Daniel Maggio was born in Hemet, California and many of his films have been produced there. At the age of 13, he wrote his first screenplay (The Unknown Superhero) which was directed by his teacher/mentor Jimbo Marshall and produced through his middle school. It's the story of a comic book loving loner who gets super powers from the school's "mystery meat." The film premiered at the Temecula International Film Festival and that screening solidified Daniel's lifelong pursuit of making films and screening them for an audience.
At 17, he directed his first feature film (Brosis.) It's the story of a brother and sister who unknowingly start dating each other over the internet. The 90-minute film was completed in 2008 and remains a cult classic among Hemet residents and fellow perverts.
He attended San José State University where he received degrees in Film + Theatre. While attending SJSU, he directed multiple award winning short films (Jimbo, Elder Anderson, Sweetheart and Antique Imagination) and appeared in stage productions of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, David Lindsay-Abaire’s Wonder of the World and Nicky Silver’s Pterodactyls. It is estimated that he drank 400 cans of Tecate during his collegiate career.
Everything changed when Daniel started hanging out with the indie rock band, Hippie Cream. With Hippie Cream's prolific output and collaborative spirit, Daniel was hooked and wanted to start making films "the hippie cream way." As a collaborative artist, you give your performers/team members just enough structure to stay true to the "song" while encouraging their personalities to shine through. Maggio has directed multiple short films based on Hippie Cream's music as well as a feature length sci-fi musical (Marty's Magnificent Day-Glo Dream-A-Thon) and a documentary telling the band's 20-year story (Radical Parade). In 2018, he became a member of the band and has produced their studio albums ever since (from Juniper Tree to Eyeball Soup.)
In 2014, Maggio directed The Glory Hole for Dan Savage's HUMP! Fest. The 4 minute short tells the true story of how Jeff and Cosgrove fell in love at a San Francisco glory hole in the early 90’s. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at HUMP!, screened at FRAMELINE40, and is distributed through Wolfe Video. Jeff and Cosgrove continue their oral storytelling tradition today with the web series The Parlor (available now on YouTube.) Recent short films include Kesi , The Great American Short Story and The Big Book. He is currently planning his next feature film.
Daniel is the co-founder of the Hemet Film Festival, an annual celebration of independent film hosted at the Historic Hemet Theatre.
