Damian Collier is a British entrepreneur, businessman, lawyer, and producer. He is the founder and former owner and CEO of Spiral Viral, a company designed to help the creators of unexpectedly viral videos with the legal side of things, and the founder, owner, and CEO of Blend Media, a VR licensing firm and marketplace. He produced the musical, filming, and tour of

Jeff Wayne Jeffry Wayne (born July 1, 1943) is an American composer, musician and lyricist. In 1978, he released '' Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'', his musical adaptation of H. G. Wells' science-fiction novel ''The War of the Wo ...

's '' The War of the Worlds – Alive on Stage!'' and manages the Jeff Wayne Music Group. Other film productions include ''

War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and '' Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel wa ...

''. In 2014, he appeared on ''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...

's'' Most Creative People in Business 1000.

Education

Collier attended

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

's School of Law and subsequently worked at firms including

Latham & Watkins Latham & Watkins LLP is an American multinational law firm. Founded in 1934 in Los Angeles, California, Latham is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue. As of 2022, Latham is also one of the most profitable law firms in the world ...

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

, and

Linklaters Linklaters LLP is a British multinational law firm, headquartered in London. Founded in 1838, it is one of the four ' Magic Circle' law firms known for their corporate and financial expertise. It currently employs about 3,100 lawyers in 31 of ...

, the latter of which he stayed with from 1993 until 2003. He also briefly attended the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Career

Collier is the managing director of

Music Group and in 2006 produced the tour for '' The War of the Worlds – Alive on Stage!'' He and Wayne collaborated with

Dark Horse Entertainment Dark Horse Entertainment is a motion picture and television production arm of American comic book publishing company Dark Horse Comics, founded in 1992. They also have a sub-label, Dark Horse Indie. They have their headquarters in Milwaukie, Ore ...

to create an accompanying comic. While promoting Wayne's newest

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, Collier met with Howard Davies-Carr, the father of the boys in the viral video "

Charlie Bit My Finger "Charlie bit my finger – again!", more simply known as "Charlie Bit My Finger" or "Charlie Bit Me", is a 2007 Internet viral video famous for being at the time the most viewed YouTube video. As of October 2022, the video received over 89 ...

," as they wanted to use the video for promotional purposes. Davies-Carr mentioned that he had been approached many times by people and companies wanting to use the video and Collier realized that the people behind viral videos were not being supported. As a former finance lawyer, with experience in licensing and intellectual property, he created Viral Management Limited, called Viral Spiral, in 2011 to help manage viral videos; the Davies-Carr family was his first client. Jeff Wayne was his business partner. Clients included the creators behind "Sneezing Baby Panda," "Talking Twin Babies," and "Fenton!" By 2012, Viral Spiral had offices in the United Kingdom, United States, and Japan, and had "plans for a ''

You've Been Framed! ''You've Been Framed!'' was a Television in the United Kingdom, British television programme where viewers contributed to the programme with their humorous home movies for the entertainment of others. The series began on 14 April 1990 and ended ...

''-style television show" Viral Spiral set up deals for their clients with major companies such as

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

. They also partnered with

Rightster Brave Bison is a digital advertising and technology services company. The company provides a range of digital advertising and technology services to brand advertisers, and operates a digital media network of over 650 channels and 158 million foll ...

to make more "Charlie" content, including partnerships with

Sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace * Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automobiles *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...

and

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

, and gave the company "exclusive distribution rights to all of Viral Spiral's YouTube content." Viral Spiral was among the first

multi-channel network A multi-channel network (MCN) is an organization that works with video platforms to offer assistance to channel owners in areas such as "product, programming, funding, cross-promotion, partner management, digital rights management, monetizati ...

s to sign

Vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

stars as clients. In 2014, Collier sold the company to the Rightster Group. In 2016, Collier founded Blend Media, a company that licenses AR, MR, VR, and 360-degree content and connects brands and agencies with qualified content creators. Blend Media is involved with

influencer marketing Influencer marketing (also known as influence marketing) is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, individuals and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or so ...

as well. In 2019, he became the executive producer of a VR game based on Jeff Wayne's ''The War of the Worlds'' and in 2021, helped turn "Charlie Bit Me" into a limited-edition

NFT A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchai ...

Personal life

Collier is married to actress Anna-Marie Wayne, daughter of his business partner

. The couple have two children and as of 2022 live in the

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

village of

Radlett Radlett is a large village in Hertfordshire, England, between Elstree and St Albans on Watling Street, with a population of 10,060. It is in the council district of Hertsmere in the south of the county, and forms part of the civil parish of A ...

. Their daughter was

premature Premature may refer to: * ''Premature'' (2014 film), an American comedy film * ''Premature'' (2019 film), an American romantic drama film * '' PREMature'', a 2015 British television drama miniseries See also * Premature aging, of an organism * ...

, arriving 9 weeks before she was due. Their son Jonah appears in Michael Hirst's 2022 television series ''Billy the Kid''.

Film

Collier largely produced under the Damian Collier Entertainment banner between 2009 and 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Damian English film producers English theatre managers and producers Living people 1976 births University of Salamanca alumni Alumni of the University of Reading 21st-century English businesspeople Businesspeople from London English company founders British technology company founders Goldman Sachs people