Mark Gantt

Mark Willingham Gantt IV (born December 10, 1968) is an American actor, director, producer and writer. Gantt is best known for his role as Neal Bannen in the Streamy Award-winning web series, The Bannen Way.[1] Gantt grew up in Stockton, California, and comes from a law enforcement family; he drew upon those family experiences as part of the backstory for the title character in The Bannen Way.[2]

Mark Gantt
Mark Gantt at the 2nd Streamy Awards
Born	Mark Willingham Gantt IV December 10, 1968 Stockton, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, writer
Years active	1997–present
Website	http://www.markgantt.com/

Career

Early career

Mark got his start in the entertainment business working in the Art Department, Props and Production on features, TV and commercial projects, while training as an actor and director at the Beverly Hills Playhouse under Milton Katselas.[3]

As an actor, he has worked with Brad Pitt in Ocean's Eleven and Burt Reynolds in The Hollywood Sign. He has also worked in the TV shows Alias, Without A Trace, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer.[4]

The Bannen Way

"Since its January 6 premiere, the action web series The Bannen Way has raked in more than 13 million streams, making it the fastest growing property on Sony's Crackle digital video network. Loaded with crime, gadgets, sexy cars, salacious scenarios and high production costs, the 16-episode series is intended as a vehicle for Crackle to reach a demographic of men 18-34 years old. The Bannen Way also starred, Vanessa Marcil, Michael Ironside, Robert Forster, and Michael Lerner."[5]

"We were tired of waiting for agents to give us a call," said Gantt. "The web allowed us to stretch the boundaries. We got to create a cool show that we wanted to be in that could allow studios to recoup their money."[5]

The Bannen Way was designed as both a 16 episode web series and feature film and has been distributed on VOD, DVD, iTunes, Amazon and Internationally on Cinemax and Sony’s AXN Network.[6]

The Bannen Way Success

The Bannen Way was number six in Mashable's "The Top 10 Most Watched Web Series February 2010" by Visible Measures with 6,576,886 views.[7] The series was nominated for 7 awards for the 2010 Streamy Awards winning Best Drama, Best Director, Best Actor (Mark Gantt) and Best Editing.[8] Awarded Groundbreaker Award for The Bannen Way at the 2010 LA Webfest.[9]

Other Works

In 2010 Gantt directed two episodes of the branded series, Suite 7 with Shannen Doherty, Dexter’s Jaime Murray, Warehouse 13's Eddie McClintock[10] and in 2011, the award-winning short film Donor starring Trevor Algatt and Alexis Boozer.[11]

Mark also teaches acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse[12] and workshops on developing web series with Creator Up.[13]

Mark has been a speaker on several New Media panels at Banff World Media Festival,[14] Digital Hollywood,[15] NATPE,[16] Tubefilter[17] Writer’s Bootcamp,[18] and X-Summit.[19]

In 2011 Mark hosted the first annual NATPE Digital Luminary Awards in Miami, Florida.[20]

September 2015, Lifetime premiered Mark's feature directorial debut, Murder In Mexico: The Bruce Beresford Redman Story, based on the true story of former Survivor producer Bruce Beresford-Redman who was convicted in Mexico of the murder of his wife, Mónica.[21]

In April 2016 Mark directed Intricate Vengeance for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's New Form Digital studio. It was part of the 2016 Incubator program, a series to showcase and produce original scripted pilots.[22]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
1997	Volcano	Rookie Cop
2001	Straight Right	Fila Man
2001	The Hollywood Sign	Party Boy
2001	Oceans Eleven	Bartender
2002	Good For Nothing	Christian Van Dien
2003	Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle	Longshorman
2004	29 and Holding	Claude
2005	Devil's Highway	Vanni
2005	Pura Lengua	Officer Jamison
2010	Taken By Force	Stark
2010	The Bannen Way	Neal Bannen
2012	Among Friends	Nick First AD
2012	Meridian	Blake Royce
2013	Hidden In The Woods	Costello's Accountant
2013	The Night Visitor	Randy
2014	Foe	Johan Meyer
2015	The Night Visitor 2: Heather's Story	Randy
2015	Psychophonia	Rudger

