Michael J. Heagle

Michael Heagle has been making movies since he was in the fifth grade, starting with Super8 he processed at K-Mart and projected on a bed sheet. He grew up in the small town of Mukwonago, Wisconsin, and claims as early influences Sesame Street, Syd and Marty Krofft, Ray Harryhausen and Scooby Doo. Inspired by the model work and animation of Star Wars, King Kong and Golden Voyage of Sinbad, he built miniatures and attempted ambitious short films loaded with special effects copped from the pages of Super8 Filmmaker magazine Encouraged by his drama teaching parents, he performed in theater in high school while continuing to make films and music, moving to VHS and SVHS movies and producing increasingly elaborate fantasy and horror pictures with friends and family. He attended the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, from which he holds a BFA in Film. While there, he shot a film with his classmate Mark Borchardt (American Movie) called Toga Party Massacre. Upon graduating, Michael tried his hand at a number of self-funded, independent projects, in which he filled the roles of screenwriter, director, production designer, editor, and visual effects supervisor. Michael's film work includes writing and directing the 16mm cult-movie feature Go To Hell (released by Troma in 2003), and the zero-budget sci fi western Planetfall. He is the co-creator of the puppet comedy series Transylvania Television, writing and directing the show as well as performing the character of Dwayne Frankenstein. He holds a Masters Degree in Animation and Visual Effects from Academy of Art University in San Francisco and has taught in higher education since 2000. His students have gone on to careers at iconic visual effects studios including Digital Domain, Industrial Light and Magic, Marvel Studios, MPC, Luma Pictures and Double Negative. In 2016 he served as Animatics Editor on the Amazon Studios production of the animated series Danger and Eggs.