Michael Richartz

Michael's initial interests in film were sparked by shows and films such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He would read up on how the effects were done and how his favorites were made. He never considered this field going into college where he studied computer programming, something that was new to his high school and generated an interest to pursue. While he enjoyed programming, one language he started studying took a bit to grasp and made him fall behind in the class. Once he understood it, he was too far behind to catch up for that semester and began to rethink his career goals. His father, who was an amateur photographer at one point, suggested he look and see what film courses might be available. Upon looking, he saw that Miami-Dade did feature such a program and changed his degree to Cinematography. After graduating Miami-Dade he worked on the film "Scarecrows." Soon after he transferred to the University of Central Florida in Orlando to continue getting his Bachelors. While there he realized credits from computers transferred and decided to double major, earning him two BAs, one in Film Production, the other Radio/Television Production. During one visit back to Miami, an agent representing Michelle Pommier approached him to be a model. He met with them, but his interests still lay in being behind the camera, not considering himself any sort of talent. After graduation he worked on an episode of "Reading Rainbow" and the series "Superboy," but the 9-5 job called as bills needed to be paid. He remained in Orlando hoping to get into the growing industry, but as time continued, so did life. Eventually he found himself working for Disney in their Reservations Center. At one point during this period he looked into acting and modeling. He reached out to Michelle Pommier again, but they no longer were interested. He ended up being represented by Cassandra & Bailey, doing several shoots for Disney through them and a few commercials. On his own he wound up on "Sea Quest" for several episodes. While he tried to transfer to something more creative behind the scenes within Disney, the walls of "you're not qualified" always seemed to come up. He did do voice overs and acting within his office and took acting classes on Disney property and outside. At one point a few friends were working in the local simulation industry which sparked a new interest after hearing their stories of creating virtual environments to train Air Force pilots. This sounded like computer special effects. When a position opened, he applied and was hired. This began his simulations and engineering career. He still works within this industry. Engineering pulled him away from acting and production for many years, but this industry for him has had numerous layoffs as contracts end. His joke is that the industry is just as unstable as production/acting and during one layoff he said "if I'm going to be the out of work artist...I may as well be the artist!" Around 2010 he stepped back in front of the camera as a model within a local Orlando group. He had fun creating a feeling within themed shoots and became more involved. As he joined more groups, he also joined the local film group Let's Make a Movie. He attended several meetings and at one point was asked to act in one of the productions. He did, and enjoyed the experience, which started his acting involvement in film again and was cast for several more roles. From here he began to audition for other roles outside of the group and getting cast for several of them. As his networking continued, he became more involved within the local Orlando independent film community, bringing together different productions to share resources and teams as well as promote the industry within the area. He has expanded from acting to editing, having worked on several of the Let's Make a Movie productions, and continues to learn the newer "behind the camera" skills that have changed since his days of celluloid and video tape. Currently (July 2015) Michael still auditions for local roles, as well as voice overs. He writes, edits, and produces productions within the Let's Make a Movie group and other independent productions. He continues to work within the engineering field, still joking that both industries are the same: "you work a little, you search a little." Sometimes the two fields cross each other, as he edits videos for training lessons or brings skills learned at his "day job" to the screen.