Demian Lichtenstein began his career in the Entertainment Industry in the early seventies as a child actor in New York City. performing at the distinguished 18th Street Playhouse, Circle in the Square and Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre all by the age of 10. Having studied photography and film throughout his childhood, by the age of 12 Lichtenstein’s first photograph was published on the front page of a major newspaper. After he was hired as a production assistant on John Irvin’s 80’s horror classic Ghost Story, Lichtenstein was hooked on movies, which combined his love of dramatic performances and photography.
He is currently in editorial; on his latest feature film THE RAZORS EDGE starring Tommy Lee Jones, James Franco and Charlotte McKinney which he co-wrote, produced and directed. As well as in active development on his next feature film THE RANGER: REDEMTION.
Lichtenstein graduated in 1984 from New York City’s prestigious High School of Art & Design. Where he was designated a National Honor student, a Regent Scholar, and was the recipient of the New York City Media Award for excellence and achievement in cinema and voted the number one High School Film and Television student in NYC.
Lichtenstein accepted the Helena Rubenstein Scholarship to attend New York University, Tisch School of The Arts. In his sophomore year, he was chosen by the University Chairman, Charles Milne, to be his Teaching Assistant and was able to enter the senior level film production program three years early. While still in school, Lichtenstein won the MTV Award for Best Independent Music Video and received the “Best Action Adventure Director” Award at the NYU film festival.
In 1988, Lichtenstein earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film, with a minor in Business from NYU. Upon graduating, he was immediately hired as Manager of Creative Affairs for Columbia Pictures, under the direction of Dawn Steele. Simultaneously while jumpstarting his career in the development side of motion pictures, Lichtenstein launched his own Independent Film Production company, Lightstone, and quickly became one of the top music video directors in the business. Throughout the late eighties and nineties, the golden era of music television, Lichtenstein produced and directed videos for Warner Brothers, Sony Music, Columbia Records, Epic Records, Tommy Boy Records, Universal/MCA, and many more. To his credit, Lichtenstein produced and directed over 250 music videos for Grammy Award winning artists including Sting and Eric Clapton, as well as having achieved videos ranked #1 in the world in the Pop, Rock, Rap, and Reggae genres.
During his rise to the top of the music video industry he partnered with Rebel Films, Pseudo Online Entertainment, and Film Inc. in NYC to produce a series of film and television projects. The Chairman of Sony Music, hired Lichtenstein and Lightstone Entertainment as the in-house production company for Sony Music Studios in New York City. It was here that Lichtenstein forged his business partnership with Ric Wake, Head of A&R for Sony Music Worldwide. Wake, a world-renowned Grammy and Academy Award winning music producer for artists such as Celine Dion and Mariah Carey, expanded his career into film/TV as the lead producer of the soundtrack for the Academy Award winning motion picture Chicago.
In 1997, Lichtenstein made his feature directorial debut with the film Lowball, which he also wrote and produced for the Showtime Network. Lowball received numerous awards on the independent film circuit. His entrepreneurial spirit led him into the world of film financing. Lichtenstein served as Executive Producer and Founding Partner for Film Bond International which he later sold to Frontier Insurance Group (his first exit). He next secured funding for the critically acclaimed motion picture O, produced by his then business partner Anthony Rhulen and distributed by Miramax/Lionsgate, starring Martin Sheen, Josh Hartnett and Julia Stiles.
After serving as Chairman of the New York Independent Film Coalition, Lichtenstein arrived in Hollywood where within six months, he raised $75 million dollars for his debut major studio motion picture 3000 Miles To Graceland, which he wrote, produced and directed for Warner Brothers. The film’s cast includes Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, Christian Slater, Courtney Cox, Ice T, Kevin Pollak and Thomas Haden Church. Lichtenstein also produced the soundtrack, featuring songs by Elvis Presley, Filter and The Crystal Method. 3000 Miles To Graceland has gone on to become an international cult hit. Lichtenstein has also written scripts for RKO pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Electric Entertainment, Crusader Entertainment, Constantine Films, and Warner Brothers.
Having worked as a producer, director, and writer, with hands-on experience developing projects for all of the major film and television studios, Lichtenstein and Wake decided to form Equilibrium Entertainment, a state-of-the-art independent motion picture and post production company created to take advantage of the technological breakthroughs in the entertainment industry where Lichtenstein served as CEO.
During this time Lichtenstein partnered with Bertelsmann Group US and Random House where he co-authored the international best-selling book then produced and directed the Documentary for Discover The Gift, an inspirational, transformational narrative that follows Demian’s personal journey for spiritual understanding and growth, featuring the Dalai Lama, Jack Canfield (author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”), Marianne Williamson and Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith.
Lichtenstein’s creative credits include producing and directing the independent feature Venus & Vegas, an action comedy starring Donald Faison, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Eddie Guerra. He also produced The Unseen and was Producer/Director of Photography for Love And Suicide, an inspirational character study shot entirely on location in Havana Cuba. In addition to his work behind the camera, Lichtenstein has also been mentored by James Cameron on Avatar 1.
Lichtenstein is also a writer, producer, and director in the Video Game industry, with #1 hits such as the successful PAYDAY video game franchise / Net TV series.
As the managing director and CEO of Payday Productions, LLC (video game company) and Phantom Games, LLC, Lichtenstein also oversaw the M&A roll-up of five companies under the Swedish public company Starbreeze Studios, and its United States counterpart Starbreeze LA.
After completing the sale of his companies and several major IP’s to Starbreeze Studios, Lichtenstein accepted the position of US Studio Head and oversaw all US Video Gaming, Film, Television, VR and Major Event initiatives. After completing production on The Walking Dead VR Video Game and the John Wick VR Game, Lichtenstein resigned from Starbreeze in order to co-found First Contact Entertainment, a premiere VR Gaming company based in Santa Monica, CA. Once that company was established, Lichtenstein set his sights on the future of entertainment. Since his formative time on the Avatar Movie set and with coaching from James Cameron Lichtenstein began to develop a major Intellectual Property known today as SPACEGEN. The SPACEGEN mobile game is in active development.
During the pandemic Lichtenstein help create and launch Salesumentary, a Digital Marketing and Documentary Film company where he produced and directed over 70 marketing and sales videos for clients such as Tony Robbins, Mike Tyson and Mathew McConaughey. Lichtenstein continues to serve as the CEO of his production company Lightstone Entertainment, Inc. which has built relationships across the global entertainment business for over 30 years.
Lichtenstein is a member of the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) where he was a Co-Founder of The Directors Guild Leadership Council, working alongside Steven Spielberg , James Cameron and other A list creators to protect the rights of filmmakers worldwide by having a direct influence on domestic and global politics in the entertainment world. He is also a member of The Writer’s Guild of America (WGA, The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Lichtenstein is the Founding Board member of New Filmmakers Los Angeles (a 501c3 Non-Profit). He is a sought-after speaker worldwide on Leadership and the Future of Entertainment. He was born and raised in NYC, and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their two young boys.
