Mike the Filmmaker

Mike’s Filmmaking Adventure

Michael Montgomery entered the University of Southern California’s Graduate Film Production program in 2006, and via his eventual Master’s degree and thesis project entitled The Garden, he hopes to accomplish his goal of directing larger-budget feature length films.

Although his true passion is to work as a director, from the very beginning of his career Michael understood that to become a good director meant he would need to learn all the other many facets, creative or otherwise, of the art of filmmaking.  Striving to stand apart from the multitudes of filmmakers Michael has produced numerous short films, music videos, and three graduate thesis projects.

He produced his first graduate thesis film, Chain, in April 2006, just four months after arriving in Los Angeles. He worked three months later as the Assistant Director for another graduate thesis, Believe It. And in December 2006, he was named as one of ten finalists in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker Award Competition, and produced the 50-second short film Sleepy Time with director Beth Spitalny.

Although Sleepy Time did not win, two years later Michael won the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker Award in 2009! He produced and Jerome Sable directed Meanwhile…, which played in over 20,000 theaters nationwide during previews.

Michael also produced the thesis projects, Solija and Head In The Sand, both in 2007. He has worked in production on several other projects outside of school. Most notably, in July 2006 he was the Unit Production Manager for Equal Opportunity, which was chosen as the winner of NBC’s Short Cuts Film Festival; and from April – June 2008, he worked as Production Manager on the SAG low-budget feature The Things We Carry. When he’s not producing or working as a manager, Michael often helps as a First Assistant Director. At USC, he has AD’d five graduate thesis films, three of them in 2009.

And now, after years of effort and dedication to other projects, he’s ready to dedicate himself to his own thesis project, The Garden. It is a story he hopes to one day tell in epic proportions, a story which is close to his heart, one he hopes will positively resonate within thinking minds.