Dan Mace On His Experience In Uganda And Discovery Channel Series ‘The Bru Show’

A true visionary!

With over 40 Million views on his Youtube channel, director and creator Dan Mace is quickly making a name for himself with his hard-hitting content. Now, he is currently seen as the host of the Discovery Channel series ‘The Bru Show’.

We had the amazing honor of talking with Dan about his journey becoming a content creator, his upcoming 1Million follower milestone, and more!

When did you first realize that you wanted to become a film/content creator?  Was there an “aha” moment you remember? 

D: “I struggled with generalized anxiety disorder which makes it difficult for me to communicate with people in a social setting. I always had stories to tell but never had the means to tell them and it was when I was asked to do a presentation at school when I was 15 years old that I saw an old TV screen in the corner of the class. In those days TV’s still had VHS tapes. I asked the teacher if I could make a video instead of standing in front of the class and she said yes so I took my family’s DV camera and I put together a video for my presentation. I added music and sound and realized while editing it that there was this means for me to tell a story in an all encompassing way where you could heighten and amplify certain elements through the utilization of sound and music and various camera angles. And then when I played it on the TV for the class I realized the other side of filmmaking which is the thrill one gets from showcasing a piece of work to an audience.

That is a big part of it which most filmmakers might claim is not a driving force for them to create art because people say that films are only made for yourself but if that’s the case then they wouldn’t show it to other people surely? And so people laughed and clapped and there was a big reaction from the class. I realized then that stories have the ability to transform the way people perceive things and this unlocked a door in my mind which opened up a whole new world for my imagination and the ability to tell stories. Ultimately this lead me to transcend the burdens of my unconscious mind and now I am able to tell stories in front of people because through filmmaking I gained the confidence to not necessarily overcome my anxiety but to deal with it and learn coping mechanisms along the way.“

Tell us a bit more about your amazing Discovery Plus series ‘The Bru Show’ and the episode, “ Uncovering Africa’s Hidden Space Program – One of the Worst 100 Ideas of the Century.”  What kind of story were you hoping to tell as you were preparing for the episode and how did it change as you were in production? 

D: ‘The Bru Show’ is centered around the final 12 ideas that are written in my ‘Ideas Book’ which is a book that I’ve had over the last decade which has every single idea that I’ve ever had, written in it. ‘The Bru Show’ is dedicated to completing the final 12 unfinished ideas. These ideas were unfinished because I did not have the ability to do them based on access to certain things which Discovery Plus gave me through the funding of the project and they were the vehicle for me to complete these 12 unfinished ideas. One of these ideas was ‘Uncovering Africa’s Hidden Space Program’ in Uganda which my friend and producing partner, Ryan Frame, told me about three years ago after reading about it in a TIME Magazine’s article called the “100 Worst Ideas of the Century”. One of them was the Ugandan Space Program which really intrigued me. We did a ton of research and couldn’t find much so we decided to fly to Uganda to uncover the story together.

I was hoping to find some sort of lead that it did exist. Well that was the intention but what ended up happening is that it unveiled so much more about African Space initiatives and the story beyond that Discovery Plus episode. Since people have watched the episode it has revealed so much more because people have come out from all over with their stories and the plot keeps thickening. It’s really amazing and we’re currently working on a feature length version of it.”

Out of all the episodes, which feature you and your team turning twelve impossibly big ideas into real-world projects, why is the episode on Uncovering Africa’s Hidden Space Program special to you and what led to deciding to tell that particular story? 

D: “Mainly because it’s the first project my really good friend and now producing partner, Ryan Frame, and I have worked on together. It’s always been a dream of ours to work together. In our early twenties we both had a big passion for making movies and we knew one day that our paths would cross and that we would be working together but also knew that we needed to grow as filmmakers and develop different skill sets before that could happen. So we went on our separate journeys, Ryan went on to study his Masters in Fine Art in Los Angeles and shortly after started working a few movies, while I started to direct in the traditional sense and then moved over to YouTube in order to learn more about growing an audience. eventually this project came about and seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to work together. It felt like the perfect synchronicity because Ryan told me about this project a few years ago and then when I read the idea in my idea book something clicked and I decided to call him up to see if he was keen. He said he was super keen to fly to Uganda so I met him there and now I’m in LA with him and we are working on multiple projects together so I guess that episode will always be special to me because it started this working relationship that we now have. So it wasn’t just about the story which is important but it’s also about what it did for our working relationship.

During the episode, you have the opportunity to speak with a wide variety of local Ugandans, can you tell us a bit about your favorite interactions?  Interesting stories they told you or shocking facts that you hadn’t learned from your research leading up? 

