Mark Bashian grew up in Northern Virginia outside of Washington, D.C. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Business Management in 2000 and then toured with his band "Java Soup" as the lead vocalist and guitar player. After touring with his band, Bashian worked as a Stockbroker on the East coast before moving to Los Angeles in 2004. In 2005, Bashian started Bash Films, a full-service production company specializing in theatrical, commercial, non-profit, and event video productions. In 2007, Bashian's directing work was hand picked by Steven Spielberg and he was a featured finalist for the FOX show "On the Lot" which earned him a first-look deal with Dreamworks. In addition to his on-going media endeavors Bashian has consulted, written curriculum, and taught at a variety of entertainment related institutions.
He was a casting semi-finalist for the original season of "The
Apprentice" while working as a stockbroker in Northern Virginia.
In 2007 he submitted a concept trailer for Spielberg's reality show "On
The Lot." This trailer, in addition to Bashian's additional
submissions, were hand picked by Spielberg to be among the 50 Finalists
from over 12,000 submissions worldwide.