In the feature film world, Mirvish directed, co-wrote and produced the real estate musical Open House, starring Sally Kellerman and Anthony Rapp (The Weinstein Company). The Academy Awards literally rewrote their rules in response to Mirvish's controversial Oscar campaign to revive the dormant Original Musical category. In order for the Academy to recognize the requisite number of films eligible for the Original Musical category, Mirvish went so far as to write, produce and shoot yet another feature musical, Half Empty which was shot in ten days in Germany and France.

Mentored by Robert Altman, Mirvish wrote, directed and produced (with Dana Altman) his first feature Omaha (The Movie) on 35mm for $38,0000. On the heels of the Slamdance Film Festival - which Dan co-founded - the film went on to play at over 30 other film festivals. Mirvish then self-distributed the film to 32 cities in the U.S. - including an 11-week run at Laemmle's Theaters in Los Angeles. Mirvish found a unique way to distribute 350,000 units of the DVD by getting them stuffed into every Pioneer DVD player sold in North America.

Mirvish made headlines in the New York Times and around the world in 2008 as the co-creator (with Eitan Gorlin) of the faux McCain adviser and pundit Martin Eisenstadt who was the self-admitted leak for the story that Sarah Palin didn't know Africa was a continent. In the wake of the international publicity, Mirvish and Gorlin got a book deal from Farrar, Straus, Giroux (Faber & Faber) and wrote the novel I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man's (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans which received rave reviews landing on The Washington Monthly's list of the Top 8 Books of the 2009. A quintessential "transmedia" project that started as a series of short films, webisodes, blogs and tweets, the Eisenstadt character is currently being developed as a TV series called "The Pundit" by Mirvish and Gorlin.

Labeled a "cheerful subversive" by The New York Times, and "Hollywood's Bad Boy" by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mirvish has been named as one of Variety's Top 50 Creatives to Watch, as well as one of Film Festival Today's Top 25 Most Influential People in Independent Film.

Mirvish is getting ready to direct the feature BETWEEN US, based on the hit Off-Broadway play of the same name. Mirvish co-wrote the screen adaptation with original playwright Joe Hortua.

In the TV realm, Mirvish directed the controversial comedy, A Message from the President of Iran which was broadcast on Al Gore's CurrentTV. His short pilots Sheldon and The Few & The Proud have screened at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival and the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. Mirvish also consulted on the Steven Spielberg Fox-TV show On the Lot, and on American Idol.

Mirvish remains actively involved with Slamdance, frequently serving as master of ceremonies and mentor to the incoming crop of filmmakers each year. The festival has served as a launching pad for such filmmakers as Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception), Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) and Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity).

Mirvish directed a music video for Conor Oberst's critically acclaimed band "Bright Eyes" off its Billboard Top 20 album, "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn." Mirvish has also directed other short-form material including music videos, network television promos, and DVD-extra material, including over 2 hours of featurettes on the Weinstein's Open House DVD.

Based on his expertise in creating a fake pundit, Dan now actually is a pundit on issues of politics, media and film, appearing regularly on CanadianTV and blogging frequently on HuffingtonPost.

Prior to getting an M.A. from USC's graduate film production program, Mirvish was a DC-based speech writer for U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and a freelance journalist for such publications as The New York Times and The Washington Monthly. He's also written for such film magazines and books as Film Threat, Filmmaker, The Independent Film & Video Monthly, British Savvy, and Chris Gore's Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide. Mirvish wrote the introduction to Bret Stern's How to Make a Film for Under $10,000 and Not Go to Jail published by HarperCollins. Dan has also been a freelancer graphic designer for NASA. Dan is represented by both ICM (film & TV) and William Morris Endeavor (books). He currently lives in Culver City, California, with his wife and three children.

To contact Dan, please email him at bugeater@slamdance.com - but please make sure you put the words "Attn: Mirvish" in the subject line.