Daniel Azarian is an award-wining director and producer of commercials and branded entertainment. As a director, Azarian has helmed national television spots for blue-chip brands and entertainment programming for major cable television channels. Top-tier companies have licensed Azarian’s visually arresting commercial work for advertising on mobile networks in the United States and in regions as geographically diverse as China and the United Kingdom. Among the global brands and channels whose campaigns and programs have featured Azarian’s work are AT&T, Sprint, MTV, Vh1, and 3M.
 
Director Daniel Azarian recently earned three 2008 Telly Awards for his commercial spot, “Bulletproof.” The fashion/beauty spot claimed the Telly’s highest honor, the Silver Award, for excellence in low-budget commercial production. Additionally, Azarian, who also produced “Bulletproof,” won two Bronze level Telly Awards in the categories of Beauty/Cosmetics and Entertainment. The narrative-style spot, produced for the makeup firm Facez, tracks a dynamic special agent in a black-vinyl bodysuit as she soars through the air tethered to skyscrapers in a futuristic metropolis.

Demonstrating a remarkably wide range of style and adaptability to genre, Daniel Azarian recently directed and produced a national spot for 3M’s brand consumer product, “Scotch-Brite”. While Azarian’s moody and atmospheric commercial “Black Tear,” originally shot on spec for Hallmark Cards, has been licensed by global brands Sprint and AT&T for national distribution on their mobile network, with international distribution in the UK and China, and a release in Singapore slated for next year.

Daniel Azarian’s short films and feature projects, including Azarian’s brand iconoclastic short, Nihilistic Chick, have been official selections at a number of US and international film festivals, including the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival in France, New York’s Coney Island International Film Festival, and the Independent Feature Project Market (IFP/East).

Moviemaker Magazine interviewed New York-based Daniel Azarian, along with famed director Sydney Pollack, on the unique experience of shooting in Manhattan. Azarian has appeared on the HBO show “At the Multiplex with Judy Gold.” He was a consultant to the CBS series, “Film Spectacular, Open Air Shorts,” which exhibited short films on the CBS JumboTron in New York’s Times Square, and a co-producer of “Trailer Park,” the industry showcase for exciting film trailers, including movie trailers released by Fox Searchlight, the specialty film division of 20th Century Fox.

Daniel Azarian graduated with honors from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and studied acting and directing with renowned drama teacher Stella Adler at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. While at NYU, Daniel also studied photography and later worked as a graphics design artist. 

Azarian’s bold art direction, his ability to evoke spot-on performances from talent, and his narrative abilities—whether apparent in commercials, short films or branded entertainment—have undoubtedly been influenced by his collective experience.