I’m Dime Davis — Emmy-nominated filmmaker. My work lives where character meets chaos, truth hides in humor, and genre gets bent — because life does, too.
Just the facts
Director, writer, and showrunner “extraordinaire.” My television credits include A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO), Abbott Elementary (ABC), The First Lady (Showtime), Boomerang (BET), and Modern Love (Amazon), among others. Most recently, I served as Co-Executive Producer on Showtime’s upcoming surrealist drama Hollyweird.
I’ve directed campaigns for Google, Old Spice, Nissan, Disney, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and more. My work - both narrative and nonfiction - has shown up at places like Sundance and the Los Angeles Film Festival, and occasionally walks away with a shiny thing.
At the heart of it all, I’m building worlds that feel alive, emotionally layered, and just off-kilter enough to crack something open.
What you won’t see on IMDb
Here’s the part that’s harder to list: what I brought to each project — not just the credit, but the care. The tone I helped shape, the heart I poured in, and the moments that still stick with me. It’s the magic I try to bring to every single frame.
I’ve worked on a lot of things I’m proud of — here are a few that left a mark:
-
I directed every episode of Season 1 — more than 50 sketches. It was fast, bold, genre-bending work, and I loved the challenge of treating each sketch like a mini movie, building full cinematic worlds from just a few pages of dialogue. I shaped the show’s visual language and led an extraordinary team through beautiful chaos (with not much money). The work was historic, the pace was relentless, and the end result earned me two Emmy nominations — but more than that, it showed me what’s possible when comedy, craft, and culture collide.
Oh — and I had the absolute honor of directing a truly stacked cast: Angela Bassett, Issa Rae, Natasha Rothwell, Elle Lorraine, and more.
-
I started as the pilot director and ended up running the show. As Showrunner and Executive Producer, Season 2 was mine to shape — I wrote, directed, and helped reimagine the series from the ground up. We took big swings — in tone, in structure, in the filmmaking — and it’s where I learned how to lead, how to build trust, how to pivot without panic. It taught me I could hold space for both comedy and pain — and make something that feels honest, layered, and gloriously rough around the edges.
-
I return to this one season after season — and every time, it feels like joy. It’s a sharp, heartfelt show with real cultural weight, and contributing to that feels both meaningful and electric. On paper, it’s a mega-hit. In practice, it’s one of the most grounded, generous sets I’ve ever been on... and all the Emmys and Golden Globes in the world haven’t touched that spirit.
-
When I'm not on set, I'm in a writer's room. I had the honor of writing the arc for Michelle Obama, brought to life by the incomparable Viola Davis. It was about capturing both the public icon and the private woman — shaping a narrative that felt intimate and historic all at once. As a Black woman writing the story of the first Black First Lady, this one meant something deeper. I carried that responsibility with care.
Together, the writers wove three portraits of American womanhood — with Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt. It pushed me to stretch my voice across timelines and perspectives, and trust that if you start from something true, good writing can find its way into lives far from your own.
-
A short documentary I directed for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art — and one that holds a special place in my heart. My creative partner and I were the first to capture artist Mark Bradford’s process on film, and we structured the piece to mirror the way he works: abstract, layered, tactile. It’s a film about finding beauty in the discarded. About being an artist. About living on the edge of the mainstream. It’s personal. It’s weird. It feels like home. (And it made its way to Sundance, which was nice too.)
Word on the street
A few kind words about the work — from folks who've seen it, written about it, or shouted it from the rooftops.
SHOOT | Dime Davis Joins Merman For Branded Content and Advertising Collaborations
NPR | 'A Black Lady Sketch Show' Is TV 'We'd Never Seen Before,' Says Dime Davis
People Magazine | First-Time Emmy Nominee Dime Davis Talks Making History
KCRW “THE TREATMENT” | Dime Davis: ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’ (Podcast)
GOLD DERBY | Dime Davis on her historic Emmy Noms and Why The Series Felt So ‘Freeing’ (Video)
THE CREDITS | Director Dime Davis on Making Emmy History
ESSENCE | Rooting For Everybody Black At The 2020 Emmys
VARIETY | ABLSS Cast and Director Discuss Historic Impact of the Show (Video)
Let’s make something.
I love telling good stories — especially when I get to do it with good humans. Reach out if you’ve got something brewing.
GRANDVIEW | NARRATIVE
Merideth Bajana | merideth@grandviewla.com
Gabrielle Lewis | gabrielle@grandviewla.com
MERMAN | COMMERCIAL
Kira Carstensen (US) | kira@hellomerman.com
Siobhan Murphy (UK) | siobhan@hellomerman.com
NARRATIVE PR | PRESS
Megan Moss Pachon | Megan@narrative-pr.com
Liz Mahoney | Liz@narrative-pr.com