D: “Prior to this trip I had not been to Uganda before but I had made films in many different African countries. You know Africa as a whole for me contains the richest, most compelling stories. Obviously Africa is my home so there is a sense of belonging and I just love telling African stories. I want to shine as much light as I possibly can on the incredible and unsung heroes in Africa, and Uganda has many unsung heroes, one being Chris Nsamba who recently passed away which came as a big shock. It happened a month after we had been in Uganda and I had conducted an interview with him. I don’t want to say that he was more inspiring than anyone else but he was a big dreamer and he went completely against the grain, against the odds and fought for what he believed in, which was to be an Afronaut. He had created a lot of makeshift space related machinery. It was a big ambition of his to get into space and he utilized the knowledge and science that he acquired through teaching himself about building a rocket ship to be able to then build baby incubators that have been saving the lives of hundreds if not thousands of babies throughout Uganda. He was an incredible guy and his story needs to be celebrated.”

What has been your reaction to all of the positive reviews for the show? Where would you like to see the success of the show take your career, in the future? 

D: “Like I said before, the thrill of showcasing a body of work to an audience is really exciting and you’re not always going to get positive comments about your work especially on a platform like Youtube which Discovery Plus allowed me to upload to my YouTube channel 2 weeks after it had aired on Discovery Plus. I guess if they only released it on Discovery Plus and not on YouTube I would not have been able to hear feedback directly from the audience. The feedback is not always positive though and a lot of the criticism on some of my work is valid which helps me understand the audience better and helps me understand if the storytelling is too complex or if I need to tone it down. With regards to the expectations from where the show could lead my career? I don’t want to have any expectations because it was more about me completing those ideas which was a big accomplishment for me. Perhaps I hope it leads to the recognition that is required to become a successful film director in the space of scripted feature length films.“

You have reached nearly 1 Million subscribers on Youtube! Do you have any plans to celebrate when you reach the big number? 

D: “To be honest I don’t know what I would do if I reached a million subscribers. It’s a big milestone but I guess I’ll only think about that when I get closer to that number. Of course I would celebrate the occasion! But I don’t want to count my eggs before they’ve hatched. Haha!”

As a successful Youtube content creator, how has your short form work influenced your long form work on The Bru Show and beyond? 

D: “I think it makes you more resilient in the sense that it makes you learn to adapt to the many complications and constant changes that come with filmmaking. In the YouTube space you are not afforded the luxury of delaying things based on weather conditions so you have to make it work. I also think in filmmaking as a whole there is a lot of sacrifice and it’s really all about how much you’re willing to sacrifice. Whether it be on YouTube when the sacrifices are made caused by the weather on the day of shooting or when things just don’t go as planned and I guess in the more traditional space the sacrifices come when studios might want to alter the narrative to reach a wider audience or to attach a certain talent to the film which you as a director don’t always agree with. There is always sacrifice and I think being a YouTuber you’re willing to make more sacrifices because you learn that sacrificing things or the fear of sacrificing certain things is that the work is going to turn out worse but when you let go and relinquish some of that control and let it just happen organically the work actually turns out far better. Well… most of the time at least. That’s been my experience for the most part.”

What advice would you give to young creators who want to pursue a career in the film industry? 

D: “Firstly stop listening to Answer and start listening to Understand. The film industry as a whole is constantly changing and the landscape right now, whether it’s YouTube or the traditional world of enterainment, is in a very interesting position because not as many people are going to the cinema as they used to. Even when it comes to the consumption of the longer format or feature length content on streaming platforms it has slowed down slightly based on the fact that we have so many other options to choose from when it comes to video and motion picture entertainment such as utilizing social media apps which have the endless scroll of 1-minute long videos which the algorithm is constantly feeding you based on what you want to see.

My advice would be to merge the social media space and the traditional filmmaking realm to use them to work for one another. If you want to be a content creator and not a traditional filmmaker or film director the main piece of advice is to remain consistent. Build an audience based on what you know. The films that you make shouldn’t be made for superficial reasons because you saw someone else’s work and thought it was cool because you’ll eventually run out of ideas. If you make films about what you know and who you are you’ll always be growing. People want to see your enthusiasm in the video and if you’re in front of the camera and they feel that they will connect with the story you’re telling.“

Where can we follow your amazing journey on social media? 

D: “You can follow me on the following platforms: Instagram @dannmace | Tik Tok @dannmace | YouTube @DanMace | Facebook @dannmace1 | LinkedIn @dan-mace | Wikitia @Dan_Mace“

Je’Kayla Crawford– Founder and Director– Je’Kayla has been a journalist for years and decided to start a publication of her own, New Scene. When not helping her team and working on the monthly issues, you can find her watching a movie on Netflix or baking using a viral Tasty recipe.