When filmmaker Dana Glazer’s first child was born, he felt absolutely elated about being a dad. But, when he chose to prioritize fatherhood over his career, he began to feel conflicted. Though he found the time he spent caring for his son to be amazing and deeply fulfilling, he wondered if there was something wrong with him.
Wasn’t he supposed to want more? What did it mean that he’d rather help his kids climb monkey bars than climb the corporate ladder? He began to feel worthless, isolated, and confused.
A friend suggested that he make a documentary about his experiences navigating the somewhat unknown territory of fatherhood in the 21st century. The resulting film, The Evolution of Dad, is now used in hundreds of college and university courses and was screened during a Working Dads Summit at The White House in 2014.
In this episode, Dana and Dan talk about the undeniable significance of the father’s role in a child’s life, ways in which our society can do a better job supporting Dads, and ways to balance the often dark and negative portrayals of fathers we see in the media with more nuanced and positive ones.
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About Our Guest
Dana H. Glazer grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and began making movies when he was nine years old, shooting claymation films in his basement with the help of his grandfather and a trusty Super-8 camera. Later, he attended Bowdoin College in Maine and then studied filmmaking at NYU’s Graduate Film Program.
Dana’s NYU graduate thesis film, Intermezzo, a romantic ghost story, won a Student Academy Award in 1998. In 2002 Dana sold his original script, Rise, Sons of Bowdoin, an epic civil war story about Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, to Warner Brothers for director Mimi Leder (Deep Impact) and producer John Wells (ER, The West Wing, Far From Heaven). As a result, Dana became a member of The Writers Guild of America and the sale was featured on the front page of the Hollywood Reporter. On June 9, 2014, Dana was invited to The White House to present The Evolution of Dad at a fatherhood event.
Currently, Dana lives with his wife and three young children in New Jersey.
Mentioned in This Episode
Dana’s Film: The Evolution of Dad
