I'm an award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, and educator with decades of experience in independent film production, screenwriting, and higher education. I hold an MFA from Columbia University and have served as a full professor; I am a member emeritus of the Writers Guild of America West. My work has been showcased on PBS and at various festivals, and I have directed or produced more than 20 films. I’m seeking remote or hybrid opportunities in online teaching, screenwriting or documentary consultation, or content development. I’m passionate about storytelling that fosters advocacy and social impact. I mentor student theses, design curricula, and collaborate across production, editing, and fieldwork. I work across documentary and narrative forms, with a focus on communities affected by climate change and social issues.…

Dennis Lanson

I'm an award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, and educator with decades of experience in independent film production, screenwriting, and higher education. I hold an MFA from Columbia University and have served as a full professor; I am a member emeritus of the Writers Guild of America West. My work has been showcased on PBS and at various festivals, and I have directed or produced more than 20 films. I’m seeking remote or hybrid opportunities in online teaching, screenwriting or documentary consultation, or content development. I’m passionate about storytelling that fosters advocacy and social impact. I mentor student theses, design curricula, and collaborate across production, editing, and fieldwork. I work across documentary and narrative forms, with a focus on communities affected by climate change and social issues.…

Available to hire

I’m an award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, and educator with decades of experience in independent film production, screenwriting, and higher education. I hold an MFA from Columbia University and have served as a full professor; I am a member emeritus of the Writers Guild of America West. My work has been showcased on PBS and at various festivals, and I have directed or produced more than 20 films. I’m seeking remote or hybrid opportunities in online teaching, screenwriting or documentary consultation, or content development.

I’m passionate about storytelling that fosters advocacy and social impact. I mentor student theses, design curricula, and collaborate across production, editing, and fieldwork. I work across documentary and narrative forms, with a focus on communities affected by climate change and social issues.

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Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Director, Editor at Village at the End of the Road / Highway Five Productions
January 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024
Directed and edited a 53-minute documentary about the fishing community of Bay de Verde, Newfoundland; addressing climate change and societal shifts. Granted funding from Smallwood Foundation, Memorial University of Newfoundland; Union College; University of San Francisco.
Director, Editor, Videographer at Highway Five Productions
January 1, 2022 - December 31, 2022
A Year in the Field: 33-minute documentary about an Estonian anthropologist’s fieldwork in Bay de Verde, NL; NSF and Canadian funding; distributor: Documentary Educational Resources.
Co-Director, Editor at Walk With Us
January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2019
Documentary on the migrant crisis seen through the eyes of a safe house director; collaboration with Judy Jackson.
Director, Editor at To Hear The Music
January 1, 2014 - December 31, 2015
Hour-long documentary about CB Fisk and Opus 139; broadcast premiere NHPTV (April 2014); PBS broadcast in 2015.
Producer, Director, Editor at Gringolandi a
January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011
Gringolandia: 54-minute documentary on the American experience in a Mexican colonial city; production grants from Endicott College; distributor: Documentary Educational Resources.
Co-Director, Writer, Editor at Seeking the 36
January 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009
30-minute documentary on the 36 righteous souls; grants from Harold Grinspoon Foundation; festival selections.
Producer/Writer/Director/Editor at PitStop
January 1, 2001 - December 31, 2001
91-minute feature road movie set in California’s Central Valley; 35mm production; multiple festival screenings; PBS broadcast.
Director at 3AM Eternal
January 1, 1999 - December 31, 1999
18-minute short exploring themes of memory and loss; festivals: Dances with Films, Newport Beach.
Director at As Luck Would Have It
January 1, 1995 - December 31, 1995
25-minute comic short about a magical crystal; Cine Golden Eagle award.
Producer/Director/Writer/Editor at Booming
January 1, 1982 - December 31, 1982
60-minute documentary on mobile home living in a Wyoming uranium town; grants from Wyoming Council for Humanities; PBS broadcast.
Co-Director/Cameraman at Phans of Jersey City
January 1, 1980 - December 31, 1980
50-minute documentary following a Vietnamese family adapting to life in the USA; PBS and DER distribution.
Educator / Teaching Film & Video Production at Various Institutions
January 1, 1977 - December 31, 2013
Taught film and video production across multiple institutions (Endicott College, Emerson College, Phillips Academy, SMFA Boston, BU, Brooklyn College, NYU, Brooks Institute, CalArts).
Director at Independent Production
January 1, 1999 - December 31, 1999
3AM Eternal (18 min, 1999): Drama about a Vietnam veteran facing a chance to save a fallen comrade; festival screenings.
Co-Director/Cameraman at Independent Production
January 1, 1980 - December 31, 1980
Phans of Jersey City (50 min, 1980): Documentary on Vietnamese family adapting to life in the USA; PBS broadcast; DER distribution.
Teaching Faculty at Endicott College
January 1, 2001 - January 1, 2013
Full Professor, School of Communications: Courses include Writing for the Screen, Intro to Digital Film, Narrative Production, Documentary Production, Documentary Modes, TV Studio, Political Communication, Senior Internship, Senior Thesis Film.
Assistant Professor at Emerson College
January 1, 1999 - January 1, 2010
Undergrad Program, Visual/Media Arts: Sync-Sound Production Workshop; Business of Independent Film; Narrative Workshop (Spring 2008) for Master’s in Visual/Media Arts.
Art Dept Instructor at Phillips Academy, Andover
January 1, 1997 - January 1, 2004
Video production with film studies/history; AVID instruction.
Instructor at School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
January 1, 1997 - January 1, 2000
Scriptwriting, 16mm workshops, documentary production; supervised student projects.
Visiting Professor at Boston University, Boston
January 1, 1996 - December 31, 1996
Advanced Screenwriting; Directors on Directing; Directing for Theatre & TV Film.
Instructor at Brooklyn College (CUNY)
January 1, 1977 - January 1, 1981
Production Courses; Cinematography; Intro to Film.
Assistant Professor at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts
January 1, 1982 - January 1, 1983
Undergraduate program teaching Narrative Workshop, Sight and Sound, Cinematography.
Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College (CUNY)
December 30, 1976 - December 30, 1980
Production Courses, Cinematography, Intro to Film.
Director, Editor at Highway Five Productions
January 1, 2024 - Present
Documentary on the fishing community of Bay de Verde, Newfoundland, a town with a 400-year history, now challenged by climate change and societal shifts. Grants: Smallwood Foundation, Memorial University of Newfoundland; Union College; University of San Francisco.
Producer, Director, Editor at Gringolandia
January 1, 2011 - Present
Documentary about the impact and experience of Americans in a Mexican colonial city.
Producer, Writer, Director, Editor at PitStop
January 1, 2001 - Present
91-minute 35mm road movie set in California’s Central Valley; intersecting lives, love, and movement; PBS broadcast.
Producer, Director, Writer, Editor at Booming
January 1, 1982 - Present
Documentary on mobile home living in a Wyoming uranium mining town; grants from Wyoming Council for Humanities; PBS broadcast.
Co-Director, Cameraman at Phans of Jersey City
January 1, 1980 - Present
Documentary on Vietnamese family of 20; PBS and DER distribution.
Full Professor at Endicott College
January 1, 2001 - December 31, 2013
Teaching film/video production; courses include Writing for the Screen, Intro to Digital Film, Narrative Production, Documentary Production, Documentary Modes, TV Studio, Political Communication; Senior Internship; Senior Thesis Film.
Art Dept at Phillips Academy, Andover
January 1, 1997 - December 31, 2004
Video production with film studies/history component. AVID instruction.
Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston University
January 1, 1996 - December 31, 1996
Teaching Advanced Screenwriting, Directors on Directing, and Directing Theatrical & TV Film.
Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College (CUNY)
January 1, 1977 - December 31, 1981
All levels Production Courses, Cinematography, and Intro to Film.

