Dan Savage is a writer, TV personality, and activist best known for his political and social commentary, as well as his honest approach to sex, love and relationships. Savage's sex advice column, "Savage Love," is syndicated in newspapers and websites throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. He is the Editorial Director of The Stranger, Seattle's weekly alternative newspaper, and his writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Rolling Stone, The Onion, and on Salon.com. Savage is also the author of several books, including: Savage Love; The Kid: What Happened When My Boyfriend and I Decided to Get Pregnant (PEN West Award for Creative Nonfiction, Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction); Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America; and The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage and My Family. In his latest bestselling book American Savage, Dan shares his insights on topics ranging from marriage, parenting and the gay agenda to the Catholic Church and sex education. It's Dan's frank and open discussions on such topics that had Publisher's Weekly rave why he is, "America's most in-your-face sex columnist and gay rights activist." In addition to his appearances on CNN, MSNBC, and The Colbert Report, Savage is a contributor to Ira Glass's This American Life, and has appeared on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, and ABC's 20/20. Savage is a frequent and popular speaker on college campuses across the United States and Canada. In September 2010, Savage created a YouTube video with his husband Terry Miller to inspire hope for LGBT young people facing harassment. In response to a number of students taking their own lives, Savage and Miller wanted to create a personal message to let LGBT youth know that "it gets better". Today, the It Gets Better Project has become a global movement, inspiring more than 50,000 It Gets Better videos viewed over 50 million times. The It Gets Better book, co-edited by Savage and Miller, was published in March 2011, and an MTV documentary special, It Gets Better, aired in February 2012. Dan Savage grew up in Chicago and now lives in Seattle, Washington with his husband Terry Miller and their son, DJ.
Read moreShow less
Biography from IMDb.
- October 7, 1964 (62)
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Actor, producer and writer
- 7 on MovieCove · 11 credits in all
What are Dan Savage's films like?
Across their 10 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 6
Light 2 · Serious 3 · Dark 1
Grounded 6 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
Gentle 4 · Charged 2 · Intense 0
Steady 6 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 5 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 6 · Even-paced 0 · Relentless 0
Casual 3 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 2 · Affecting 3 · Heavy 1
Resolved 6 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet5
- Tragic1
- Ambiguous1
- Cyclical2
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Dan Savage's films?
As of October 24, 2026, all 7 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Dan Savage's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
11 credits, 7 with a MovieCove page; 12 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Spoiler Alert(2022)
Midcredits score: 89th percentile of all films
Jimmy in Saigon(2022)
Midcredits score: 81st percentile of all films
The Premise (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
Ghosts of the République(2020)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Couples Therapy(2019)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all shows
The Real O'Neals(2016)
Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all shows
Generation X(2016)
Midcredits score: 69th percentile of all shows
It Gets Better (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2012)
Portlandia(2011)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all shows
The Adults in the Room (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)
This American Life - Return to the Scene of the Crime (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2009)
Career shape
A full career of 7 titles from 2009 to 2022.
Awards
Nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2012, Outstanding Children's Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Program.
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Dan Savage's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 89th percentile, the median of all 3; across their 6 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 78th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up5
- 50th to 74th2
Shape of the crowd
3 of their 7 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Loved with Detractors1
- Crowd Pleaser3
- Mixed2
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.