Brian Dannelly
{{short description|American film director and screenwriter|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Infobox person
|image = Brian Dannelly 2012 Shankbone.JPG
|caption = Dannelly at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Struck by Lightning
| name = Brian Dannelly
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Würzburg, Germany
| years_active = 2000 – present
| occupation = Director, screenwriter, producer
|}}
Brian Dannelly is a German born American film director and screenwriter best known for his work on the 2004 film Saved!
Early life
Dannelly was born in Würzburg, Germany then moved with his family to Baltimore, Maryland at age 11.{{cite magazine| url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_/ai_n15383927| title = Different tokes: Saved! director Brian Dannelly goes from Jesus to joints with Weeds, Showtime's hilarious new series about a dope-dealing suburban mom| accessdate = 2008-10-01| date = August 30, 2005| magazine = The Advocate| first = Dennis| last = Hensley}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}} He was raised Catholic; he attended a Catholic elementary school, Arlington Baptist High School in Baltimore, and a Jewish summer camp.{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29945-2004Jun9.html| title = Saved! Brings Down Wrath of Some Christians| accessdate = 2008-10-01| date = June 10, 2004| newspaper = The Washington Post| first = William| last = Booth}} He was expelled from first grade for hitting a nun,{{cite news| url = http://www.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=7542| title = Off Color| accessdate = 2008-10-01| date = June 9, 2004| newspaper = Baltimore City Paper| first = Eric Allen| last = Hatch| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20071012003439/http://citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=7542| archivedate = October 12, 2007}} and later expelled from high school—which he describes as "one of the strictest schools in the nation"{{cite magazine|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/interviews/briandannelly.html |title=Mixed Reactions |accessdate=2008-10-01 |date=May 25, 2004 |magazine=Christianity Today |author1=Ulstein, Jeanne |author2=Ulstein, Stefan |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911021149/http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/interviews/briandannelly.html |archivedate=September 11, 2008 }}—for excessive demerits. He started questioning his sexuality in high school, saying "I remember I'd pray every night that I wasn't gay, and please God, please God, anything I could do—just don't make this happen."{{cite book |title= Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews|last= Kramer|first= Gary M.|year= 2006|publisher= Haworth Press|isbn= 1-56023-343-5|pages= 52–54}} He came out at the age of 17 and was thrown out of his house by his parents, who eventually came to accept his sexuality.
Dannelly graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a degree in visual arts in 1997.{{cite news| url = http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-umbc-alumni-pictures,0,5411239.photogallery| title = Notable UMBC Alumni| accessdate = 2013-11-15| date = May 25, 2004| newspaper =The Baltimore Sun| author = Assaf, Christopher}}
Career
Dannelly wrote and directed the short film "He Bop" in 2000, and in 2004, he made the feature film Saved!, which he directed and co-wrote with Michael Urban. He had begun to write the Saved! script after the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, which he claims took him "back to [his] roots" in a Christian high school.{{cite magazine| url = http://www.popmatters.com/film/interviews/dannelly-brian-041008.shtml| title = Interview with Brian Dannelly| accessdate = 2008-10-01| date = October 8, 2004| magazine = PopMatters| first = Laura| last = Nathan}} He and Urban began writing the script while attending the American Film Institute Conservatory.{{cite web| url = http://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/getting_saved_a.html| title = Getting Saved! — A DVD Talk Interview with Writer/Director Brian Dannelly| accessdate = 2008-10-01| year = 2005| publisher = DVD Talk| first = Francis III| last = Rizzo}}{{cite magazine| url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2004_May_25/ai_n6150977| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050131015048/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2004_May_25/ai_n6150977| url-status = dead| archive-date = January 31, 2005| title = Holy high school! Meet the out team behind teen Christian comedy Saved! in which star Jena Malone carries her gay boyfriend's baby| accessdate = 2008-10-03| date = May 25, 2004| magazine = The Advocate| first = Adam B.| last = Vary}} Much of the story was drawn from his own experiences with "conservative Christian subculture", including Christian rock concerts, being "this gay kid in a Christian school"{{cite web| url = http://www.gaychristian.net/gcnradio/trans_112304.php| title = GCN Radio — November 23, 2004| accessdate = 2008-10-01| date = November 23, 2004| publisher = GCN Radio| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080517124147/http://www.gaychristian.net/gcnradio/trans_112304.php| archive-date = May 17, 2008| url-status = dead| df = mdy-all}} and having visions of Jesus. He said "In the Baptist school there was the one Jewish girl that everyone was trying to save, there was a girl who got pregnant, there was a gay kid"—all principal characters in Saved!{{cite news| url = http://www.seattlepi.com/movies/177218_moment10.html| title = A moment with ... Saved! director Brian Dannelly| accessdate = 2008-10-01| date = June 10, 2004| newspaper = Seattle Post-Intelligencer| first = Sean| last = Axmaker}} He claims that nothing in the film came from his imagination: "Everything in the movie comes from either something I experienced, or something I witnessed, or something I researched."
After Saved! was released, Dannelly became a regular series director on the television show Weeds. He also directed the 2006 pilot episode of Help Me Help You and Pushing Daisies
In 2017, Dannelly worked as a director on two episodes of the second season of the Netflix series Haters Back Off, starring Colleen Ballinger (Miranda Sings), Angela Kinsey and Erik Stocklin.
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0200380}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dannelly, Brian}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:Television producers from Maryland
Category:American television directors
Category:American LGBTQ film directors
Category:LGBTQ people from Maryland
Category:Film directors from Würzburg
Category:University of Maryland, Baltimore County alumni
Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people
Category:German male screenwriters