Education

MFA in Film (Honors) at Columbia University, School of the Arts, NY
September 1, 1974 - May 15, 1976
National Awards for thesis film CROCK OF GOLD
Directing Fellow at American Film Institute, Los Angeles
September 1, 1986 - May 15, 1988
Wrote and Directed 3 half-hour dramas
Master of Fine Arts in Film at Columbia University, School of the Arts
January 11, 2030 - March 31, 2026
Bachelor of Arts in English (Honors, concentration in American Literature) at Haverford College
January 11, 2030 - March 31, 2026
Directing Fellow at American Film Institute
January 11, 2030 - March 31, 2026

Qualifications

Member Emeritus, Writers Guild of America West
January 11, 2030 - March 4, 2026
Directing Fellow
January 11, 2030 - March 4, 2026
WGAW Member Emeritus
January 11, 2030 - March 25, 2026
Member Emeritus, Writers Guild of America West
January 11, 2030 - March 31, 2026
Directing Fellow
January 11, 2030 - March 31, 2026

Industry Experience

Education, Media & Entertainment, Non-Profit Organization, Professional Services, Government, Other
    paper To Hear the Music -- Writer/Director

    Charles Brenton Fisk worked with Robert Oppenheimer as an 18-yr-old whiz kid on the Manhattan Project, building a detonator for the A-bomb, before turning from the physics of destruction to music, his first love, and building tracker action pipe organs out of Gloucester Massachusetts. He died in 1983, but his uniquely collaborative shop continues to build “The King of Instruments” in much the same way it was built in the time of Bach.

    To Hear The Music, an independent53-minute PBS documentary, follows the development of a single pipe organ, CB Fisk’s Opus 139, from initial design meetings (with Harvard’s late beloved Rev. Peter J. Gomes), through every aspect of building and testing, to a celebratory Easter inaugural in Memorial Church, Harvard Univeristy, Fisk’s alma mater.

    But the documentary also speaks about much more than mere process. It also addresses the creation of a product built to last in today’s world of disposability. It tells the story of a model workplace, where every craftsman’s voice is heard. It explores the Organ Wars of the early 20th century, that pitted electro-pneumatic advocates against the pure mechanical tracker connection between the finger’s touch and the speech of the pipe. It examines the perfect marriage of craft and art that the man Fisk valued above all else. And then, not least of all, there is the music itself, which provides glorious accompaniment as we observe a sum of parts coming to life in To Hear The Music.

    PW THTM Vimeo

    paper To Hear the Music

    Tracks the construction and installation of a single mechanical action pipe organ from original design to first concert in Harvard University’s Memorial Church.