Lackluster Pictures was founded in 2001 by Daniel Bowers and William Sawalich as a production company interested in content / character driven films.

Daniel Bowers is an award winning writer, director, and editor from Saint Louis, Mo. currently living outside of New York City. Born in Montreal, Canada in 1973, his family, originally from Missouri, moved back to Saint Louis in 1974.

After three years of university at SMSU where he studied photography and creative writing, he spent a year working aboard a cruise ship as a deckhand. He sailed from Curacao, through the West Indies to Alaska and back, writing about and photographing his experience.

Returning to Missouri, he quickly realized his desire to continue traveling. He enrolled in New World Teachers in San Francisco and received a certificate to teach English abroad. He originally planned on moving to Recife, Brazil; however, short on money for a plane ticket to Brazil, a friend convinced him San Luis Potosi, Mexico would be an option that wouldn't break the bank. Two months later he was traveling throughout the Pacific coast and central Mexico.

In 1997, he settled into a teaching job in San Luis Potosi, where he met his wife Rosy and continued to work and travel for the next six years through Central/South America and Europe. Wanting a way to document his experiences in one medium, he chose to learn filmmaking. He returned to Missouri, where he soon became a promotions producer for an ABC affiliate. He went on to work for production companies and in 2002 made "Roy", his first documentary with Bill Sawalich. In 2003, he made "Gus" which screened at festivals in Saint Louis, New York, Los Angeles, and Hot Springs.

His third film,” A. (anonymous)", a mockumentary, explores a dysfunctional support group and stars Ray Brewer.

Currently, “A. (anonymous)” is garnering critical praise on the film festival circuit and playing to packed crowds across the U.S. and abroad. The latest acceptance was into the Saint Louis International Film Festival. Bowers was voted “Myspace filmmaker of the week” by indiefilmnation.com and won the Saint Louis Gateway Critics award for Best Script.

Bowers is currently in preproduction on a new film with writer/photographer Bill Sawalich and actors Bill Chott and Ray Brewer.

William Sawalich was born and raised in Belleville, Illinois. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in photography from Bradley University and his Master's Degree from The Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA.

Sawalich has been a professional photographer and writer since 1997, when he got his start with Petersen Publishing in Los Angeles. He is currently a working commercial photographer, as well as a freelance writer and contributing editor for multiple national magazines.

In 2002, in partnership with partner Daniel Bowers, Sawalich formed Lackluster Pictures. Together the pair wrote, directed and produced their first short film, the documentary “Roy” about an audacious barber. The film went on to screen at the St. Louis Filmmaker’s Showcase and led the pair to continue their filmmaking career. Subsequent Lackluster productions included “Gus” and “A: Anonymous,” the latter winning recognition from the Gateway Critics Association for “Cleverest Script” in the 2006 St. Louis Filmmaker’s showcase and earning entry into the St. Louis International Film Festival.

In 2005, William Sawalich’s first fictional short story was published in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. The essay, titled “An Open Letter to the Squirrel Trying to Chew Its Way Through My Roof,” met with acclaim and was subsequently reprinted across the Internet. As a photography writer, Sawalich has profiled many modern masters of the medium, including Rolfe Horn, Howard Schatz and most recently Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

Sawalich’s photographs have exhibited in universities and private galleries across the country, and many are held in private collections. They can be seen in editorial and advertising uses nationwide, as well as in his online portfolio at www.sawalich.com.

He lives in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis with his two dogs, Hazel and Myra.