Mark Archer

Mark Archer grew up in the small city of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He started producing and directing industrial and documentary videos at a very young age. He was accepted into Purdue University's Engineering program, but turned it down to form his production company. He subsequently did work for national medical, automotive, retail and government clients. His involvement with the Stop the Madness Foundation, a youth anti-violence group, came about soon after as he created a national media campaign which included public service announcements featuring re-enactments of shootings and murders. Archer's film education was mostly self-taught; however, he credits Dov Simens of the Hollywood Film Institute as being his mentor and turning his film career around. Archer produced In the Company of Men (1997) in the summer of 1996 for $25,000. Mortgaging everything he had to get the film to completion, he suffered great personal losses during the production. After the film went on to win the Filmmaker's Trophy at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, Archer skyrocketed to fame in the independent film community. In 1998 he completed American Reel (2003), which he directed and co-produced.