Daniel Bilson (born July 26, 1956) is an American writer, director, and producer of movies, television, video games, and comic books. Together with his frequent collaborator, Paul De Meo, he is best known as the writer for the film The Rocketeer (1991) and creator, writer, producer and director for the television series Viper (1994, 1996), The Sentinel (1996) and The Flash (1990). He has written multiple issues of the comic book The Flash, as well as scripts for multiple video games, including James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (2003). Da 5 Bloods (2020), based on a screenplay written by Bilson & De Meo, was released following De Meo's death.
While actively working as a writer and producer, Bilson is also a tenured faculty member at the University of Southern California (USC), where he holds the positions of Director of USC Games and the Chair of USC's School of Cinema's Interactive Media and Games Division.
Personal life
Bilson was born into a show business family in Los Angeles, California, the son of Mona (Weichman) (1933-2023) and the director Bruce Bilson (b. 1928) (Bewitched, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes).[1] As a child, he discovered his passion for both storytelling and games, both of which would greatly influence his career.
He has three daughters; his eldest, Rachel Bilson (born on August 25, 1981) is an actress, notable for her role in The O.C. and Hart of Dixie. He, his wife Heather Medway, and two younger daughters, Hattie “Stinker” Elizabeth Bilson, born December 19, 2001, and Rosemary, born February 10, 2007, reside in Los Angeles.
After graduating from college, Bilson worked aggressively to build a career in the movie business, working as an extra while writing screenplays. Bilson and DeMeo produced their first script, Trancers (1985), a noir tale about a time-travelling detective from the future. The movie became a cult classic, and the narrative was so engaging that it evolved into a franchise that generated five sequels. Trancers currently holds an 83% Freshness Score on Rotten Tomatoes.[2]
In 2021, Bilson appeared on late night radio show, The Ghost of Hollywood, where he would discuss his work on Trancers.[3]
Zone Troopers and The Wrong Guys
Bilson debuted as a director for another cult classic Zone Troopers (1985), also co-written by DeMeo, a tale of American World War II soldiers who find an alien spacecraft. The movie was filmed in Italy.
Following this, the duo performed the same roles in The Wrong Guys (1988) a comedic spoof of boy scouting.
Larry David also visited the set of The Wrong Guys during production.[4][5]
The Rocketeer
Bilson and DeMeo began their screenplay adaptation of the comic book The Rocketeer in 1985. While writing for Disney, the partners weathered the ups and downs of five years of movie development. The film was released in theaters in 1991, missing key deleted scenes that were only restored years later as part of the home video release.[6]The Rocketeer has become one of the most beloved Disney live action films of the '90s, with a recent announcement to reboot it as a film franchise as well as an animated series.[7]
1990s Television and Showrunning
For most of the 1990s, Bilson and DeMeo worked as Executive Producers and creators on various action-adventure and sci-fi series for multiple studios and networks, including the first TV incarnation of The Flash, and multiple action series Viper, Human Target, and The Sentinel.
During an interview on The Ghost of Hollywood, Bilson discusses he and DeMeo's transition into writing for television and video games after their time working for Empire Pictures.[5][4]
Electronic Arts & The Sims
After a chance meeting with then-President of Electronic Arts in 2000, Don Mattrick, Bilson—an avid tabletop and video gamer his entire life—was brought on as a production lead to focus on guiding creative and narrative IP development at EA. During that time, he was a consulting producer for the video game The Sims (2000), as well as creative executive on the EA's Harry Potter video game franchise, working directly with JK Rowling and acting as a liaison between the acclaimed author, EA, and Harry Potter film distributor Warner Bros. He also wrote for multiple EA game franchises, including Command & Conquer, Medal of Honor, and James Bond 007.
THQ
In 2008, THQ approached Bilson to take on the role of VP of Creative Production, formally taking on the same function there as he had done informally at EA. Executives at the company, after seeing the positive impact his input had on titles in their development pipeline, and his leadership skills when it came to interacting with developers as well marketing staff, promoted him to Executive Vice President of Global Production and Marketing.[8]
In that role, Bilson led over a dozen internally owned production studios, and 30+ marketing, administrative and operations staff at THQ's headquarters in Agoura Hills. One of his first tasks was to develop a clear strategic framework for the inherited portfolio of studios the company owned, as many had previously been purchased without one in place, resulting in the company owning over 20 studios at its peak.
After the painful process of having to streamline staff and studios, Bilson—with his partner DeMeo acting as a narrative design executive—focused on building and cultivating "Core game" franchises, lobbying executives for sufficient production and marketing funds to launch and/or maintain new and ongoing franchises such as Saints Row, Red Faction, Darksiders, MX vs ATV, Homefront, De Blob, and Metro 2033. He also led the launches for new installments of Core licensed IP such as WWE Smackdown vs Raw and the successful launch of the UFC video game franchise.
Despite the positive early results in the Core Business Unit that Bilson managed, the company's outsize investments in its separately led, declining Kids & Family Business Unit continued to drag on its overall financials. After successfully launching a Nintendo Wii peripheral—the uDraw Gaming Tablet—in 2010, executives at THQ made an aggressive investment in launching a uDraw peripheral for the then-new consoles Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2011. The product did not sell,[9] resulting in a massive write-off, the shuttering of the Kids & Family division, and sole reliance on the Bilson's Core Games business to drive the company's revenue.[10]
Unfortunately the $100 million shortfall created by uDraw,[11] coupled with ongoing Kids and Family licensing expenses, put the company in dire financial straits from which it never recovered. Bilson left THQ in 2012,[12] succeeded by Jason Rubin, who was the president of THQ before its closure due to bankruptcy on January 23, 2013.[13][14]
During his time at EA, Bilson began teaching at the University of Southern California, after being encouraged to do so by his friend and World of Warcraft guildmate, Bing Gordon. There he instructs as an adjunct professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he teaches traditional screenwriting, as well as character development and storytelling for video games.
Bilson continues to work full-time as a screenwriter and producer, while teaching part-time at USC, where he was appointed Chair of the USC's Interactive Media and Games Division in 2017.[15]
