Biography

Dan Lawler is an American writer, producer, director and line producer from Rochester, NY. After moving to Los Angeles, CA in 2003 to study improvisation at The Groundlings, Dan spent his first years in LA acting, writing and doing stand-up comedy before becoming established in production; a bridge he crossed via the Art Department, enabled by construction experience gained while working for his father's roofing company in western NY.

More recently, Dan worked in production management with Miramax [us] on feature films such as He's All That (2021), Sick (2022) and Strange Darling (2023). After taking an in-house position at the studio, Dan supervised physical production for numerous Miramax features including The Beekeeper (2024), Old Dads (2023), and Here (2024) among others. In addition to supervising features in-house, Dan also served as line producer and UPM for additional photography units on The Exorcism (2024) in Los Angles and Harvest Moon in New York City.

Previous work includes Clemency (2019), which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival in 2019, two films with Scott Free Productions [us] with Jungleland (2019) and Our Friend (2019), and Los Angeles units for FilmNation Entertainment [us]'s The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021), as well as LA helicopter units for Netflix's Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer (2021) and Surviving Black Hawk Down (2025) (RSA). An indie highlight, Untitled Horror Movie (2021) was the first film project to receive a greenlight from SAG-AFTRA in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Notable short film credits include Life of Riley (2023) which has won multiple festival awards including Best Short Film at the Los Angeles International Film Festival (2023), Best International Short Film at the London International Film Festival (2024), and Best Ensemble Cast as well as an Indie Spirit Award from Idyllwild Cinema Fest (2024). Randy as Himself (2025), a short film from Vanishing Angle [us] and writer/director Margaret Miller, which filmed in Los Angeles from in 2024, premiered at SXSW in March 2025 and racked up more than 30 festival laurels and numerous awards nominations.

In 2023, Dan began shopping and developing multiple creative production packages with his company, Snow Day Conspiracy, including his own first narrative feature as a director, Through the Desert.

Upcoming releases in 2026-2027 include Company (2026), Dan's second project with writer/director Casey Affleck which premieres at the 2026 Venice Film Festival, Loser (2027) a female-led indie time travel thriller hitting the festival circuit in 2027, as well as Thud a gothic rom-com starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Rudy Pankow that shot outside of Los Angeles in the summer of 2026.
- IMDb mini biography by: Dolores Cantu