Marc Dahl

Enjoying the Ride

By Ronda M. Parag


Marc Dahl filming out front of the Tampa Museum of Art for the 2013 Gasparilla Music Festival.


Marc Dahl is a local filmmaker and owner of Five Studios. His most recent collaboration, the feature film Pharmboy, was the winner of the Audience Award for the Best Film in the Narrative Feature category at the 2013 Gasparilla International Film Festival. This ultra low budget film was produced in 82 days and filmed exclusively in Pasco County.

Pharmboy was a joint effort with Lawrence Feeney of Pasco Films. Dahl was the cinematographer, editor and sound designer, and Feeney was the writer and director. The duo met a couple years ago while making a short film for the 48 Hour Film Festival in Tampa/St. Petersburg.
The filmmaking industry has recently seen a revolution due to advances in digital technology. Dahl is optimistic that Five Studios can make Tampa Bay the place to continue to make narrative feature films.

Dahl followed a path of creative interests from his earliest years in school, as an artist, then a musician, which then led to the stage and theater, and eventually he headed off to college to major in film. It was on Davis Islands 12 years ago, that Dahl opened his studio offering creative services in art and design, photography, and film. His company, Five Studios, is a multimedia production studio.

"It's taken 25 years for me to go full circle and finally get back to what I originally set out to do ... make movies," says Dahl. "It's always been my true passion in life, and only now do I really feel like I am getting some traction. But, trying to make a living doing what I've always dreamed of, I'm like a dog with his head sticking out of the car window, I have no idea where I'm headed, but I'm sure enjoying the ride."

The Pharmboy movie trailer is at
vimeo.com/fivestudios/pharmboy-trailer. M