Lance Weiler

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,^[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, 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^[2] 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 and 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^[5] from 2006 to 2007.^[6] He is also a regular columnist for Filmmaker Magazine. His column entitled "Culture Hacker" ^[7] deals with the intersection of tech and entertainment.

His work has been featured in Time, Forbes, and Wired,^[8] 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".^[9]

Lance and his writing partner Chuck Wendig's Collapsus - an energy risk conspiracy received an International Emmy nomination for best Digital Fiction in 2011.^[10]

At Sundance 2011, Weiler released Pandemic,^[11] a transmedia experience playing out across film, mobile, web and a live experience.^[8]

In the fall of 2013, Lance's newest project, an immersive storytelling / play experience entitled Body/Mind/Change, launched at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto.^[12] The project was a collaboration with David Cronenberg, the Toronto International Film Festival and Canadian Film Center media lab. Body/Mind/Change was scheduled to travel to museums around world over the following four years. Designed to capture players' and viewers' data within the experience, the project is the first of its kind. Fast Company interviewed Weiler, and he explained, "It plays into the whole data movement and our obsession with it and the narcissistic qualities of it. As you’re playing the experience, we're collecting certain data points, and in the museum space we're 3-D printing PODs based on your emotional intelligence. Data is being generated about our lives all the time, so I thought it would be fun to play with that idea of quantified self but have it manifest in something real".^[13]

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 a founding member of the Digital Storytelling Lab ^[14] at Columbia University. Designed to explore the current and future landscape of storytelling, the Digital Storytelling Lab launched in the fall of 2013.

Selected films, series, games and interactive projects

• The Last Broadcast (1998, producer, co-writer, actor, co-director)
• Head Trauma (2006, producer, co-writer, director)
• RADAR - 42 episodes (2009 to 2011, co-creator, producer)
• Collapsus: The Energy Risk Conspiracy (2010 co-writer and narrative designer)
• Pandemic (2011, co-writer, director)
• Robot Heart Stories (2011, 2012 creator and experience designer)
• Bear 71 (2012 co-created installation and social narrative designer)
• Wish for the Future (2012 creator and experience designer)
• Body Mind Change (2013 - present creative director and experience designer)
• My Sky is Falling (2013 - present executive producer)
• Lyka's Adventure (2013 - present creator and experience designer)
• Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things (2014 - present co-collaborator and experience designer)

Notes and references

External links

• Lance Weiler's official site
• Body/Mind/Change, a collaboration between Lance Weiler and David Cronenberg
• Connected Sparks
• Wish for the Future
• Robot Heart Stories
• Bear 71
• Collapsus
• Lance shares transmedia design notes
• Lance Weiler at the Internet Movie Database
• MIT interviews Lance about digital storytelling
• "Bullet Hole in Glass", an interview with Lance Weiler by MovieScope Magazine
• Head Trauma site
• How Do You Remix Head Trauma?
• Head Trauma cinema ARG - WIRED.com coverage?
• The Workbook Project - open source filmmaker resource project founded by Lance Weiler
• Online conference with Lance Weiler at The D-Word
• 18 People Who Changed Hollywood
• Lance Weiler named an indiewire influencer of 2013