LANCE WEILER'S RÉSUMÉ
Lance Weiler is an American film-maker and writer from Pennsylvania. Initially working as an assistant cameraman and camera operator on large commercial shoots, in Pennsylvania and later New York City,[1] 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. Head Trauma premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2006.
He sits on a World Economic Forum steering committee for the future of content creation, is part of the Research Institute for the Advancement of Cinema Arts and Commerce [2] think tank on the future of film at NYU and teaches at Columbia University [3] on the art, craft and business of storytelling in the 21st Century.
He founded the content creator resource The Workbook Project & network, the discovery and distribution film festival From Here to Awesome, and a complementary conference series, DIY Days.[4]
Weiler wrote a column on digital media-related topics at the Blog Herald, from 2006 to 2007.[5] He is also a regular columnist for Filmmaker Magazine. His column entitled Culture Hacker [6] looks at the intersection of tech and entertainment.
His work has been featured in Time, Forbes, "Wired" [7] 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 [8] named Lance “One of the 18 Who Changed Hollywood.” Others on the list included "Thomas Edison", "George Lucas", "Steve Jobs" and "Walt Disney".
At Sundance 2011, Weiler released Pandemic,[9] a transmedia experience playing out across film, mobile, web and a live experience. [10]
In addition to making feature films, Weiler directs commercials and music videos. He often lectures at universities and film societies about the changing landscape of content creation and distribution. He has spoken at the Cannes, Berlin and Sundance Film Festivals and has consulted for large ad agencies, entertainment companies and corporations.
Weiler is also the founder of the Workbook Project, a “social open source” project for filmmakers. The Workbook Project’s goal is to help filmmakers understand the changing landscape of funding, production, promotion, and distribution in a digital age.