Lance Weiler | |
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Born | United States |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Film director, writer |
Lance Weiler is an American filmmaker and writer from Pennsylvania. Initially working as an assistant cameraman and camera operator on large commercial shoots, in Pennsylvania and later New York City, he then co-directed, co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in The Last Broadcast in 1998. In 2005 he wrote, directed, and co-produced his second film, Head Trauma, which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2006.
He sits on two World Economic Forum steering committees, one on the future of content creation and another on digital policy. He is part of the Cinema Research Institute think tank on the future of film at NYU and teaches at Columbia University on the art, craft and business of storytelling in the 21st century.
He founded the content creator resource The Workbook Project and network, the discovery and distribution film festival From Here to Awesome, and a complementary conference series, DIY Days.
Weiler wrote a column on digital media-related topics at the Blog Herald from 2006 to 2007. He is also a regular columnist for Filmmaker Magazine. His column entitled "Culture Hacker" deals with the intersection of tech and entertainment.
His work has been featured in Time, Forbes, and Wired, and on television programs such as Entertainment Tonight and CNN. His first feature, The Last Broadcast, is currently distributed in over 20 countries. It has the honor of being the first all-digital release of a motion picture to theaters nationwide, and has enjoyed runs on HBO and IFC. To date, The Last Broadcast, a self-distributed effort, has grossed over 4.5 million dollars worldwide.
Head Trauma had its world premiere at the LA Film Festival in 2006 and had a 17-city DIY digital theatrical run before hitting stores and retail outlets nationwide on DVD. Weiler developed a cinema ARG (alternate reality game) around Head Trauma. Over 2.5 million people experienced the game via theaters, mobile drive-ins, phones and online. In recognition of these cinematic gaming innovations, BusinessWeek named Lance "One of the 18 Who Changed Hollywood".
Lance and his writing partner Chuck Wendig's Collapsus - an energy risk conspiracy received an International Emmy nomination for best Digital Fiction in 2011.