The Brothers Dowdle
John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle are a writing-directing-producing team that recently finished their third feature film,Quarantine, slated for release on October 17, 2008 from Sony Screen Gems and produced by Vertigo Entertainment. The brothers wrote the adapted screenplay, John is director and Drew is executive producer. Having achieved great success in the independent film world, Quarantine is the brothers’ first studio picture. The brothers plan to shoot their next feature, The Coup , in Thailand in early 2009.
The Dowdles’ previous film,The Poughkeepsie Tapes, was produced independently and will be released theatrically by MGM in late 2008. The Poughkeepsie Tapes created a major stir at its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in May 2007 where it shocked audiences and received rave reviews. The buzz surrounding the film garnered much attention from distributors resulting in the Dowdles selling worldwide rights to MGM, which represented the largest sale ever out of Tribeca Film Festival.
The Dowdles’ first feature, The Dry Space, was a small independent comedy that made a splash on the film festival circuit in 2005. The film premiered at Slamdance International Film Festival where it collected a Jury Award. It was also awarded “Best of Festival” screenings at several other major festivals in 2005.
The brothers grew up in the Twin Cities of Minnesota where they shared a love for film from a young age. As a college student at the University of Iowa aspiring to join the highly esteemed Writer's Workshop, John took his first film and video class. At the end of the semester, John transferred to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated with a degree in Film and Television Production and was selected to make a thesis film. After graduating from NYU, John moved to Los Angeles. Within a year he was directing his first feature film from a script he wrote, which was produced in Minnesota. John spent the next several years focused on writing screenplays that quickly acquired industry acclaim.
While in college, Drew was fascinated by John’s endeavors and knew he would one day join his brother and start an independent production company. Drew attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he received a degree in Finance and International Business. Immediately after graduating, Drew went to work for a boutique investment-banking firm in New York specializing in the field of mergers and acquisitions. Drew spent several years with the firm and was intimately involved in dozens of corporate acquisitions totaling over $1 billion in enterprise value. In 2004 the time had finally come to join forces, Drew left New York City to join his brother in Los Angeles.
The Brothers Dowdle are now looking to apply their directorial skills to the world of commercial production.