Michael M. McGuire, Founder
Michael, a Wisconsin native, attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he earned his BA in History and Theatre/Drama, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and served as the UW’s Pre-Law Society President for two terms. There, he made his professional stage debut as the swing fighter in the Madison Repertory Theatre’s production of The Three Musketeers. Despite a summer interning for U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), law school plans slipped into oblivion and show business became Michael’s primary pursuit.
After spending two years acting in regional theatre, Michael moved to New York, where he appeared in numerous theatre productions, many short films, and in television on “Law & Order: SVU” and the History Channel’s hit series, “Breaking Vegas.” Michael also found work as a fight choreographer and served many stage and screen productions, most notably a series of sword combat sequences for the 2006 Columbus Day Parade.
Over time, Michael’s passion for storytelling evolved into writing, directing, and producing, and while working as an Associate Producer for Loosely Translated Productions, creating industrials, commercials, and event videos for clients such as Time, Inc. and Entertainment Weekly, Michael applied to the AFI’s graduate producing program, and was accepted.
Prior to relocating to the west coast, Michael was chosen from a nationwide search by Microsoft as one of four members of their “Eco Trip,” a national tour during which he and his three colleagues traveled the US by train and bike creating a video blog about environmental activities as a way to promote MSN, environmental awareness, and the 2007 Live Earth Concerts.
At AFI, Michael produced numerous short films on various formats (DV, HD, 16mm, 35mm) while interning at Andrew Lauren Productions (The Squid and the Whale) and Relativity Media (Wanted, 3:10 to Yuma). He was elected by his peers at AFI as their 2nd Year Class Representative, and became the only Producing Fellow in his year to be the sole screenwriter and producer of a thesis film.
Other recent work includes writing and directing two award-winning short films, working as a screenplay analyst for Relativity Media, freelance production consulting, and developing several feature-length projects for Organically Grown Productions. |
