Mike Smith

Mike Smith is an award-winning director, editor, producer and writer. Hailing from a small town in New Jersey you've never heard of, Mike fell in love with filmmaking at a young age. When he was 8 years old, he became infatuated with Steven Spielberg's LEGO Studios Moviemaker Set, which taught him how to write, storyboard, build worlds (literally), shoot and edit his own movies. From that moment on, Mike knew he wanted to be a filmmaker for screens of all shapes and sizes. In 2011, Mike ventured to Los Angeles to study at the University of Southern California to hone his skills as a filmmaker. He graduated in 2015 with a BA in Critical Studies and a Minor in Screenwriting from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. During his time at USC, Mike directed and produced the music video for the "Grace for Keshet Campaign" (2014) which raised over $20,000 for arts initiatives for children and adults with special needs. He also produced, shot and edited content for the USC Shoah Foundation Institute and HBO College. In 2013, Mike envisioned a creative network whose strength lies in collaboration, which led to him co-founding the award-winning production company Zephyr Entertainment with his USC peers. Since then he has directed, edited, produced and written over a dozen short films, web series and music videos such as the drama thriller Kismet (LA Shorts Film Festival 2019) the frat gangster comedy Brosa Nostra (HollyWeb Festival 2017), and the short documentary Seeking Shelter (Best Nature Doc, Slamdance Film Festival 2017) as well as branded content for the likes of HBO and John Hardy Jewelry. Projects he is credited on have collectively amassed millions of views between YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon Prime Video. Independently, he has worked as an assistant editor and producer on the feature documentary Barbara Boxer Gives a Damn where he produced taped interviews for several members of Congress including current Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Now, Mike is developing and producing a slate of low-budget fiction and documentary features and pilots for production in 2021 & 2022.