to-video sequels. In addition to that, Avnet/Kerner produced Funny About Love (1990), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), The Three Musketeers (1993), When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), The War (1994), Miami Rhapsody (1995) and Red Corner (1997), though some of them flopped, and some of them had the same level of success the blockbuster films did. In addition to the theatrical movies, Avnet/Kerner produced television movies like Side by Side (1988), My First Love (1988), Breaking Point (1989), Do You Know the Muffin Man? (1989), Heat Wave (1990), Backfield in Motion (1991), The Watchman (1992), The Switch (1993), For Their Own Good (1993), Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge (1995), Poodle Springs (1998), Mama Flora's Family (1998), My Last Love (1999) and A House Divided (2000).
In 2001, Avnet and Kerner split up their production companies. While Avnet formed Brooklyn Films, Kerner started The Kerner Entertainment Company in order to produce A Wrinkle in Time (2003) and Snow Dogs (2002) for Disney, before ending up their association with the two direct-to-video sequels to the two movies produced by Avnet/Kerner. He moved to Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies to develop a live-action film version of the book, Charlotte's Web (2006). In 2007, he moved to FoxWalden to produce films, none of which was materialized. In 2011, he produced The Smurfs (2011), a film adaptation of the comic strip of the same name, which spawned a sequel in 2013, and an animated film reboot in 2017.
He was currently in post-production on the movie Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021), which was scheduled for release in the November of 2021, and in development on a Mighty Mouse film.
