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Filmmaker and entertainment executive David McFarland ’84 has developed several major brands on both coasts. His brand, he says, is “breaking down barriers, changing attitudes and finding new, innovative ways of doing business.”  

Growing up in Maryland, McFarland was “a kid who sat in front of the TV and recited commercials. I was always fascinated by the world of Hollywood.” 

After graduating from �һ�������Ƶ Dominion University with a degree in sports medicine, he sold ads in football and basketball programs for historically Black colleges and universities. Next, he started a neighborhood newspaper, Columbia Road, in Washington, D.C.  

“But it didn’t feel natural to me,” McFarland said. “Film and video were in my DNA. That’s when I decided to transition to TV.” 

He moved back to Hampton Roads in 1986 as an advertising sales director for Cox Media. “We were pioneering cable with niche audiences,” McFarland said. He believes he was the first ad executive to sell a spot to McDonald’s on cable TV. 

From there, he went to New York in 1996 to help build Comedy Central in its early years as corporate director of affiliate advertising sales. “I wasn’t there six to eight months before I was heavily recruited by Disney to relaunch Lifetime Television,” he said. 

So, McFarland moved to California to serve as vice president for Lifetime “to help reinvent the network, particularly on the advertising, distribution and marketing side.” It went to No. 1. More important, McFarland said, “we were really breaking down barriers and creating new programming for women,” emphasizing issues such as violence against women and breast cancer.  

He took a break from entertainment to get into real estate investment and finance. “I started helping people realize ways to build their wealth outside Wall Street. Many of them are multimillionaires today with tons of real estate assets.”  

McFarland now leads two companion businesses – DLM Entertainment Group and DLM Impact Partners. The former develops film and TV productions focusing on sports and entertainment.

Perhaps its most notable release was highlighting the struggles faced by LGBTQ+ athletes. The film headlined Virginia’s first Queer Film Festival, held at �һ�������Ƶ last year, and has been screened across the world on campuses and with sports leagues. 

“It had a profound effect on those athletes in the film who were coming out,” McFarland said. One told him: “If I had not been part of your film, I don’t know if I’d still be alive.”  

McFarland describes DLM Impact Partners as a “social impact consulting firm.”

“I work with big entertainment companies and sports leagues to incorporate stories around the LGBTQ+ population, mental health and suicide prevention in responsible ways,” on shows and series from “American Idol” to “A Million Little Things,” he said. 

He also represents clients “on and off the field,” including transgender skier Jay Riccomini and Isaac Humphries, an Australian who is the first openly gay player in a major basketball league. McFarland seeks to merge the work of his companies by taking the stories of some clients to film and TV. 

He has served as CEO and chair of The Trevor Project, which seeks to prevent suicide among LGBTQ+ youth, and was instrumental in adding an LGBTQ+ component to the federal government’s suicide prevention plan.  

McFarland sees progress in the growth of “story lines that people can watch to know there are LGBTQ+ people living among us. When I was growing up, there was no representation on TV.” 

But he added: “The cultural narrative and political rhetoric is going backwards against LGBTQ+ people. It’s very dangerous in certain states and countries around the world, and it remains a huge mountain to climb.”