Alum
Michael Wormser
Film and television producer, co-founder of Cinemand Films
Michael Wormser, BA'00, combined his skills in comedy and film through the founding of Cinemand.
“Most of my business has been sort of two-fronts: one is feature films, and the other is web series or digital content. As those verticals have evolved in the marketplace, I’ve evolved with them.
I had no plans to ever be in the (film) industry. I’ve always been someone who follows my gut instinct. When I came to Indiana, I just took classes that I really enjoyed, or I thought I would gain insight from. From there, it evolved into what was a telecom major at the time. We'd watch films and media studies like “Citizen Cane” and start looking at a director’s vision and point of view.
One of the lasting things I really remember from that time is we had four editing bays, and they were Beatle names—there was John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
I had a couple of buddies of mine who had a sketch comedy group called Free Refills Comedy. And they were like, ‘You got to do this.’ I was like, ‘I don't know, that's not for me.’ Then I got in, and I got onstage, and it was amazing. It was one of those life-changing moments where I realized this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
And so, upon graduation, I moved directly out to LA.
I've always kind of had a short form comedy skill set, and then also the feature film skill set. And so, we sort of married that together with Cinemand. I just look at things as a story. I look at things like, ‘This is what I want to tell’ because, at the end of the day, I'm a fan of movies.
I think if you are trying to assess what is going to work next from a statistical point of view, I think you're limited. I think there's got to be a human element to it. It's art that we're making.
And so, I think my advice to any filmmaker is follow your heart, follow your gut, follow your passion, your voice; really discover your voice of the stories you want to tell and make an impact on the market. Disrupt the marketplace. Make something great and do not wait for someone else to tell you that this is going to work or not.”
Written By McKenna Cardona
Photos By Caleb Good