Dan Griffin(I)

Dan Griffin was born in Connecticut of Irish decent, the oldest of five children. He quickly learned to juggle his responsibilities and his very creative/artistic side. Back in the first grade he used to create and draw stories for many of the children on the playground, and probably during class, too, a bit! He grew up very involved in the arts, having first sung on stage when he was six years old.

By the time Griffin was 12 he was singing with the Golden Chordsmen, a renowned barbershop singing chorus, and had competed in both state and western New England competitions. Griffin excelled at many things, including various sports (soccer, gymnastics and Irish step-dancing) and academia. By the time he was in seventh grade there was not a lot of competition in gymnastics, and he left Connecticut to begin school in New York. He continually wrote and illustrated while pursuing his schooling and gymnastics. After having won many awards in local competitions, Griffin went to the gymnastic finals at the national level and was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

In 1992 he was hit by a car and was in a coma for over a month, but miraculously he pulled through. After studying Justice and Law at Western Connecticut for awhile, he switched to the Theatre Arts with a minor in writing. It was at this time he was hired by Quest Comics as a writer. Realizing that he was not going to receive what he needed in CT, he left before graduating and began performing in New York City. He landed a small part on the TV series Central Park West (1995), but the series was short lived. Griffin left both the comic-book store he began while at college and the gymnastics program that he helped to forge in Brookfield, and journeyed to Hollywood. Not long after he arrived he was signed by THE AGENCY. He had bit parts in films, and had several close calls for various commercials. On the set of Bienvenue à Gattaca (1997), Andrew Niccol spoke with him during lunch one day and suggested that he write, too. Griffin was done with school at this point, but Niccol said that he didn't need school, he had the will to learn and needed to get some screen writing books.

It was at this point that Griffin's brother Sean contacted him, saying that he had hooked up with an amazing Irish traditional player and was forming a new Irish rock band. Sean said that people really liked the songs that Dan had written and if he ever came back, he should look him up. As luck would have it, an emergency brought Dan back to the East Coast, and The Ruffians were formed (but not before one more acting job on Beth Sullivan USMA West Point (1998)).

While Griffin learned the bass guitar and aided his singer/songwriter brother with songs, he honed his writing craft. He wrote two TV series with Cheryl Quell, a feature with Les Wicker and a TV series with David Dwinell. He also began getting back to his love, animation. Based on a nationwide excursion taken with his pocket mouse Merlin on the way to Hollywood, Griffin (under the pen name ST. Bernard) forged the first of his 44 children's books ("The Adventures of Merlin the Mouse"). The band began to grow in reputation (having played at the Joe Strummer tribute and the Good Friday Agreement) and fan base and off they went, traveling and playing. Griffin never missed the opportunity to network, make a friend or share a story.

After a couple of years, and some new family obligations for the Griffin brothers, Dan began to focus on his film work a bit more. He had a film optioned by Skylar Entertainment, and fell into a couple of more bit parts. It was around this time that filmmaker Jamie Lazarus approached Griffin at a Ruffians gig with a fantastic video idea. They sat and bounced ideas off one another before deciding to form a production company of their own. They worked on a couple of short films, a music video for a big group's website, and laid the groundwork for several new projects. Lazarus realized Griffin's natural talent as a producer and, along with Lazarus' directing savvy, it seemed like a relationship made to last. The union began having differences, however, and the two amiably went their separate ways (but not before putting out a shirt for the soldiers of the Gulf War to raise money for the USO).

It was the winter of 2005, right around the time that his book was delayed a bit, that Griffin fell into a lot of work with new media. He had engineered a benefit at the Laugh Factory for the victims of Hurricane Katrina (with PM Dawn, David Marks of The Beach Boys and Dennis Diken of The Smithereens, the Ruffians and friend Chris Vaughn), and began assisting with a film. While on the film, he met actress/R&B artist Janet Miranda, and a new direction unfolded.

Griffin had helped Miranda, and a couple of weeks later this favor would be repaid. Miranda was on the set of a feature film and they lost their funding. She told the producer about Griffin, and shortly thereafter a new skill would be added to his repertoire: securing film financing. Miranda introduced Griffin to Ms. Davis (a long-time expert and someone to whom many producers looked). Davis opened the doors to Griffin, and they have developed a very strong bond.

During the last year Griffin has been applying his networking abilities to foster and grow his skill as a producer. Griffin was on the governance board which brought in the new Film Tax Incentives (one of the highest in the country) for the state of Connecticut, and helped open the doors for the building of Utopia (which will be the largest film studio in the US at its completion). He has quadrupled his already large Rolodex with new investors, talent, filmmakers, producers, and crew, and can't wait to see what happens this year.