Dan Mace joins Beast Philanthropy team as Chief Creative Officer

Dan Mace is ready to inject a high-class directing style into Beast Philanthropy videos. After meeting with Jimmy Donaldson in his hometown of Greenville, North Carolina, Mace has agreed to become the Chief Creative Officer of Donaldson’s charitable channel.

In the YouTube community, Mace is sometimes described as the protege of Casey Neistat. While Mace does utilize a lot of Neistat’s signature vlogging techniques within his videos — including text overlays and snappy cuts — he is also an award-winning filmmaker in his own right.

Neistat introduced Mace to Donaldson, and about a year later, Donaldson reached back out to ask Mace about the quality of the Beast Philanthropy videos. “Honestly, the philanthropy videos have been lacking,” Donaldson said. He offered Mace the chance to “take the lead on a video.”

Before accepting Donaldson’s offer, Mace studied previous Beast Philanthropy content to identify areas where the videos could be improved. He told Donaldson to reduce the number of cameras used in each shoot, incorporate a fully-scored soundtrack, and shift the focus away from entertainment. “The objective of the channel is to create a long-term conversation between the viewers and the work,” Mace said.

Mace put these ideas into action in his home country of South Africa. He and Donaldson traveled to a township to rebuild an orphanage that was in danger of shutting down. Donaldson was so pleased with Mace’s work that he offered the filmmaker a new position: Chief Creative Officer of Beast Philanthropy.

Donaldson is known for working alongside other YouTube stars as he films his videos. He let Ludwig upload a MrBeast video after deeming it unsuitable for his own channel, and he brought Dream to Antarctica shortly after the Minecraft storyteller revealed his face to his fans.

Mace came on the Antarctica trip as a cameraman. Now that he’s a full-timer at Beast Philanthropy, he’ll get to work on some projects that are a little…warmer. Every video that he shoots for MrBeast’s charitable hub will support beneficial organizations, including Donaldson’s own food pantry in North Carolina.