Daniel Magill

Content Creator and Screenwriter

Seattle, Washington

Member Since:
April 2015

Last online:
> 2 weeks ago

Invites sent:
6

About Daniel

I pay the bills as a freelance copywriter/consultant at the moment.
Previously a teacher, I have been developing as a screenwriter for over ten years, and have written 9 feature film scripts. I completed ProSeries 53 at ScreenwritingU, and will have my second marketable script soon thereafter.

My preferred genres are sci-fi, thriller, and stories with social commentary (like Blood Diamond).

I got interested in filmmaking back in high school, and jumped at every chance to be on the cheesiest of film crews, and to make my own stuff. In college, I joined the video production department just for fun, and ended up writing, acting in, and producing 9 short films of varying degrees of quality.

But the important thing was -- I learned a ton in the process. We had ancient technology, and for most of these movies, were confined to a LINEAR editor. Yes, we could only sequence shots in order, and couldn't move them around or do any effects.

But like anything restrictive, this forces you to plan well, think about your shots, avoid jump cuts, and create sequences that you know will work in editing.

Later, I bought Adobe Premiere and made a few short films of slightly higher quality, and with more freedom in the editing room.

But the key moment for me happened when I wrote the first script that I knew I couldn't film on my own. Of course, being my first feature, that script was horrible. But it initiated my journey to where I am now -- possessing all the skills a professional writer needs, and ready to work in the film industry.

As a PS 53 alumni, and with the help of various workshops and mentors along the way (Jim Mercurio -- excellent, Cinestory, Sam Simkin, and others), it's time to make the leap.

Unique traits: My worldview is distinct and original -- I like stories that force a person to question their values, identity, and purpose, and then break out into new ways of seeing and living. Regardless of genre, this quality comes out in all my scripts and lead characters.

Gender:
Male

Height:
6' 1"

Weight:
175

Body type:
Average

Hair color:
Other

Eyes:
Brown

Badges

Photos

Seattle Meetup 8/15. Great to meet more local talent... I always suspected it had to be somewhere...

Our Meetup in Renton (near Seattle) on July 1st -- special thanks to Focus Shot Productions for putting on the meeting. Great to meet everyone.

Loglines

Future In Doubt Drama ⋄ Sci-fi A just-engaged college graduate and her fiancé are warned by a dying time-traveler that the Earth will soon annihilate itself after the magnetic field flips, but when her fiancé allies with his maniacal CEO boss against her, she strives alone to change the course of future history.
The Mark of the Beasts Action ⋄ Sci-fi In a post-apocalyptic America, after watching his last son die, a young father leads a fracturing group of survivors away from the safety of the west coast to outlast a horde of ravenous misshapen beast-men.

Credits

Hotel Le Dixseptieme (2016)
Commercial by De Vijver Media Screenwriter
The Brown Recluse (2006)
Video by BaconNews Pictures (Comedy) Writer/Director/Producer For months, Walter Davenport has become more and more certain that his chair -- his comfortable, loyal, lovable recliner -- may in fact be moving around his apartment. But why? And how? And what should he do about it? As his imagined conspiracies take him further into the realms of absurdity, he nevertheless must soon confront his fears head-on, or risk descending into an obsessive, paranoid existence, while his chair sits around the corner... laughing at him.