Meet Dave McVeigh | Creative Director/Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dave McVeigh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dave, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The thought process? Somewhere between “Why not?” and “What if this actually works?”

After growing up in Michigan, I chased the creative dream to L.A. It was high-impact, high-stress, and, eventually, not aligned with the life I wanted.

So I hit reset.

I moved to Cebu with my wife (she was starting med school in the Philippines) and daughter, thinking I’d catch my breath. But instead, I caught a business idea: build something lean, global, and creatively uncompromising. That’s how DMC was born. A motion design and content strategy studio built on Midwest values and Southeast Asian hustle.

I wanted a company that could deliver Hollywood-quality storytelling without the Hollywood overhead. One that could scale across time zones and keep the human side of the business. We’d be remote before remote was cool. We’d work with big brands but never act like one.

At the core, DMC is about freedom. Freedom to choose great projects. Freedom to raise a family without sacrificing creativity. Freedom to do great work without a lanyard.

And okay, maybe just a little bit about proving I could pull it off. Now I’m ready to bring the idea back home to Michigan!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I make content for a living: commercials, brand videos, documentaries, motion graphics. Clients like Disney, Ford, PayPal, and Nike. I love that world. The deadlines, the puzzle-solving, the challenge of turning a fuzzy brief into something sharp.

But I’ve always had a nutjob/dreamer side too. That part writes novels about Mackinac Island dudes hauling luggage and chasing mysteries. The real trick over the years has been feeding both sides without burning out.

I started in Michigan, bounced through LA, and now I run DMC from Cebu, Philippines. It’s a boutique creative agency, serving big brands and scrappy startups. It’s not always easy, but it works.

The biggest lesson? You don’t have to choose between commerce and creativity. You just have to know when to push, when to pull back, and always make space for the stuff that lights you up. For me, that’s writing novels. For others, it might be painting, filming, or inventing. Whatever it is, make room for it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
When I’m back in Michigan, which is more and more now that I split time between Southeast Asia and the US, I move around a lot. If a friend was visiting, we’d keep it moving.

We’d start in Royal Oak with a drink and some train-watching downtown. Then maybe Milford to skip stones at Kensington Metro Park and trade stories with my old buddies from the glory daze. Lately I’ve been spending time on the west side—Grand Haven, Holland—since my daughter’s starting at Hope College in August.

After that, we’d go north. Always. Mackinac Island if I’m feeling sentimental, or Frankfort for a long beach walk with my sister. If the mood hits, we’d zip across to Lake Huron and crash in one of those dirt-cheap motels somewhere between Tawas City and Alpena.

It’s not a spa week. Pack a sleeping bag. We keep moving.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
That’s an easy one. This shoutout goes to Scott, Greg, and Amy—my older siblings, creative seekers, and the original role models I looked up to while growing up in Milford, Michigan.

Long before I ever wrote a script, edited a frame, or pitched a project, I was the youngest kid tagging along behind three incredibly talented older siblings. Scott made TV. Greg made was in the music business. Amy was a writer and business leader. They weren’t just dreamers—they were doers. And they gave me permission, just by example, to believe that a creative life was possible.

More than anything, they taught me that curiosity isn’t a phase, it’s a superpower. And that if you’re lucky enough to be born into a family with a little chaos, a lot of love, and a VCR constantly playing something weird or wonderful—you’re already ahead.

So yeah. Credit where it’s due. They were the first wave. I just followed their wake. Still am, in a lot of ways.

Thanks, you three. Love you always.

Website: https://dmcmotion.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_davemcveigh/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcveigh/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davmcv1

Other: thedockporter.com
wearedirekt.com