Dan Mirvish is a multi-talented individual, serving as a director, screenwriter, producer, and author. His latest feature, "18½", is an award-winning, "Top Ten Oscar Contender", "Certified Fresh" 70s Watergate thriller/dark comedy that premiered at over 25 festivals on four continents, and then had a 7-month theatrical release in over 60 cities in the US, aired on 7 international airlines, and played on Starz in the US and SkyCinema in the UK. The film stars Willa Fitzgerald, John Magaro, Vondie Curtis Hall, Catherine Curtin, Richard Kind, Sullivan Jones, Alanna Saunders, Claire Saunders, and features the voices of Ted Raimi, Jon Cryer, and Bruce Campbell as Nixon.
As a co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival, Dan Mirvish is also an active director, screenwriter, and producer. He has been labeled a "cheerful subversive" by The New York Times and "Hollywood's Bad Boy" by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Mirvish has been named as one of Variety's Top 50 Creatives to Watch and one of Film Festival Today's Top 25 Most Influential People in Independent Film.
Dan directed the award-winning feature "Bernard and Huey", scripted by Oscar/Pulitzer-winner Jules Feiffer, and starring Oscar-winner Jim Rash and David Koechner, which traveled to over 30 film festivals on 5 continents and had a North American theatrical release by Freestyle Releasing/Entertainment Studios. The film has sold to 49 countries and has a "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
As a director, producer, and co-screenwriter, Mirvish made the feature adaptation of the hit Off-Broadway play "Between Us" (2012),starring Julia Stiles, Taye Diggs, Melissa George, and David Harbour. The film has played in 23 festivals in 7 countries, winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Bahamas International Film Festival and the Best Actor Prize at the Woods Hole Film Festival.
Mirvish co-created the faux McCain adviser Martin Eisenstadt, who was the self-admitted leak for the Sarah Palin Africa story. He and co-creator Eitan Gorlin wrote the critically-acclaimed novel "I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man's Wildly Inappropriate Adventures with the Last Republicans" for Farrar, Straus, Giroux (Faber & Faber),which was named one of the top three books of 2009 by The Washington Monthly magazine.
Mirvish directed, co-wrote, and produced the unique real estate musical "Open House" (2004),which is being distributed by The Weinstein Company. He has also directed, co-written, and produced the feature musical "Half Empty" (2006),which premiered at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Mentored by Robert Altman, Mirvish wrote, directed, and produced his first feature "Omaha" (1995) on 35mm for $38,000. The film played at over 30 other film festivals and was self-distributed to 32 cities in the U.S.
In the TV world, Mirvish directed the controversial comedy "A Message from the President of Iran" (2006),which was broadcast on Al Gore's Current TV, as well as streaming on the Internet and on mobile phones around the world. He has also directed short pilots, including "Sheldon" (2007) and "The Few & The Proud", which screened at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival and the HBO Comedy Arts Festival.
Mirvish has been a consultant for Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett's FOX-TV show "On the Lot" as well as for Fremantle Media's "American Idol" on FOX. He has also directed music videos, network television promos, and DVD-extra material, including over 2 hours of featurettes on the Weinstein's "Open House" (2004) DVD.
Mirvish remains actively involved with Slamdance, serving as "Co-Founder-at-Large" and frequently being the face of the festival as master of ceremonies and mentor to the incoming crop of filmmakers each year. He has also written feature material for Twentieth Century Fox, NuImage, Phoenician Films, and Primary Pictures.
Prior to getting an M.A. from USC's graduate film production program, Mirvish was a Washington-based speech writer for U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and a freelance journalist for such publications as The New York Times and The Washington Monthly. He has continued freelancing for various film magazines and books, and has written the introduction to Bret Stern's "How to Make a Film for Under $10,000 and Not Go to Jail" published by HarperCollins.
Mirvish is a frequent juror, panelist, and guest at various film festivals, IFP events, and national radio & TV shows.
