Screenwriter and Filmmaker
“As the heroes of all time have gone before us, we need only follow the thread of the hero’s path.”
David M. O'Neill is an award-winning screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist whose work spans feature films, documentaries, television, and intellectual property development.
His films have been distributed by Netflix, 20th Century Fox, Blue Harbor Entertainment, SnagFilms, and major streaming platforms worldwide. His latest projects, Puddy McFadden: License to Golf and The Violence of Wine, have been optioned by Exit 44 Entertainment, Voltage Pictures, and Aristos Films, with O'Neill attached to direct both productions.
His acclaimed screenplay Saving MLK has earned multiple national screenplay honors, while The Black Tulip, filmed entirely in Kabul, Afghanistan, became Afghanistan's official submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and received the PEN Center USA Freedom to Write Award.
O'Neill later wrote the Netflix feature The Stand at Paxton County and was contracted by Warner Bros. to develop and write Passenger 58, an updated sequel to the Wesley Snipes action thriller Passenger 57.
Throughout his career, O'Neill has received numerous industry accolades, including the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival's Spirit of Independent Filmmaking Award, the William Morris Agency's Writer of the Week - The Black Tulip, the Beverly Hills Film Festival Golden Palm Grand Prize, the Salento International Film Festival Best Feature Film Award, and the Boston International Film Festival Best Feature Film Award. In 2023, his screenplays Saving MLK, The Happy Man, and The Palimpsest earned multiple screenplay competition placements.
A graduate of the University of Oregon, the Arizona School of Business, American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, the Stella Adler Academy, and the ScreenwritingU Master's Certificate Program, O'Neill combines creative storytelling with entrepreneurial vision.
Before transitioning to filmmaking full-time, O'Neill played quarterback for the University of Oregon Ducks and launched his entertainment career as Harrison Ford's photo double on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, working alongside Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Kathleen Kennedy, and George Lucas.
Today, O'Neill collaborates with rights holders, creators, investors, and production partners to develop, acquire, finance, and produce original intellectual property across film, television, publishing, and emerging media.
