Casey Neistat: From Connecticut Line Cook to Internet Filmmaker
Casey Neistat speaking at South by Southwest in Austin in 2017 Photo: nrkbeta / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Casey Neistat dropped out of high school at 17, worked as a dishwasher and short-order cook, and went on to sell a TV series to HBO, make one of the most widely shared branded films on the internet, and sell a start-up to CNN. He did much of it with a camera he held himself.
Neistat was born March 25, 1981, in Gales Ferry, Connecticut. His father, Barry, sold commercial kitchen appliances, and his parents later ran the Muddy Waters Cafe in New London. He left school during his sophomore year. At 17 he became a father to a son, Owen, and from 1998 to 2001 the young family lived in a trailer park while he worked in Connecticut kitchens. He then moved to New York City.
From a viral complaint to HBO
In 2001 Neistat and his brother Van started making short films with the artist Tom Sachs, documenting his sculptures and installations. Neistat’s own name reached a wider audience in September 2003, when he posted iPod’s Dirty Secret, a film criticizing Apple for having no battery replacement program for the device. Apple announced a replacement policy that November. The company denied any link to the film.
His 2004 work Science Experiments was shown at the São Paulo Biennial. In July 2008 HBO bought The Neistat Brothers for just under $2 million. The eight-episode autobiographical series, written and directed by the brothers, premiered June 4, 2010.
YouTube and a world-trip commercial
Neistat started his YouTube channel in February 2010. A 2011 short, Bike Lanes, followed a $50 ticket he received for riding outside a bike lane, and Time named it one of the year’s top creative videos. In April 2012 he made Make It Count for Nike. He spent the production budget on a trip around the world instead of a conventional shoot, and the resulting film spread widely online.
On March 26, 2015, he began posting daily vlogs. He paused the daily schedule from November 2016 to March 2017 to work on short films. GQ named him its New Media Star in September 2016.
Beme, CNN and 368
With Matt Hackett, Neistat co-founded Beme, a smartphone app that launched July 17, 2015, and recorded unedited four-second videos. CNN acquired the company in November 2016, reportedly for $25 million. The app shut down Jan. 31, 2017, and on Jan. 25, 2018, Neistat and Hackett announced they were parting ways with CNN.
In April 2018 he announced 368, a creative space for online video makers in New York. Its closure was announced Feb. 16, 2024. From May 2018 to April 2019 he also hosted a podcast, Couples Therapy, with his wife, Candice Pool. The two married Dec. 29, 2013, in Cape Town, South Africa. He moved to Los Angeles in May 2019 and returned to New York in September 2022.
In 2022 he released Under the Influence, a documentary about the YouTuber David Dobrik, which premiered at South by Southwest. He is also part of the ownership group of Angel City FC, a National Women’s Soccer League club, and has run a marathon in 2:57 and finished three Ironman triathlons.
Public positions
Neistat has not avoided politics. In October 2016 he posted a video urging online creators to support Hillary Clinton, and he drew criticism for saying that creators who stayed out were partly responsible for Donald Trump’s rise. In 2019 he said he should have been more diplomatic. He describes himself as a secular Jew and has spoken publicly in support of Israel, including in a video on antisemitism released in October 2023. That advocacy has drawn both praise and criticism.
Sources: Wikipedia’s Casey Neistat entry.
