Dan Damman started his career in comedy as a weekend player with a group at The Second City in
Chicago. He came to San Francisco and the post facility, Rough House Editorial, where he
worked on narrative films, documentaries, and commercials.
After co-writing a musical comedy with Chris Thomas, the two partnered to form Potluck
Productions to pursue self-initiated creative projects and filmmaking. The company specializes
in using humor as a hook whenever possible.
Dan served as Head of Production for the online video website, Sports ID, where he oversaw all
aspects of production, writing, and editing for over 1,300 instructional sports videos, directing
athletes like Bill Walton, Gabrielle Reece, and John Elway. He has worked as a freelance
Director/Producer for Levi Strauss & Co since 1998 creating content for internal purposes, the
web, and for their flagship stores (other clients include Mervyn’s, AT&T, Netforce, and Cisco
Systems.)
Dan recently completed a year as an “Artist in Residence” at the San Francisco Film Society’s
FilmHouse along with a dozen other independent filmmakers and producers.
Chris K Thomas recently completed a year-long residency at San Francisco’s FilmHouse. He
and Dan formed Potluck Productions in 2004, producing web videos and providing live
streaming and media services for San Francisco businesses and nonprofits. After graduating
from MIT with a double Master’s degree in Technology and Policy, Chris spent several years
working on environmental protection and poverty alleviation projects in Colombia, Mongolia,
and Oakland, CA.
In 2003 he began to focus on provocative storytelling as a method for social change. He co-
wrote, directed, and produced the musical comedy Goin’ Dot Com! and then a successful
comedic political commercial for Moveon.org before co-founding Potluck. He also ran the game
changing “Do More Than Vote” civic engagement campaign in 2006, and Video the Vote in
2008, a national campaign to film voting booths for irregularities on election-day, producing
1000 videos in 24 hours.
Chris and Dan have been co-hosting “Script to Screen” for five years, a monthly event that
brings together the SF film community to read scripts, watch films, and have nerdy
conversations about theme, metaphor, and story.
Film: The Yogi
Jo, mommy blogger and single mother of a precocious 5 year-old, is always one more
like/follower away from happiness. She gets the break she “always deserved” when Mind Full Magazine assigns her to publicly blog about her personal growth from a physically impossible
four-week yoga teacher training retreat. Out of shape, fearlessly ambitious, and in no need of
“growth”; she lies to her co-parent, her boss, and dysfunctional family to turn the assignment into a feature cover article exposing the dark side of the retreat’s charismatic leader. Deep undercover, she surrenders to the narcissistic guru’s unconventional, humiliating, and
surprisingly effective directives until she becomes so competent in yoga that she sets a
different shiny new goal – to be a world famous competitive yogi! While on stage at the live-
broadcasted National Yoga Championships, Jo seizes the irony of the moment to realize that fearless authenticity that will actually bring her and her family happiness.