Michael was raised by his mother and grandparents. They lived together in a house on top of a valley with a stream that ran through it. Grandpa would rent videotapes from the local pharmacy and with some tweaking on the camcorder was able to create his own library. This catalog became Michael’s 2nd favorite pastime after riding BMX bikes in the dirt alley down the street.

After moving away with a brief pit stop in Baltimore, he landed on the shores of Annapolis, Maryland and found some other adventurers to make his own videos with. His best friend’s dad introduced him to the local art Cinema and that had a huge influence. He and his friend started to make videos the recurring theme in these works was usually someone having a crazy ass dream and then waking up.

This seemed more like a way to kill time until the director of Willy Wonka came to town to screen his work. This being the most watched film from grandpa’s collection Michael found his way into having breakfast with him.

The director gave him some advice and so Michael was convinced to live the rest of his life “In a world of pure imagination”.

He spent his remaining reality lifeguarding for the summer and then got on the Chinatown bus to NYC.

He began working for Filmmaker Larry Fessenden and was introduced to an amazing artistic community from which he learned amongst other things how to create unique stories and share them with others.