THE
ABOUT
ME PAGE
At a young age, Danny and his friends found a VHS camera and two tape decks to allow them to edit together short films. We were told that they were his dad’s ‘wedding videography' equipment. That camera gained legendary status for lensing such hits as “Hey Suburbia” and “It’s All About the Girls”, which Danny hopes will never see the light of day. However, he’s feeling generous and is willing to give you a glimpse of his very first music video.
While in college, Danny and his long-time creative partner, Steve Hoover, started to convince bands to let them do music videos for them. Soon, they were making $200 per video. Hell yeah! Both of them were very driven and soon that led to bigger videos, bigger budget and a lot more responsibility. They created Endeavor Media Group, under which they created over 60 music videos. They shared creative responsibilities, both having experience with editing, producing and directing.
One of their notable achievements was helping launch Owl City’s career with the music video for “Fireflies”, which currently has over 500 million views. They were awarded a platinum record for their participation. They have also worked with other notable bands such as Mandisa (American Idol), August Burns Red, Silverstein, and many others. Alternative Press Magazine named Danny and Steve Innovators of the Year. Eventually, Animal came along and started to get involved with finishing some of their music videos, and then offered them both a job. And that was Danny’s welcome to the bizarre world of advertising.
A few years later, Danny and Steve shot their first feature documentary, Blood Brother. Through Danny’s relentless efforts, the film got into the Sundance Film Festival and won both the Grand Jury and Audience Awards - a feat achieved by only several films. Ahead of the theatrical premiere, the NYTimes gave a glowing review and the Critics’ Picks stamp of approval. Collaborating with the sales team, Danny worked tirelessly to piece together several offers to create a unique distribution plan. The heart behind the story and film led the team to be awarded the International Documentary Association’s Humanities Award, as well as a nomination for the Cinema for Peace award.
Danny’s next film was based on a subject that he met while working on a project in Ukraine. He brought the project back to Steve, and together they created Almost Holy. Again, through Danny’s efforts, they were able to get Atticus Ross (Academy Award-winning composer) to score the film and Terrance Malick to executive produce. The film was sold and given an Academy Award qualifying theatrical run in over 30 theaters. It also had theatrical runs in the UK and several other countries, including Ukraine. Almost Holy currently holds a 98% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Danny went on to produce and executive produce several more documentaries, including Woman on Fire (Starz/Film Rise) and Fursonas. Danny handled the sales for both films, securing distribution for them.
Eventually, Danny started directing solo and created several short documentary films. The first one, Elgin Park, played at countless festivals and inspired a book featuring the subject’s art, which sold out twice. The film also gained over 40 million views when it was featured on a Facebook page.
Following that, Danny created The Wizard Oz, a film about a self-proclaimed wizard that features unicorns, mermaids, paganism, and love. The film was awarded the coveted Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere and was rated Best of the Month. It also received recognition from National Geographic as one of the Top Ten Short Films of the year. More recently, Danny was hired to create a Gears of War Documentary for Microsoft and Xbox.
During his time at Animal, Danny’s commercial work has taken him around the world and received recognition from The One Show, Adult Swim, Webby Awards, the Endorphin Awards, and the American Advertising Awards. He has worked with brands like Netflix, Bridgestone, Nationwide, Duolingo, Dropbox, Google, and many others.
Danny brings the lessons from all his career journeys to the table. Whether it’s knowing how to shoot or edit, respectfully entering a real person’s life and honoring their story, or simply leveraging the rapport of his crew to work fast and nimble - he strives to make every project his best.
Awards & Recognitions
Sundance Grand Jury Award
Sundance Audience Award
Sundance/A&E Brave Filmmaker’s Award (Finalist)
Hot Docs, Audience Award
IDA Humanities Award
Camerimage, Nominated Golden Frog
Cinema for Peace Awards
Social Impact Awards, Best Feature
Hawaii International Film Festival, Halekulani Golden Orchid Award
Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh (98%)
Human Rights Watch, Closing Night Film
National Geographic Top 10 Short Films
Webby Award Honoree, Sports
NYTimes Critics Pick
