Terry Dawson is an award winning Producer, Director and Writer based in Los Angeles, CA. Using comedy as a tool to delve into social themes, Terry creates character driven narratives woven together with incisive, naturalistic dialogue to explore (and redefine) contemporary Black male identity. His take on African-American culture is nuanced, finely drawn, and always strives to propel the collective narrative. Through his work producing documentaries he further explores pertinent environmental and sociopolitical issues.
Most Recently [WHAT I’M WORKING ON]
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THE REWRITE. (2024)
Terry’s feature film debut is a comedy about a struggling Hollywood screenwriter obsessed with Black Excellence and authenticity on screen, but whose real life is short on authenticity and anything but excellent. Filmed in the Fall of 2023, The ReWrite. is currently in post production and seeking distribution.
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DIAMOND RIVERS REBORN (2023)
Terry produced and served as 2nd Unit Director for this environmental documentary fillmed in Salvador Brazil, focusing on the country’s complicated environmental policy. He also supervised post production in Rio de Janeiro for five months, and learned first hand why they call Rio “The Marvelous City.”
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THE MASON RING (2022)
Terry’s award winning short film made while he was Film Independent’s Project Involve 2021 Writer/Director fellow. The film played the 2022 festival circuit winning Best Short film at Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival in competition sponsored by Warner Brothers/HBO.
ABOUT
Terry Dawson is an award-winning Writer, Director and Producer based in Los Angeles, CA. Most recently Terry wrote and directed his first feature film THE REWRITE. (2024) a comedy about a Black screenwriter’s search for genuine authenticity in Hollywood, which is currently in post-production. Terry made his first short film THE MASON RING (2022) as a member of Film Independent’s Project Involve 2021 cohort where he was the Writer/Director fellow. The Mason Ring won Best Short Film at Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival in competition sponsored by Warner Bros-Discovery/HBO. Also in 2022 Terry participated in Film Independent's Episodic Writing Lab (co-sponsored by Netflix) with his original period drama pilot MAKEBA. Terry made his debut as writer/director with an award-winning web-series comedy he created A WHOLE NEW IRVING (2018) which landed in development at HBO. In addition to writing and directing his own projects Terry produces documentary films, specifically seeking subject matter with global impact. Recent titles include Kiss The Ground (Netflix,) The Lost City Of The Monkey God (Discovery+,) and The Hadza; Last Of The First (Journeyman Films, Benenson Productions) focusing on issues ranging from environmental awareness to the challenges of marginalized ethnic groups in Africa, Brazil, and throughout the diaspora.
Terry is a Washington, D.C. native, and a proud graduate of the Duke Ellington School of The Arts. He received his B.A. in Film from Hofstra University and did graduate work in Fine Arts at Howard University.
THE REWRITE. (FEATURE FILM)
A struggling screenwriter, obsessed with portraying Black Excellence and authenticity, is forced to do a rewrite of his latest draft in order to save his career. But when he revisits the characters in his script in real life, he soon realizes that his own world is short on authenticity and anything but excellent.
Selected Works [What I’ve Done]
PRESS
Deadline
February 2021
Film Independent press release for Project Involve 2021 cohort. Terry announced Writer/Director fellow. as