David Uslan

David Uslan began his career even before graduating from college as an intern with D.C. Comics, Walter Cronkite’s production company and Wild Brain Animation Studios.  After graduating from Indiana University in 2002, Mr. Uslan joined International Creative Management (ICM), one of the leading international talent agencies.  In late 2003, armed with a passion for comic books, history, and creative development, Mr. Uslan went to work for his mentor and father, Michael Uslan, Originator and Executive Producer of the Batman movie franchise, as well as The Lego Movie, Lego Batman, National Treasure, and many others. Alongside his father, David assisted in developing films including Batman Begins, Constantine, The Spirit, and Joker, including the upcoming Apple TV / Universal Television Lou Gehrig & Babe Ruth limited series being produced alongside Lorne Michaels, the Steinbrenner family, the New York Yankees organization, and being directed by Peter Farrelly (Green Book). Also on the horizon is an animated feature film franchise based on the blue-chip Web3 intellectual property, Moonbirds. We will be partnering on this with the academy award winning company Moonbot, as well as the largest independent animation studio in the world, ReelFX. Uslan’s producing credits include the Emmy award winning animated series Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch (The Hub Network; Disney Channel), Valentine’s Day Massacre (National Geographic Channel), AMC Mob Week documentary series (AMC Network), and American Icons (PBS Network). A couple years back, David helped produce the The Vault of Horror as a fully immersive audiobook series, based on the iconic EC Comic series from the 1950’s, and still available on Audible and other digital platforms. Today, Uslan runs development and production for his family businesses and is focused on consistently building out a global ecosystem that supports the evolution and distribution of content around the world.

Beyond North America, Uslan continues to concentrate on strengthening relationships between the US, Asia, and Middle Eastern media markets, including the building of global franchises through international co-productions and strong, local partners in a number of key categories, including licensing and publishing. Past and current partners include iQIYI, Huace, and Tencent, including Tencent Academy, in China, as well as JTBC, MBC, KBS, and Kakao in South Korea, Zee Entertainment in India, and SRMG in KSA. At MIP in 2017, Uslan announced a new joint venture between Banijay (Big Brother), Bunim/Murray Productions (The Real World), Uslan Entertainment, and Signal Entertainment in South Korea. In December 2018, Uslan signed a first look deal with Renegade 83 (Naked and Afraid), an eOne Entertainment company, in the area of unscripted, international formats. In 2019, David formed a strategic producing partnership with Jeff Jenkins Productions (Keeping Up With The Kardashians) and 3 Ball Entertainment (Bar Rescue) focused on reality and docu-drama content. Partnerships that Uslan initiated and oversee include Iconic Engine, the immersive entertainment and metaverse white-labeling company, as well as The Digit Group, a next generation real estate company specializing in smart city and metaverse strategies + solutions across the world, and Legible, a next generation e-book company and the first to incorporate ChatGPT and other AI features into its search engine and other components.  Currently, for Kartoon Studios, a publicly traded, family focused entertainment company, both David and Michael Uslan are overseeing The Stan Lee Universe, including hundreds of characters created by Stan post-Marvel. Stan’s likeness and signature rights are also included so we have the chance to preserve his legacy the way he should be remember. Later this year, in late September, there will be some extraordinary announcements pertaining to this specific, yet vast, opportunity with one of the top media studios in the world. In the meantime, at San Diego Comicon’s permanent museum this past July 2023, the Uslan Boys premiered an exhibit they curated on the life and times of Stan Lee. It was one of the most popular attractions in San Diego and will run for an additional six months before going on tour around North America for the next two years.

During the fall of 2009, David helped start a revolutionary digital publishing, conversion, and distribution company called Graphicly. Before the company was acquired, Graphicly had partnered with over 12,000 top comic book and graphic novel publishers, mainstream publishing houses, and many small press and independent companies, as well as over 15,000 individual creators and renowned feature film and television talent, to help produce, convert, and distribute their content across a wide range of eBook, mobile, web, and desktop platforms in new, exciting, socially interactive ways. Many of these publishers were brought in through Uslan’s pre-existing relationships including Penguin Random House, Scholastic, Chronicle Books, Capstone, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, Legendary Pictures, Relativity Media, Warner Bros., Universal Studios, Amazon Studios, and many more. Even though Graphicly was sold many years ago, David currently has several strategic publisher relationships in place around world, including Macmillan, one of the top five international publishing houses on the planet.

Along with his career in the feature film, television, gaming, and the publishing industry, Uslan has consulted for a number of media companies and events as well, including Smithsonian Enterprises located in Washington D.C., where he also co-created and was an instructor, alongside Stan Lee and his father, of the Smithsonian Institution’s first on-line course, The Rise of Superheroes. Additional clients include VenSat Animation, a leader in the Indian animation industry later bought by the Reliance Group, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Shanghai International Film Festival’s Film Finance Forum, and the Asian Film Awards. David also expanded his consulting business into the Chinese mobile gaming market by adding Beijing Tongzhuo Game Technology Co. (aka Same Table Games) and EGLS Technology LTD to his list of clients, helping locate and acquire Western intellectual properties that could make successful Chinese mobile games, as well as with endorsement, sponsorship, and live event opportunities. Uslan and his partners at Persona Media, based in Shanghai and Seoul, are also acquiring the exclusive rights to manage the social media for western celebrities and brands across the top social media platforms in China and Korea. Clients include the current #1 DJ’s in the world, Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike, movie stars like Gerard Butler, television stars like Damon Wayans Jr.,and a variety of other prominent talent across film, television, music, and sports. In 2020, David began advising Legion M (Colossal, Mandy), the first media company in history designed to be owned by fans. Within the last couple years, Web3 has been a priority focus with the formation of IP3, LLC. Clients include Proof Collective’s Moonbirds, 0n1Force, GAMA.io, Heist World, and many others. IP3’s strategic partners include Macmillan, Vine Alternative Investments and Village Roadshow, KPMG, PalmNFT, Veve, Story Kitchen, ReelFX, and so many more.  Additionally, he is an independent contractor for The Third Floor, the global leader in previsualization, a former member of the board of advisors for the NAB Show, and is currently an advisory board member for the National Law Enforcement and Organized Crime Museum (The Mob Museum) in Las Vegas, San Diego Comicon and their permanent museum, and Team Prime Time, an influential afterschool organization based in Los Angeles. He also maintains strong ties to the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI) as well as the New Jersey Film Commission, where his father is currently serving as Chairman.

Uslan is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Producers Guild of America, as well as being elected to the Producer Guild of America’s China Task Force. David was awarded the 2016 Korean Culture Supporters award by KOCCA, the Korean Creative Content Agency. Recent speaking engagements include events such as CES Las Vegas, San Diego Comicon, New York Comic Con, LA Comic Con, C2E2 in Chicago, Bangkok Comic Con, Hong Kong’s FILMART, NAB Show Shanghai, The American Film Market, The International Licensing Expo, KOCCA & KOTRA related events, The Frankfurt Book Fair, Book Expo America, Digital Book World, AFCI, Anime Expo, Project Anime, and The Red Sea Film Festival. In June 2016, David had the honor of giving one of the two opening night, keynote addresses alongside his close friend, renowned Chinese director Stanley Tong, at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

Uslan is represented by William Morris Endeavor and Zuber Lawler LLP