After graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology's film program, Mike traveled off to Utah with a job offer to work with Robert Redford and his Sundance Institute. Mike managed the Sundance Film Festival Press Screening Room, helmed the Sundance Outreach Program and assisted both the Screenwriter & Directors Labs. This was to be Mike's graduate school education on writing & directing - learning all the sensitive details within cinematic storytelling from Oscar award-winning advisors such as Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise) and Christopher McQuarrie (Usual Suspects, Mission Impossible franchise, and the upcoming Tom Cruise Top Gun: Maverick). Alongside his Sundance experience, he employed himself as a commercial TV copyrighter and director where he won an ADDY award for Best TV Commercial in the State of Utah. With his Sundance exp...