After producing for Universal Pictures, Dimension Films, ABC News, Drew Carey, Reason TV, PBS and others, Ted Balaker and Courtney Moorehead Balaker founded Korchula Productions, a Southern California-based feature film production company with the motto — making important ideas entertaining.
Their films have won dozens of awards and have been released in theaters and on many popular platforms, including Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV. They’ve appeared on major airlines including Emirates, Qantas, and American Airlines, in classrooms, and on hundreds of college campuses around the world, from Harvard to the Australian National University. Their films have been the subjects of many special-event screenings, including a bipartisan congressional screening in the U.S. Capitol.
The Balakers’ projects have been amplified by outlets ranging from The Today Show to the Joe Rogan Experience and Real Time With Bill Maher. They’ve been lauded by members of Congress, by comedy icons John Cleese and Seth MacFarlane, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, Washington Post syndicated columnist George Will, Dr. Drew Pinsky, and by many publications, including The San Francisco Chronicle, The National Review, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Boston Globe.
Their feature films include Little Pink House starring two-time Academy Award nominee Catherine Keener and Emmy-nominee Jeane Tripplehorn, Can We Take a Joke? featuring Gilbert Gottfried, Christina P, and Penn Gillette, America in Primetime featuring Larry David, Jon Hamm, and Eva Longoria, and The Coddling of the American Mind, based on the New York Times bestselling book by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Their upcoming films include Troubled, a feature narrative based on the national bestselling memoir by Rob Henderson.
And when the credits roll, the show is just beginning.
That’s because the Balakers' projects deliver four levels of impact. They…
A film might be over in a couple of hours, but its impact can endure for years. Making films that endure and elevate begins with making important ideas entertaining.
Ted Balaker is an award-winning filmmaker, film consultant, former network news producer, and think tank scholar. He co-founded Korchula Productions, a feature film production company devoted to making important ideas entertaining.
Ted directed The Coddling of the American Mind, which is based on the New York Times bestselling book by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. It was praised by voices such as Film Threat (“10/10 … a must-see film”), CNN’s Michael Smerconish (“Terrific”), and Harvard
psychologist Steven Pinker (“Excellent”).
Ted directed Can We Take a Joke?, which features celebrated comedians such as Gilbert Gottfried, Christina P, Adam Carolla, and Penn Jillette. It was lauded by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and comedy icon Seth MacFarlane who called it “excellent” and a “very necessary analysis of comedy’s relationship to outrage culture.”
Ted is set to produce Troubled, for which he also co-wrote the screenplay, a narrative feature based on the national bestselling memoir by Rob Henderson, the only foster kid to graduate from Yale and earn a PhD from Cambridge University. Ted produced Little Pink House starring two-time Academy Award nominee Catherine Keener and Emmy nominee Jeanne Tripplehorn. The film earned praise from voices such as The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post’s George Will, and The Hollywood Reporter (“Unmistakable timeliness … excellent Performances … The bottom line — it hits a nerve”).
Ted served as an executive producer on Honor Flight, which set the Guinness World Record for largest screening when an audience of more than 28,000 watched the premiere at Milwaukee’s Miller Park. He started his career at ABC Network News (John Stossel Unit) producing hour-long primetime specials on topics ranging from free speech to addiction. He then served as a policy analyst at Reason Foundation before co-founding Reason TV and the Drew Carey Project, a series of documentary shorts hosted by Drew Carey. During his tenure, Reason TV won the Templeton Foundation’s “Innovative Media Award,” and attracted more average YouTube views than The New York Times.
Ted has co-authored one book and has authored or co-authored eleven studies on topics ranging from urban policy to remote work. He is a bestselling writer on Substack and his written work has appeared in many outlets, including The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Reason, USA Today, and The Washington Post.
Courtney Moorehead Balaker is an award-winning filmmaker, film consultant, professor of acting, and co-founder of Korchula Productions, a feature film production company devoted to making important ideas entertaining.
Courtney is set to direct Troubled, for which she also co-wrote the screenplay, a narrative feature based on the national bestselling memoir by Rob Henderson, the only foster kid to graduate from Yale and earn a PhD from Cambridge University. She wrote and directed Little Pink House, which stars two-time Academy Award nominee Catherine Keener as Susette Kelo, the blue-collar woman whose fight to save her home and neighborhood inspired a nation and went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The film was lauded by many outlets, including The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post’s George Will (“a bite-your-nails true-story thriller”), and The Hollywood Reporter (“Unmistakable timeliness … excellent performances … The bottom line — it hits a nerve”). Little Pink House won 10 awards on the film festival circuit — including six best picture/audience choice awards — and was honored with a bipartisan congressional screening on Capitol Hill.
Courtney produced Can We Take a Joke? featuring Gilbert Gottfried, Christina P, and Penn Jillette, which comedy icon Seth MacFarlane called “excellent” and “very necessary,” The Coddling of the American Mind (“a must-see film,” Film Threat) based on the New York Times bestselling book by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, and America in Primetime, a four-hour PBS series that features artists such as Larry David, Jon Hamm, Sandra Oh, Eva Longoria, and Bryan Cranston.
Courtney served as Producer in Charge of Talent at the Oprah Winfrey Network and Vice President of Development for Neo Art & Logic, a production company that produced feature films for Dimension Films, Universal Pictures, and others. During her time there, she produced movies such as Pulse starring Kristen Bell and American Pie: The Naked Mile starring Eugene Levy.
Courtney spent five years in New York City directing Off-Broadway theater, including the New York revival of Austin Pendleton's Uncle Bob starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The production was praised by the New York Times, New York Daily News, and the New York Post, which called it “a wonderful experience energized by powerful performances and taut direction.”
Courtney earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, Denver and a masters in theater directing from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She teaches acting at John Paul the Great Catholic University in San Diego.
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