By: Mike Cohen
Source: http://www.jewishtribune.ca
Category: Film School Online
MONTREAL – When Michael Greenspan decided to move to Hollywood in 2000 to pursue a career as a filmmaker he had no idea what the future would hold.
Having just completed a film production program at York University in Toronto, where he had two award-winning student films under his belt, Greenspan figured that if he really wanted to make movies, he better go where movies were made.
He proceeded to pack up his life in his Toyota Tercel and drove from the Montreal island suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux to Los Angeles.
Greenspan actually relocated to LA with his friend and fellow Montrealer Jamie Elman, an actor who starred in the popular teen show Student Bodies.
Greenspan happened to meet a professor from the famed American Film Institute who encouraged him to apply. He was accepted into the prestigious program as a Directing Fellow, where he filmed a 25-minute award-winning short The Legend of Razorback starring Kevin McCarthy.
To pay the rent he taught an advanced film animation class for students age 6 to 12. He has shot more than 300 stop-motion animation shorts and still teaches a class on early Jewish settlement in America.
Greenspan’s big break came when he and Chris Dodd, whom he had met in film school, co-wrote the now critically acclaimed movie Wrecked, starring Academy-Award-winning actor Adrien Brody as a man who wakes up in a wrecked car in the bottom of a ravine, covered in blood, with a broken leg and suffering from temporary amnesia.
Shooting for Wrecked took place in Vancouver and he is back in British Columbia again completing post-production on his yet untitled project, another thriller starring Katie Cassidy (Nightmare on Elm Street, Monte Carlo), Tracy Spiridakos (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Donal Logue (Blade, Zodiac), just wrapped in Victoria, BC. The film is produced by Independent Edge.
“Wrecked was grueling to make,” Greenspan says. “We shot for 18 torturous days, but it was the best experience of my life. With that success behind me, I’m happy to change gears a bit but to be working with the same fantastic and supportive team.”
Greenspan is once again partnered with Dodd on this project, the script for which he actually bought from Sony Pictures and totally rewrote. He plans to deliver a completed product by April, with a theatrical release aimed at the fall. The movie focuses on two female college roommates whose lives take an unexpected dark and deadly detour.
“The concept is really intriguing,” said Greenspan, who has been in BC since last July with his wife Shanti and their young son Jake. “I think this is the type of movie that will get people talking and will make moviegoers stop and think about what they would do in a similar situation.”
When Wrecked first debuted, Greenspan went around the world to promote it. One such stop was in Abu Dhabi.
“I don’t know if they were aware I was Jewish,” he said. “What an experience that was! They even gave me my own butler.”
Greenspan attended United Talmud Torahs Elementary and Herzliah High School while growing up in Montreal. His family still lives here, no doubt proud of the career he has carved for himself.
Source: http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5275&Itemid=53
Source: http://www.jewishtribune.ca
Category: Film School Online
MONTREAL – When Michael Greenspan decided to move to Hollywood in 2000 to pursue a career as a filmmaker he had no idea what the future would hold.
Having just completed a film production program at York University in Toronto, where he had two award-winning student films under his belt, Greenspan figured that if he really wanted to make movies, he better go where movies were made.
He proceeded to pack up his life in his Toyota Tercel and drove from the Montreal island suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux to Los Angeles.
Greenspan actually relocated to LA with his friend and fellow Montrealer Jamie Elman, an actor who starred in the popular teen show Student Bodies.
Greenspan happened to meet a professor from the famed American Film Institute who encouraged him to apply. He was accepted into the prestigious program as a Directing Fellow, where he filmed a 25-minute award-winning short The Legend of Razorback starring Kevin McCarthy.
To pay the rent he taught an advanced film animation class for students age 6 to 12. He has shot more than 300 stop-motion animation shorts and still teaches a class on early Jewish settlement in America.
Greenspan’s big break came when he and Chris Dodd, whom he had met in film school, co-wrote the now critically acclaimed movie Wrecked, starring Academy-Award-winning actor Adrien Brody as a man who wakes up in a wrecked car in the bottom of a ravine, covered in blood, with a broken leg and suffering from temporary amnesia.
Shooting for Wrecked took place in Vancouver and he is back in British Columbia again completing post-production on his yet untitled project, another thriller starring Katie Cassidy (Nightmare on Elm Street, Monte Carlo), Tracy Spiridakos (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Donal Logue (Blade, Zodiac), just wrapped in Victoria, BC. The film is produced by Independent Edge.
“Wrecked was grueling to make,” Greenspan says. “We shot for 18 torturous days, but it was the best experience of my life. With that success behind me, I’m happy to change gears a bit but to be working with the same fantastic and supportive team.”
Greenspan is once again partnered with Dodd on this project, the script for which he actually bought from Sony Pictures and totally rewrote. He plans to deliver a completed product by April, with a theatrical release aimed at the fall. The movie focuses on two female college roommates whose lives take an unexpected dark and deadly detour.
“The concept is really intriguing,” said Greenspan, who has been in BC since last July with his wife Shanti and their young son Jake. “I think this is the type of movie that will get people talking and will make moviegoers stop and think about what they would do in a similar situation.”
When Wrecked first debuted, Greenspan went around the world to promote it. One such stop was in Abu Dhabi.
“I don’t know if they were aware I was Jewish,” he said. “What an experience that was! They even gave me my own butler.”
Greenspan attended United Talmud Torahs Elementary and Herzliah High School while growing up in Montreal. His family still lives here, no doubt proud of the career he has carved for himself.
Source: http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5275&Itemid=53
