Michael's interest in film began in elementary school when he would run
the film projectors for both classroom and extra curricular presentations.
In 1975, the family moved to Southern California and Michael became
passionately involved in the theater department at school. After borrowing a
book on theatrical lighting design from the theater's library, he began designing the lighting
for the many stage productions that were produced throughout the school year. At age
16 he formed his first lighting company, and began performing
production services for community groups, restaurants, and schools in
his area. Michael went on to study theatre arts and lighting design in college.
In 1983 he took over the management of a small LA based stage lighting
rental house which provided production services for theater,
concerts, and corporate special events. In 1992, Michael moved
to the Hollywood area and befriended a cinematographer who was
interested in his theatrical background for shooting music
videos. After purchasing a couple of light meters, he had now found a
whole new genre of lighting; Motion Picture Set Lighting. Because of his management
capabilities, and vast experience in lighting design, he succeeded in
set lighting quickly. Soon he was gaffing music videos, small
commercials, and ENG shoots. When the opportunity to work on independent low budget features came along,
Michael enjoyed the opportunity to learn from experience through narrative film making.
In 1997 one of those films turned union in the middle of production,
and his career in film took a dramatic change. Now a new member of
IATSE Local 728, he could work on the largest productions in Hollywood.
Michael began working on the rigging crews of some of Hollywood's biggest studio movies. This
experience turned out to be exactly the training necessary to prepare Michael
for gaffing larger movies. There is nowhere in the non-union
world to learn how the big studio movies are lit, so the rigging crew
was the key to advancement. Rigging Gaffer jobs presented
themselves first, and eventually opportunities for First Unit Gaffer.
Working now with many world renowned cinematographers, Michael continues to this day to enjoy storytelling through the magic of light!
