Daniel Mason Bendewald (born March 7, 1967) is an American director, producer and photographer. He is the director of the P90X workout program, which is still the top ranking infomercial.[1] He is the brother of actor Andrea Bendewald.
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While in Philadelphia, Bendewald founded the Reject Film Fest in 1997, showcasing films that were rejected by the currently established festivals. For consideration, filmmakers were required to submit a copy of one of their rejection letters. After a commercially successful second year Bendewald closed the festival to return to directing.
Bendewald opened Mini Mace Pro with his classmate, Don Argott, in 1995. The two met at The Art Institute of Philadelphia, and started the company in the spare bedroom of an apartment on Walnut Street. The partnership dissolved in 2002 when Bendewald moved to Los Angeles, and Argott remained in Philadelphia and later opened 9.14 Pictures.
Bendewald rebranded the company MEGA MACE and rented space in Beverly Hills at Beachbody's offices, beginning a long relationship with CEO Carl Daikler and fitness trainer Tony Horton. Bendewald directed Horton in P90X Extreme Home Fitness reputed to be the most successful fitness series produced in the U.S. – selling millions worldwide. Other notable titles Bendewald directed and produced include: Ten Minute Trainer, RevAbs, Slim in 6, the Shakeology Workouts, YRG Fitness Series, Gold Medal Fitness, Fit Kids Club, Get Real, and P90X One On One, a reality style workout series.
Bendewald wrote and directed several short films including Vesting and Nice Shot as well as the quirky The Doreen Episodes, featuring Liz Lytle, created as a webisode series. Between 2006 - 2010 he worked on his first feature length documentary Tunahaki[2] about an orphanage in Tanzania where the children study acrobats.
Bendewald volunteers at the El Faro orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico and is a supporter of Friends of El Faro, a grassroots non-profit organization that helps raise money for the orphanage. He creates fundraising videos[3] each year to help raise awareness of the 100 children living there. Bendewald has also traveled to support orphanages in Peru, Africa, and most recently Haiti after the 2010 Earthquake to assist the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Love a Child in their efforts.