Conversations with Michael Scott

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Scott.

Michael, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I would have to say my story starts in the year 2004 when as a family we moved from Southern California to Shanghai China. Growing up for most of my life outside the United States, I had no clue what life was supposed to be like and the language barrier at a young age never helped. Sadly because of the strict government regulations in China we didn’t have access to normal T.V and movies. Luckily every Friday my mom would take my sister and I to a bootleg movie store, the kinda place where you could get ten DVDs for a dollar. Sure they scratched up when they played but this allowed for my love of film to grow.
The year is now 2008 and we are moving to Lucerne, Switzerland. Being a shy fella for most of my life, it was always hard going from place to place, making friends and putting myself out there, so pretty quickly my favorite part of the day became getting off the bus, coming home to a snack and plopping my butt down for hours in front of a T.V with my favorite characters and worlds.
Living around the world exposed me to so many different types of cultures, people, and routines of life. From the time I was ten I had a constant narrative in my head and so many characters floating around that I’d create a full life and story for them, I thought I was crazy, but now I see its purpose.
This brings us to 2014 when we moved to Rochester Hills, Michigan. Now let me say something here, the whole first month of freshman year of high school I was worried some football player was gonna come around the corner and throw a slushie at my face, (if you don’t get that reference think GLEE). You have to remember my only reference for life in America at the time was film and T.V shows. Pressure from my dad at the time guided me into a life of business and marketing but I never lost my love of film as watching movies was basically a hobby to me. After going to college for business and dropping out I then moved on to another love of my life, cooking. My mom and I have been cooking my whole life and love it, but again the schooling aspect just sucked the soul out of the food right out.
After a couple years of working and saving money I had an epiphany moment! I thought back to those characters I would love to be with in my head and the vast worlds I’d create and so I just started. I bought a pack of pens and a notebook and wrote out my first “feature length” script titled Carters Story. I quickly fell in love with writing and moved on to my second feature length script at 120 pages titled, The Revenge Crew, which I turned into a short film. I then just said “Why not me?” and my mom helped me find a film school near me, Motion Picture Institute, where I graduated in 2025, specializing in writing and directing.
Which this leads me to today. Hello! I am now living in Henderson, NV, located about twenty minutes from the strip. Working two jobs is tricky but finding time to write and finish scripts is always a top priority. Hopefully in the coming months I can break into the film industry out here and continue to share my love of stories and life.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. Depression and Anxiety are a real thing and are super debilitating. The smallest things feel like the universe is crushing you down while your mind is spiraling a week into future events that haven’t happened. The cycles of inspiration are really annoying to ride out when I know I’m capable and have so much motivation inside. To add to that, I had a lot of outside pressure to be someone who I didn’t want to be or go into a career that would bring security over happiness, but this was never the route for me.
It’s unfortunate to know the money I “wasted” going to business school, and culinary school all before I found film and I almost hesitate to say wasted because I am a firm firm believer that no matter how bad, everything happens for a reason and I may have not found film as a career if I didn’t go on that journey before.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a filmmaker who specializes in writing and directing. From short length scripts to feature length I’m your guy!
I am most proud of my short film “The Revenge Crew” as it allowed me to test the world and characters from a script I had for a couple years. It was such a cool moment to see all these people come together to get my story from paper to screen. I am also super proud my thesis film “WE’RE ALL WAITING” got to premier in a movie theatre with an audience.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success to me is being able to go week to week without wondering if I should get gas or groceries. Or having a group of people who meet you with a beer at the end of a crappy day. Im really not looking for a lot in this life but if Im able to buy a pack of pens and that notebook and continue to write my stories and share them with even a fraction of this world I will be a happy camper. Success to a lot of people is on the “other side” of it all. All the late nights and mind pounding work but for me it’s the journey there. Thats the fun part and thats where you will find many pockets of success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGpg5YjEjM/skkUnrxPK8kBRAJVIHGxEQ/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mscottfilm
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@laidbackfilms44