Dan Eckman (born January 27, 1984) is an American director, writer, and producer. Eckman first came to attention for his work in the sketch group

Derrick Comedy Derrick Comedy was an Internet sketch comedy group from New York University. The group has a large YouTube following. Their YouTube channel has over 200 thousand subscribers and amassed over 100 million total video views as of 2020. Some notable Y ...

Early life

Eckman was born on January 27, 1984 in

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...

. He has been writing, producing, directing, and editing short films since the age of 15, and his work has been screened at numerous film festivals across the country. He graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

with a B.F.A. in Film and TV Production in 2005.

Career

Eckman's career began when he started making sketch videos for the

group along with fellow members

Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glove ...

, Dominic Dierkes,

DC Pierson DC Pierson is an American comedian, author, and actor. He is best known for his involvement in the sketch and improvisational comedy group Derrick Comedy. Early life and education Pierson was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended New York Uni ...

, and Meggie McFadden. His NYU undergraduate thesis film, ''CHECKOUT'', won several awards, including Best College Short at the 2006 HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...

. In 2009, Derrick Comedy released the film ''

Mystery Team ''Mystery Team'' is a 2009 American comedy film by the comedy group Derrick Comedy. The story was written by Donald Glover, DC Pierson, Dominic Dierkes, Dan Eckman and Meggie McFadden. It stars Glover, Pierson and Dierkes, was directed by Eckm ...

'', Derrick's first endeavor into the

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

world. The film premiered at the

2009 Sundance Film Festival The 2009 Sundance Film Festival was held during January 15, 2009 until January 25 in Park City, Utah. It was the 25th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. Award winners *Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - ''We Live in Public'' *Grand Jury Prize: ...

. Before making ''Mystery Team'', Eckman was the video production director for

Blue Man Group Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...

, where his work was seen on the 57th Primetime

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s, the 2005

Billboard Music Award The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

s, on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

, at

Universal Orlando Universal Orlando Resort, commonly known as Universal Orlando or simply Universal, formerly Universal Studios Escape, is an American theme park and entertainment resort complex based in Orlando, Florida. The resort is operated by Universal Par ...

and in the Boston Children's Museum, among others. Eckman, along with his other Derrick partners with the exception of Glover, made a guest appearance on ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

'' as Pierce's joke writers. In 2011, Eckman directed the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

film ''Worst. Prom. Ever.'' which starred Daryl Sabara and was produced by Pierson and McFadden. In 2011, Eckman directed the very first

Childish Gambino Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glove ...

music video, ''Freaks and Geeks'' and the video for his single "Bonfire". In 2011, Eckman directed the thirteenth episode of the third season of ''Community''.

Personal life

Eckman was married to Meggie McFadden on July 10, 2010 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* *
Dan Eckman's official siteDerrick ComedySundance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eckman, Dan 1984 births Living people American directors American male screenwriters Tisch School of the Arts alumni Film directors from New Hampshire