Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dan Watt. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dan, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think that when you follow your heart and set out on a new adventure or avenue to take your career you need to jump in 100 %. Trust in yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for help or guidance. There are mentors all around you and it is not a show of weakness to ask for their guidance or input.

I decided to go out on my own and become an independent producer after 10 years of having the security of the Sony Corporation. I worked for both Columbia Pictures and Simon Cowell but my heart was being pulled toward more authentic stories and real people so I set out to find them and tell them in the documentary format. I was lucky to have worked with Morgan Spurlock on the ONE DIRECTION documentary and we became friends. He was there for me from the beginning offering insight, knowledge, managing expectations and the encouraging me to keep going when I hit a wall. If I wouldn’t have reached out and asked if he’d hop on the phone with me, who knows if my first documentary EVERYBODY DANCE would have come to fruition.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started out as dancer/performer on the stage. I have been in productions that had 5 people in the audience and 5,000 people. I had a passion for theatre and when not personally performing I was always going to the theatre. Many times I could not enjoy a particular performance because the lighting was not set right for the actor, the sound didn’t match the movement on stage, I could see into the wings etc. from my seat. I felt these things were a distraction from the experience and that I might be able to do it better so I decided to start producing my own stage shows. Since my background was in dance and musical theatre, I started there. I took on the responsibility of choreographing the productions and finding the best team possible to surround myself with. I mounted productions that included OKLAHOMA, ANYTHING GOES, ANNIE, FOOTLOOSE and FAME to sold out audiences. After taking on these projects, continuing to learn about lighting, sound, contracts etc from an amazing group of team players I decided to branch out and produce shows that usually didn’t come to southern Los Angeles. The first show I brought to town was Bea Arthur’s one-woman Broadway Show as a fundraiser for my non-profit, the Art Attack Foundation. After 2 sold out shows with Miss Arthur, I decided to continue in this style of theatre and brought in Dixie Carter, Carol Channing, Melissa Manchester, and so many others.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

After working under the umbrella of SONY, at both Columbia Pictures for 5yrs and then Simon Cowell for 5yrs – I decided to expand my theatre production company to include film. It was a huge step as I would have to dedicate 100% to it and the only way that would happen was to leave the safety net of Sony and become an Independent Producer. This can be a very uneasy feeling because many of us were raised to “find that perfect JOB” – ugh, to me the word JOB comes with all the values and the definition that my parents instilled in me – Was it stable, cover the bills with a little for saving and have medical coverage. My parents and that generation never talked about liking what you do or following a passion. Don’t get me wrong, they never held me back from pursuing my dance career and were always there for my performances, even traveling from Ohio to see me in a show in Colorado but when the show was over I always heard this sentence, “So, when are you going to get a real job?” When I finally flipped that switch in my head and changed the definition to my own it felt like a weight had been lifted. Yes, it does come with a different set of circumstances and challenges working for yourself but I no longer dread going to work, sitting in an office watching the clock or waiting for someone to tell me what I will be doing next. I do still have many tasks I do not like to do such as spreadsheets, project outlines etc. but those all lead to me producing my own project and tell the stories I want to tell. I wake up excited even if I know its a paperwork day.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I worked for Simon, he said many times that when he was pitching American Idol in America, he was turned down 11 times. Before he was going to fly back to the UK he decided to try and convince the Fox Network to come on board with the show. When he went to the head of Fox for once last try, the wife of the Executive was there and as he tried again to convince the gentleman to but the show, the wife perked up and said, “Is this like the show “POP IDOL” in England ? And he said why yes it is. She told her husband that she had sen the show a month ago when she was in the UIK and said he had to buy it. As you all know, American Idol is still going strong. Simon’s reason for telling us this story is that if you believe in your project, just keep pushing the right person will come along. That story has stuck with me and I pulled motivation and determination from it when I was trying to get EVERYBODY DANCE distributed. Executives who ran the platforms didn’t know me and I was this new comer knocking on their door (well, email) and got rejected often. I just kept pursing it and I found the right Executive Producer who believed in my film and helped me get it across the finish line and up on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Google Play. Oh, and it was also his wife that watched my initial trailer and told him to ask me for the film so they could watch it together and she said, “You’re gonna help this guy with this great documentary” – !!!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dancindanproductions.com/
• Instagram: Dancindanw
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dan.watt.12
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-watt-47715212/
• Twitter: @dancindanw
• Other: EVERYBODY DANCE Documentary IG: EverybodyDANCEdoc EVERYBODY DANCE Documentary Twitter: EverDANCEdoc

Image Credits
NO CREDIT Needed, taken by husband !