Daniel Hank [ resume ]
Born and raised in New York City, Daniel put himself through college and earned a BA from Stony Brook University in 1985. While there, he acquired an early appreciation for the production of many forms of entertainment by producing live concerts for such diverse recording artists as Cyndi Lauper, Stray Cats and Dizzy Gillespi, as well as running the university film program which exhibited over 150 films per year.
He got started in film production as a location assistant and scout working on such noted features as "Coming to America", "Scrooged", "Jacobs Ladder", and Sidney Lumet's "Q&A". Soon after he was assistant location manager on the first season of the hit NBC drama "Law & Order".
When several LA based sitcoms needed scenes filmed in New York, they called Daniel, first as a location manager and then as a unit production manager. This ncluded hit shows such as "Friends" (Warner Bros. Television) and "The Nanny" (Tri-Star Television). He also continued with features such as New Line's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II". He followed this success with Jackie Chan's "Rumble In The Bronx", "The Velocity of Gary", and "Love! Valour! Compassion!" Daniel was also the production manager of the US and Hong Kong units on the Wesley Snipes action film "The Art of War", and the Detroit unit of the critically acclaimed feature "Narc", starring Ray Liotta and Jason Patrick.
A member of the Directors Guild of America since 1994, he was the unit production manager on Hearst Entertainment's "My Breast", the first movie directed by Betty Thomas. His credits include several television movies for Showtime such as "Naked City", "A Killer Christmas" (directed by Peter Bogdanovich), and the award winning "Execution of Justice", directed by Leon Ichaso.
Daniel is the only producer to film at both CIA Headquarters (for the thriller "In the Company of Spies" directed by Tim Matheson) and at FBI Headquarters (for the Norman Mailer miniseries "Master Spy" for CBS starring William Hurt).
He took his feature production experience to commercials for companies like Screen Gems, Original Film, Great Spot, and London Plane. In 1995 Daniel started Echelon Productions, Inc., a production service company that has also hosted dozens of international productions from all over the world filming across the USA. Presently Daniel produces several commercials a year for a variety of companies, including his own. He's filmed in most of the 50 states as well as the Caribbean, Canada, France, Spain, Switzerland, Panama and Hong Kong.
In 2005 he produced the acclaimed TV movie "Oil Storm" that filmed in 8 different cities across the country and the Eric Schaeffer comedy series "Starved", both for the FX Network. He also produced the Sarah Jessica Parker feature "Spinning Into Butter". Daniel produced the first High Definition 3-D horror feature, "Scar", which has had a record breaking release throughout Europe and is due for release in the US in 2010. Recent movies Daniel worked on include Diane English's "The Women" starring Annette Benning, "In the Loop" starring James Gandolfini, and "Loving Leah", a movie for Hallmark Hall of Fame starring Lauren Ambrose.
Recently, Daniel produced a new comedy series for Starz called "Gravity" starring Ving Rhames, Rachael Hunter and Krysten Ritter. He won a Clio Award for producing a commercial for UFO Jeans, and has been featured in several industry publications as well as being quoted multiple times in The Wall Street Journal. He has been a guest lecturer at Boston University, Emerson College, and New York University, and was elected 10 times to the Directors Guild of America Eastern Council, where he currently chairs the Disciplinary and Safety Committees.
Additionally, he has done consulting work for a number of companies including as IFC, Lionsgate, and HBO. He is frequently called to provide guidance on location city selection based on production incentive analysis and budget considerations.
Daniel still lives in New York with his wife Rebecca and their three children, Justin, Kelsey and Jordan. He enjoys traveling, scuba diving, skydiving, photography, and of course watching lots of movies and television.