Born in Providence, Rhode Island and raised in Santa Rosa, California, Daniel sold his first project, a modern adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to TriStar Pictures® when he was 18-years-old.  At age 22, he wrote the screenplay for RAV’E’ (1994), which was financed by Smart Egg Pictures® [producers of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)], and at 24, he was hired by the late Moustapha Akkad to write the sixth film in the enduring Halloween® saga, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995). 

Daniel also co-wrote the screenplays for The Tooth Fairy (2006) and for Moderncine’s adaptation of The Girl Next Door (2007), based on the acclaimed (and highly-controversial) novel by Jack Ketchum. 

As a writer and producer, he has sold feature film and television projects to Touchstone®, Fox®, NuImage® and Miramax Films®.  Daniel also helmed The History Channel’s® two-part "Amityville Horror" specials ("Amityville: The Haunting" and "Amityville: Horror or Hoax") and served as director and co-executive producer of  His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of 'Friday the 13th' (2009). 

Additionally, Daniel served as editor and co-publisher of the book "Crystal Lake Memories- The Complete History of 'Friday the 13th'" and produced and directed Paramount Home Entertainment’s® special editions of Friday the 13th: Parts 4-8, which won Home Media Magazine's® 2009 Reaper Award for "Best Horror Re-Release." 

Most recently, he produced Lionsgate’s® supernatural horror film, The Haunting in Connecticut (2009), starring Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen, which has grossed more than $80 million worldwide. 

In 2010, Daniel co-directed and produced the critically-acclaimed documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010), a four-hour retrospective on the Nightmare on Elm Street® saga, which will air on A&E®/The Biography Channel® in October.