Neil began his career as a journalist winning the National College Emmy during his junior year at the University of Detroit. After that he went on to be a reporter for Nickelodeon and ESPN and Network News Producer. Neil was the Producer of the O.J. Simpson Criminal Trial for ABC News. Eventually Neil decided Filmmaking was what he wanted to do so in September of 1995 he wrote, produced, directed and starred in the critically acclaimed indie flick Hijacking Hollywood (1997). Neil has continued directing feature films and short films for the cinema and television. Over the years he has won a variety of awards including the Audience Award for Best Picture at the 1997 Austin Film Festival and an Emmy award for his Producing efforts with NBC at the 2000 summer Olympics in Australia and 50 top film festival awards for his buddy picture, Last Stop for Paul. In 2001 he and his brother Michael merged their two production companies to form Mandt Bros. Productions. Since then they have created series television for Showtime, E!, ESPN, SyFy, ABC, Disney, PAX, Fox Sports and Food Network, amongst others. In 2015, Neil partnered with executive Gordon Whitener and launched MANDT VR, an immersive media company that specializes in augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. The shingle inked a global partnership with PodcastOne to be their exclusive producer of 360 content creation as well as additional content deals with Forbes, the Pittsburgh Steelers, IndyCar, Major League Lacrosse, College Football Playoff, and Disney to name a few.
