As a self-taught filmmaker and musician, David Markey directed, produced, edited, and photographed most of his films, the majority of which have been self-funded. His work is also noted as documenting the punk scene in Southern California throughout the 1980s, growing to find a larger audience in the 1990s while continuing to produce work throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Markey has worked with
Sonic Youth,
Nirvana, spawning Markey's cinematic
Super-8 cult punk scene document
The Slog Movie in 1982. Following closely behind was
Desperate Teenage Lovedolls (1984) Theatrical screenings of his work have taken place in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Tuscan and elsewhere. His 2008 documentary
The Reinactors was included in international film festivals in Argentina, England, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Portugal, Angola, China, Korea, Italy and The Netherlands. David Markey has appeared in the documentary films
American Hardcore and
We Jam Econo. Markey was interviewed for the
20th Century Fox re-release of
Russ Meyer's
Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls Special Edition DVD in 2006. He played a bouncer in the 2007 film
What We Do Is Secret. He is also seen as an uncredited extra in
Suburbia (1983) and
Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1985). In October 2012, he became a published author as
Bazillion Points released the book ''We Got Power: Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980's Southern California, The book's release was timed with a gallery retrospective of the duo's photos from the early 1980s to the early 1990s entitled "We Survived The Pit" at Track 16 Gallery in
Santa Monica, blocks away from where Markey and Schwartz grew up. == Critical reception ==