Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Langer.
Mike, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I graduated from college with the full intention of heading to law school and then pursuing a career in international relations. I had spent time overseas throughout my childhood, and it had been the direction I was looking since I was a kid. However, during my undergrad years, I had started dabbling in my other passion. We will call it a side passion; film. I had always been a film buff, and due to my high school group of friends all being jocks, a writer in secret. But, I’d never really done much to pursue it. But, as a way to deal with stress from pre-law, I’d signed up for a screenwriting class.
Now, I had no applicable film skills. But, I learned I had a knack for appearing on camera playing either a douchey white guy or a sarcastic white guy (that was the extent of my thespian range). So, when the actual filmmakers needed that kinda character, I’d jump on camera. The tradeoff was that I got to learn all about filmmaking. In fact, my crash course in film production came in the shape of a SUPER LOW BUDGET horror flick called Ground Zero (I believe you can still find it on Amazon). Somehow, I found myself the lead actor (Again, super low budget here).
So, for two months, on nights and weekends, I’d wrap up at school and go shoot this movie. It truly was my first time on set, and through the experience, I was able to learn the process of making a movie. From there, I found myself on more and more sets, and from these sets, I had built a really strong group of “film” friends. When we all graduated, they were planning to continue in their film pursuits and I figured I’d set off into my law life. But, after a year of being graduated, I hadn’t yet applied for law school… But, a good friend of mine had applied to the directing program at the American Film Institute. I had never heard of the place, but he apparently, it was a big deal by way of film schools (leave it to film schools to obsess over being a big deal).
So, on a whim, the night before the AFI deadline, I jumped on the website. I scanned through the various tracks offered and landed on something called a “producer.” Now, in the broadest sense of the word, I knew what a producer was. But, I really didn’t know what a producer was, ya know? Anyway, for whatever reason, I decided to apply for that.
Cut to a year later, I was starting at AFI as a producing fellow. As for law school? I dunno, maybe I’ll get there someday. AFI was a whirlwind. Producing was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Luckily, my thesis film picked up a student academy award. And, while I was there, I got a gig producing for a smaller production company. Before I had graduated, I had produced a couple of shows this production company. And, sooner than I even had a chance to realize what was happening, that company great. I found myself producing multiple shows for them. After a time, and as the company continued to grow, I transitioned into a role called “Head of Development.”
Basically, it became my job to seek out new shows, come up with new shows, and in the best of scenarios, sell new shows to be made. I learned a ton in this period. I am forever grateful for it. But, toward the end of the last year, while I was enjoying my position and having fun, I began to think more about what had led me there. Between applying to AFI on a whim and running development… I had barely even taken a breath. Hadn’t done a vacation. It had literally been non-stop. So, after some soul-searching, I decided I needed to figure out if I truly was where I wanted to be.
So, I walked away from my position at the company. Once again, a big life decision, completely on a whim. Luckily, the heads of the company who will forever be my mentors, friends, and collaborators, were very understanding. After a couple months of focusing on only material I wanted to do, it occurred to me I was exactly where I needed to be. I wanted to take all the lessons I’d learned since entering AFI and start applying them to telling stories I wanted to tell. And, that’s where I’m at now.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The short answer is no, it definitely has not been an easy road. But, the truth is, there hasn’t really been any time to stop, look around, and think, “hey, this isn’t a smooth road.” In fact, the only times where I’ve actually gotten down and took the time to think about how far I had to go were the times where I let myself get comfortable. Where I stopped pushing myself for that next step. That’s when things got hard. Comfort and safety are not happiness. At least in my experience.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
There are a million and one boutique production companies in this town. I’m not really in the business of paying a lot of attention to what they are doing. Every experience is unique in this industry. It truly is impossible to lay out a “successful” path for someone to follow. You gotta stay in your own lane. You can’t waste time looking left or right.
As a company, we focus on tapping into the zeitgeist, finding relatable people and stories, and bringing them to life in the most economically and artistically ways possible.
What were you like growing up?
In short, I was a wannabe Zack Morris. Truth be told, I did a pretty good job of it. But, a lot of it was an act. I was uncomfortable with the more artistic nature of my soul and worked hard to suppress it. I was lucky enough to have a mother who encouraged intelligence, adventure and thinking outside the box. So, I played a lot of sports and read a lot of Shakespeare in secret.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 8014735881
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Jeremy Cloe, Cory Warner
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