Michael Howard (filmmaker)

Michael Howard (born Feb 18, 1978) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, and founder of the film company Invisible Productions.

Background
Howard's acting career began at a young age when he made an appearance on Snowball Satellite TV in Germany and acted in the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas play in middle school. He attended High School at Charles M. Russell High School and was in numerous choirs and did some acting as well. After High School, he was premed in college pursuing a degree in biology in Alaska and became an Emergency medical technician and worked in an emergency room. He landed a lead role in a local play and then after receiving an associate degree from the University of Alaska, Howard promptly quit medicine and started studying filmmaking and acting. In 1998, he read and reviewed scripts for American Zoetrope while writing his first screenplay, Reality of Life. Howard then got his Bachelors degree in Recording Arts at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and created his own indie film company by the name of Invisible Productions. His company has produced short films, documentaries, and features.

Career
While studying medicine in Alaska, Howard landed a starring role in Jugger's Rain and Tony n' Tina's Wedding which eventually led into his film career. While making films, Howard continued acting in the theatre at times with Theatreworks in Colorado in roles for To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear.

One of Howard's early short films entitled Lost garnered him awards for Best Actor at the 2004 Biarritz International Short Film Festival and Best Screenplay at the 2004 Festival de Cine Internacional de Barcelona. He was also nominated for Best Actor and Best Film at the New York Short Film Festival and Best Performance at the San Francisco Short Film Festival.

His first feature film was that of his first screenplay, Reality of Life. Howard also directed it and took on a supporting actor role and the film went on to play in Los Angeles and New York.



In 2007, Howard was brought onto the Vail Film Festival by Sean Cross and Scott Cross to be the official videographer for the festival and to shoot and edit the festival including promotions, award ceremonies, parties, screenings, red carpet, and interviews. Howard handles the still photography and videography throughout the festival. This also led to editing commercials for Comcast cable including promotions for companies including Cadillac, Stella Artois, and Audi. He continues in the position presently.

Howard created a commercial for Canon that advertised the XL-1. A parody on drug addiction, the commercial showed a camera being borrowed for a short time from a dealer in an alley and as soon as a customer starts running around using it, it is stolen by another camera junkie. In 2008, Howard was invited into the worldwide photography project called The Head Project. Photographers received a mannequin head in the mail to use for two weeks and then sent it to a photographer in a different country. Howard was one of the few chosen from the United States and the only artist from the state of North Carolina.

Due to his success with the Vail Film Festival, Howard was brought onto the Los Cabos International Film Festival as the official videographer for their inaugural edition. It launched in Los Cabos from 14 to 17 November 2012 with Edward Norton as the official festival adviser.

Howard co-directed the 2012 Hint Fiction Film Contest with actor/host Bill LeVasseur, based on the published collection of short stories also entitled Hint Fiction. The contest finalists screened at the Vail Film Festival and Howard and LeVasseur spoke about the contest and filmmaking in the short form afterward. The contest gave aspiring filmmakers a chance to work with stories written by Ernest Hemingway, Édith Piaf, or Eric Hsu in creating their 60-second film. Howard brought on writer/filmmaker Kevin Smith and filmmaker/photographer Tao Ruspoli to be celebrity judges for the contest.

Howard wrote and directed his second feature film entitled Where We're Meant to Be and it stars Blayne Weaver (Manic, Return to Never Land), Tate Hanyok (The Mentalist, Shameless), and Sarah Bousquet. The film travels in and out of the lives of a number of different characters as each one connects to the next during their most pivotal moments. It began its festival run in 2016 and was picked up for distribution by Turn Key Films in 2017. During its festival run, the film won multiple Best Film awards as well as awards for Best Screenplay, Audience Award, and various awards for its castmembers. The film also garnered additional nominations for Best Film and a variety of acting roles. The score was written by Steven Grove and the soundtrack consists of songs from Greg Laswell, Cary Brothers, Jack the Radio, Day at the Fair, Buddy (band), Tom Rosenthal (musician), Butterfly Boucher, and other indie artists from around the world. It was released in the United States and the United Kingdom via Flix Premiere in July 2017. Reviews consisted of lines such as "A thoughtful, beautiful film full of love and emotion…it might just change how you see the world.", "...bravely written script with heartfelt dialogue as well as compelling character development.", “An inventive and exciting approach to storytelling.”, and "Where We're Meant to Be is an indie gem.".