TV Series/Internet Productions

Year	Title	Role
2000	Buffy The Vampire Slayer	Demon
2001	Arrest and Trial	Donald Newberry
2002	Days of Our Lives	Officer Mills
2003	Without A Trace	Bartender
2005	Unscripted	Actor
2005	Alias	Balfour
2006	The Shield	Bar Owner
2006	What About Brian	Bartender
2010	The Temp Life	Thomas Clancy
2011	Leap Year	Sergei
2011	Dexter	Mills
2011	Once Upon	Marcus
2011	The Guild	Chet Grunwald
2012	Oishi High School Battle	Principal Dave
2012	Sound Advice	Marco
2013	The Inn	Jeffrey
2013	D-Tec	Dobbs
2014	Bluff	Nick Westin
2014	Major Crimes	Ryan Brooks
2015	American Horror Story:Hotel	EMT Worker
2016	Barely Famous	Detective Davis
2016	The Arrangement	Adam Westfeldt (Recurring)

Awards

Awards and nominations for Mark Gantt

Year	Award Show	Category	Work	Result
2010	2nd Streamy Awards	Best Male Actor in a Dramatic Web Series	The Bannen Way	Won
		Best Dramatic Web Series		Won
		Best Writing in a Dramatic Web Series shared with Jesse Warren		Nominated
		Best Branded Web Series		Nominated
		Best New Web Series		Nominated
2010	Webby Award	Best Drama Web Series		Nominated
		Best Editing		Nominated
2011	Banff World Media Festival	Best Drama Web Series		Nominated
		Best Drama Web Series	Suite 7	Nominated
2012	First Glance Film Festival Philadelphia	Best Director Short Film	Donor	Won
	Indie Cinema Series	Best of the Fest		Won

References

1. "Crackle.com Launches 'The Bannen Way'". Sony Official Website. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
2. Nelson, Lauren (February 5, 2010). "Gantt's Way". Lodi News-Sentinel. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
3. Woods, Mark Dundas. "It takes a thief: Mark Gantt and "The Bannen Way"". Simply Showbiz. Archived from the original on February 15, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
4. "Gantt's Way". Retrieved April 3, 2013.
5. Rowley, Melissa June. "The Future of TV?: The Story Behind Crackle's "The Bannen Way"". Mashable. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
6. Baldwin, Drew. "'The Bannen Way:' A Comedy on HBO?". Tubefilter. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
7. Axon, Samuel. "The Top 10 Most Watched Web Series, February 2010". Mashable. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
8. "'Bannen Way,' 'Guild' top online television noms". Variety. March 1, 2010. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
9. "World's First and Only Web Series-Only Festival". LA Web Series Festival. Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
10. Cohen, Joshua. "Want to Sleep Better? Shannen Doherty and 'Suite 7' Can Help". Tubefilter. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
11. "FirstGlance Film Fest Philadelphia 15 Winners". FirstGlance Philadelphia Film Festival. Archived from the original on March 26, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
12. "Beverly Hills Playhouse Teachers". Retrieved April 3, 2013.
13. "Creator Up Courses". Archived from the original on June 10, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
14. "BANFF Speakers List". Archived from the original on March 6, 2009. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
15. "Digital Hollywood Panelists". Retrieved April 3, 2013.
16. "NATPE Speaker List". Retrieved April 3, 2013.
17. "'The Bannen Way', 'Prom Queen' Light Up Tubefilter Web TV Meetup".
18. "Writer's Bootcamp Business Breakfast" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
19. "X-Summit 2012". Archived from the original on November 21, 2012.
20. "NATPE Announces 2011 Digital Luminary Award Recipients". NATPE. Press Release. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
21. "TV Review: 'Murder in Mexico: The Bruce Beresford-Redman Story'".
22. "New Form Digital Launches Third Wave of Original Scripted Pilots".

External links

• Mark Gantt at IMDb