
Dyllan McGee
documentary maker
When she was starting out, Dyllan McGee turned down her dream internship at the Today show to work at a small production company ~ gutsy considering she originally wanted to be the next Katie Couric! Two decades later, she'd produced numerous award-winning documentaries and become a partner in the company.
Today, Dyllan's re-imagining the documentary with MAKERS ~ her innovative digital project that aims to tell the stories of all the groundbreaking women who've shaped the US. Though her good work will never be complete, it's already the largest online video archive of its kind. Known as "Relentless McGee" for her persistence, Dyllan celebrates women's history + leadership through visionary storytelling.
award-winning documentary filmmaking | produced programs such as This Emotional Life (2010) and Gloria: In Her Own Words (2011), and her project Makers: Women Who Make America began as a Web-based series of videos and now includes 7 feature-length documentaries
creating dynamic digital platforms | partnered with AOL to create MAKERS.com, a digital storytelling initiative and archive that features original interviews with hundreds of trailblazing women ~ both well known + under the radar
building a global brand around women's leadership | in 2014, the MAKERS Conference launched a new phase of global expansion, which will include international versions of the videos, among other initatives
networking for feminist creatives | participates in a range of professional media events, panels + initiatives that support women's leadership in film, media, marketing + communications, such as the Ipsos Girls' Lounge and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media See Jane Salons
three big moments
2002 | nominated for her first Emmy Award, for In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01 {HBO}
2012 | MAKERS.com launched online with 100 original videos, followed by the premiere of the documentary Women Who Make America on HBO in 2013
2013 | won a Peabody Award for the six-part documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. {PBS}, which explores black cultural history in the US from slavery to racism in colonial America to Civil Rights to Barack Obama's Presidency
from | to
wannabe television personality | award-winning documentary filmmaker + dynamic feminist storyteller
born on
{circa 1971}
born in
New York City, NY
birth name
Dyllan McGee
nickname
"Relentless McGee"
citizen of
The United States of America
daughter of
{unknown}
lives in
Katonah, NY
educated at
The Taft School + Trinity College
loved studying
theater
married to
Mark Wiegel
~ October 2, 1999 - today ~
mother of
2 boys | Max + Henry
worked alongside
Peter Kunhardt at their company Kunhardt McGee Productions
in her spare time
serves on Boards of Directors | the Gordon Parks Foundation + the Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation + the Taft School
sings with her husband ~ who writes songs and plays the acoustic guitar
tweets @
@dyllanmcgee
@MAKERSwomen
collapse bio bits"I was a product of the women's movement without even knowing what the women's movement was."
Free to be…Me | february 2013
"It's easy to sit back and believe in change, but not stand up for it—standing up takes effort and risk and that can be uncomfortable."
Free to be…Me | february 2013
"Even when the barriers are broken, the hurt of being left out is hard to get over."
Women In Hollywood | february 2013
"We don't want all women running companies any more than we want all men running companies—it's when everyone comes together that we succeed."
How do you create a better world for women? | january 2014
"Don't worry about people liking you . . . We all try to please, and being a leader isn't about that."
How do you create a better world for women? | january 2014
"When we get down to brass tacks, it's about policy change. It's both how you can personally lean in, and then what organizational policies need to change."
How do you create a better world for women? | january 2014
"There’s nothing quite like being in a room with like-minded women working toward a common cause."
Feminism, One Conference at a Time | may 2014
"You can shape your destiny. You can make things happen. You're in control of change."
Teen Vogue | november 2014
for further reading about Dyllan McGee:
curated with care by Kristen M. Fallica {march 2015}
MAKERS: Women Who Make America - PBS Official Trailer
In 2004, Dyllan approached Gloria Steinem as a producer at Kunhardt McGee Productions. She wanted to learn more about the women's movement by making a film about the feminist icon, but, when the two met, Gloria rejected the idea since she thought it was impossible to tell the story of a movement through a single life. When Dyllan proposed the idea for MAKERS ~ a dynamic video archive that would document multiple narratives from women who've changed the world ~ Gloria happily participated!
MAKERS | Standard YouTube License
The Making of MAKERS
The site for Dyllan's epic documentary project launched in 2012 ~ eight years after a 'no' from Gloria Steinem sent Dyllan back to the drawing board. The archive went live with 100 film interviews. Today, it's the world's largest video collection of women's stories with nearly 3000 videos that feature 270+ women. Stay tuned each "MAKERS Monday" for the debut of a new story!
MAKERS
The True* Story of Dyllan McGee
In 2014, New York Women in Communications honored Dyllan with a Matrix Award for her outstanding contributions to the media and communications industry. Her partners, colleagues and family congratulate her in this witty + sweet mockumentary short about her life...which also puts Dyllan's sense of humor front-and-center! Be on the lookout for cameos by fellow quoteurs Gloria Steinem, Katie Couric, Sheryl Sandberg and more...
New York Women in Communications