Biography
Writer, producer, director Greg Olliver was born on the high plains of Texas and raised on the mean streets of New York City.
From LEMMY, the 2010 acclaimed rock doc about Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, to the 2020 release of Jack Daniel's CHASING WHISKEY - Greg has spent a decade crafting honest, compelling stories about iconic musicians, war heroes, major brands and everything in between for feature documentaries, narrative films and short-form branded content work.
Through Secret Weapon Films, the production he founded in 2007, Greg is currently in development on a Lemmy Kilmister/ Motorhead narrative biopic and a feature documentary about Raoul's Restaurant in Soho, New York. Greg also directs branded content for Courageous Studios with recent work that includes AT&T, PFIZER, SAMSUNG, TUMS, INVESCO and more.
After graduating from The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan in 1996, Greg worked his way up the NY film production ladder as a PA, Location Scout, Location Manager, Production Manager and Producer, while honing his directing skills on music videos and promos. Greg then directed & produced multiple episodes of music and sports-related shows for Fuel TV, a pilot for MTV, live concert clips for Motorhead, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Burning Spear, and two Boogie Woogie piano concerts featuring the great Bob Seeley and Mr. B.
In 2007, Greg began work on a highly acclaimed documentary, a portrait of the godfather of heavy metal, and lead singer of Motorhead; Lemmy Kilmister. "Lemmy" premiered at SXSW 2010, has screened at dozens of film festivals including BFI London, Sydney Intl Film Fest, Fantasia in Montreal and won best film at the 2010 In-Edit/Chile Film Festival. It has been certified gold in four countries for selling more than 25,000 copies. A feature film career was born out of the heavy-metal fire of the "Lemmy" film, and Greg never looked back.
In 2011 Greg directed and produced "Devoured", a psychological thriller/horror set in New York starring Marta Milans, and a documentary titled "Turned Towards the Sun", a portrait of 97 year old bi-sexual British WWII hero, Michael Burn MC. "Turned Towards the Sun" was nominated for the Grierson / Best Documentary Award at the 2012 BFI London Film Festival.
In 2014 Greg's 2nd rock-documentary, "Johnny Winter: Down & Dirty", was released. It is the definitive portrait of Texas blues legend Johnny Winter. In 2015 Greg was commissioned to direct, produce and shoot a Tru TV tour special with the Impractical Jokers.
In late 2016 Greg was commissioned by Jack Daniel's to co-write, produce, direct, edit and narrate their definitive feature documentary. He was given unprecedented access to the world's biggest whiskey brand, its employees, the distillery in Tennessee where every drop of the whiskey is made... and traveled from Lynchburg to Los Angeles to Iceland to Scotland to Japan to Cuba and beyond to find out what makes whiskey such a romanticized drink, and what makes Jack Daniel's such a big seller. The film features appearances by John Grisham, Tina Sinatra, Erik Church, and also Shooter Jennings who created the original soundtrack with musicians including Matt Sorum (Guns & Roses) help make this film a whiskey-soaked adventure of epic proportions.
