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Creator Stories


HOW FILMMAKER AND ARTIST DAN COVERT BUILT HIS CREATIVE CAREER

“Nothing’s going to make itself,” says Dan Covert. “The quickest way to build
your career is just keep making stuff."

Aubrey Page

May 16, 2023

Share this article

Dan Covert is a man of a thousand disciplines. A talented artist and graphic
designer, co-founder of the wildly prolific production company Dress Code, and a
filmmaker whose work spans short branded projects, commercials, and a recent
feature film profiling the art and life of Geoff McFetridge – Dan has experience
and insights in spades. But the secret to success isn’t in his artistic acumen
(though that certainly helps) – it’s in his work ethic.

“Nothing’s going to make itself,” says Dan. “The quickest way to build your
career is just keep making stuff. Even if it’s doing a bunch of favors for
friends to make stuff, that’s how you stay active as a director.” 

It’s an ethos that has led Dan through an impressive career dotted with
accolades from AFI, SXSW, and, of course, Vimeo Staff Picks. “Vimeo made our
careers,” says Dan. “That sounds crazy, but it’s true. We never would’ve had an
audience for any of this stuff. We just bought cameras and learned how to make
things.” 

Shortly after the release of his first feature documentary, “Geoff McFetridge:
Drawing a Life,” which won the Audience Award at this year’s SXSW, we had a
chance to chat with Dan about his process and his creative north stars. Check
out highlights from the chat above and read the full conversation below. 








YOU STARTED OUT AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER. HOW DID YOU GET FROM THERE TO FEATURE
FILMMAKER?

Dan: We started a company 16 years ago that was a graphic design company that
then became a motion graphics company that then became a production company. So
it’s this long evolution. And all along the way we made shorts, and a lot of
them were Staff Picked on Vimeo.

We were just experimenting and learning what our voice was as a company and as
directors and then I was turning 40 and was always like, “I’m going to make
movies someday.” And I was like, “Maybe I’m not going to make movies unless I
start.” So I just was looking for stories and this film kind of just happened. 


16 YEARS IS A LONG TIME TO BE MAKING STUFF IN THIS INDUSTRY. WHAT KEEPS YOU
GOING?

Dan: It’s just genuinely fun to do this work. Even until recently, I wasn’t
like, “Oh, there’s going to be this blow up moment where my career changes and
I’m at the Oscars.” I don’t think about that stuff. It’s just like, “Am I having
fun in the moment? Am I enjoying the ride?” 

Because once a project it goes out in the world, you can’t control how people
respond to it. It’s just like, “Did I make the best thing that I could? Am I
hanging out and working with people I love and respect? Are we trying to be
honest and authentic?” I’m always the lots of irons in the fire kind of guy. I
have a business. I am a commercial director. I’ve been making this feature film.
I have a pretty successful art practice. But it’s all about just slowly just
doing these things that I enjoy and then like, “We’ll see where they go.”

But I’m not as concerned about the ‘where they go’ part because that can just
eat you alive. Because ultimately in the end, who cares if you’re famous or
successful? It’s like that’s not the stuff you’re going to remember when you’re
80. 


WHAT’S YOUR CREATIVE NORTH STAR?

Dan: We constantly are refining this, but it’s really storytelling acumen. It’s
craft and visual artistry. And those are kind of vague terms, but it does have a
lot of meaning. It’s like, “Can you tell a story?” A lot of times people come
with a half-baked concept and we, as storytellers, are kind of pulling the story
out.

The idea of commercials and art, they’re somewhat contradictory forces – but not
at the highest level. It’s more about emotion and how you do that with beautiful
cinematography. But we each kind of have our own voice. But the stuff that
really truly excites me is character and story.


HOW DO YOU WORK WITH A BRAND WITHOUT COMPROMISING YOUR VISION?

Dan: In the beginning I always thought it was like, “Oh, they’re hiring me to do
what they need.” And then over time I realized, “No, they’re hiring me because
they need some help and I know what I’m doing.” So it was a big shift of trying
to understand what the company’s needs were and what their aesthetic was. That’s
still obviously important, but then the more and more I’ve climbed as a
director, I realized that they’re coming to you for your personal voice to
really sort through all this stuff and be like, “What you guys need to do is
this.”








ARE THERE ANY BRANDS THAT YOU’RE STILL HOPING TO COLLABORATE WITH?

Dan: I think that’s tricky because I don’t really care about that stuff. It’s
like, “Is it a fun, interesting project?” Some of the most boring assignments
that I’ve been given have turned into the best pieces. I did a film centered
around a type historian at Syracuse, it’s a Staff Pick video we did. It was like
this dude who was in a basement who found this font and then Pentagram turned it
into the logo for Syracuse University. That guy’s amazing. I want to talk to
people like that.

Everyone wants to do jobs for Nike and all these amazing brands. Sure that is
fun, but I also like finding these unique stories and kind of giving them a
platform. 


CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH VIMEO STAFF PICKS? 

Dan: Our first staff pick was for “Font Men.” The film we premiered at SXSW in
2014. I remember we had the first screening. I woke up the next day and saw that
the film had been Staff Picked, media had picked it up, and that was a huge
deal. I was a graphic designer who started co-directing with my business partner
on films about other graphic designers.

I never learned how to be a director. So it was a huge validation as a creator
to have 300,000 people within a few days see this movie that we made. And it’s
like, “Oh, my God.” You know what I mean? We didn’t even make it as a short
film. We made it for a client project and just slightly re-edited it, and I saw
this audience.


DRESS CODE HAS BEEN ON VIMEO FOR A VERY LONG TIME. WHAT KEEPS YOU ON THE
PLATFORM? 

Dan: It just seems like the platform where all the creators are who see our
work. A lot of this stuff on the short film side, we’re self-funding, kind of
putting out these little trial balloons, and then other creatives see them. It’s
always shocking. Somebody from an ad agency will call and be like, “Hey, we saw
this thing. Can you do this commercial project for us?” It’s like a one to one.
If we’re putting work out like that, the right people are seeing it and then
kind of elevating it and giving us a platform.


WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION? 

Dan: I get the most inspiration for my work through art. I actually don’t watch
a ton of videos anymore. I find that it’s kind of taxing and then I want to
mimic things, so I just really try to find things that are very outside of what
we do or even look at feature docs for commercials or look at fine art for
framing and visual techniques. 


WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER GOTTEN? 

Dan: There’s a quote from Steve Martin where he says, “Be so good that they
can’t ignore you.” I’ve always loved that. It’s just like a lot of people want
this quick fix of just to make something and then one and done. Where for me
it’s more about just kind of slowly putting the time into building up a body of
work and then being so good that someone will find you. 


GET INSPIRED


FEELING CREATIVE?

You’re in good company. Join 200+ million creators and brands, right here on
Vimeo.

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About The Author

AUBREY PAGE

Aubrey is a senior writer and editor at Vimeo. Fond of: horror movies, tinned
fish, making cool stuff.




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