The MPI Faculty is comprised of working industry professionals who know the practices and tools of the trades. They bring their experiences and skills into the class to teach MPI students how to succeed.
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Feature Director / CEO / President
 Award-winning filmmaker and MPI founder Douglas Schulze brings nearly two decades of real-world experience to the institute. Mr. Schulze holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Cinematic Arts from Eastern Michigan University. His first 35mm feature film Hellmaster aired on HBO and Cinemax.
More recently, Thinkfilm, the elite art house distributor of the Academy Award-winning Spellbound and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, released his latest feature Dark Heaven now available nationally in all Blockbuster stores.
Schulze’s tenure in the film industry has included collaborations with a wide variety of Hollywood professionals including Academy Award-winning special effects artist Chris Walas (The Fly, Gremlins) and screen veteran actor John Saxon (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Enter the Dragon).
His current directorial effort is a feature-length, suspense-horror entitled The Rain starring Dee Wallace (E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Cujo, The Howling). |
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Producer / Production Manager / Writer
 Kurt Mayry produced the 1992 feature film Hellmaster, starring John Saxon, which aired nationally on HBO/Cinemax. His subsequent producing effort Dark Heaven was released in July of 2004.
His extensive business background has built MPI into a premiere filmmaking program. He has further incorporated his film industry knowledge and experience into the classroom where he instructs students on how to organize and manage their films.
Kurt's extensive film background spans from working on such notable films as Beverly Hills Cop to working as a camera tech for one of the largest Panavision Equipment houses in the Midwest. Kurt holds a Bachelors degree in business from the University of Michigan.
Kurt recently produced and co-wrote the horror thriller The Rain, and is currently the Director of Education at MPI.
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Producer
 Kathryn has worked in feature film production for over the past 27 years in Los Angeles. From 1995 to 2005 she worked as Vice President of Production Administration at Columbia Pictures overseeing the productions of Charlies Angels 1 & 2, Memoirs of a Geisha, Fun with Dick & Jane, Closer, Hitch, & Spiderman 1 & 2, just to name a few.
Prior to that, she has worked as Production Manager on Striking Distance (starring Bruce Willis), Assistant to the Producer on Last of the Mohicans, A League of Their Own, Only the Lonely, Career Opportunities and was associate producer on First Knight (starring Richard Gere and Sean Connery) and My Life (starring Nicole Kidman and Michael Keaton).
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Cinematographer
 Robert Skates brings over seventeen years of production experience as both a cameraman and cinematographer. His cinematography credits include Cain's Children, Dark Heaven and numerous local music videos and commercials. Rob has also been a camera assistant on a number of independent features including the films Narc (starring Jason Patrick) and Time Quest (starring Bruce Campbell). Robert has also worked as a camera tech for Stratton Camera. Robert holds a Bachelors of Arts Degree from Wayne State University.
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AVID / Sony Vegas Editor
 Joshua Bowren brings over fifteen years of editing experience to the institute. He currently works at WXYZ Channel 7 as an editor, and at Media Network of Waterford as executive director over production. Josh has literally cut over a thousand projects from PSA's to working independent feature films. His advanced training and knowledge of AVID, Final Cut, and DVD authoring systems has had a tremendous influence in shaping the MPI editing curriculum.
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Sound Mixer / Post Audio Engineer
 Joel brings 26 years of audio experience to MPI, having worked both in the Detroit and Los Angeles production markets. Over his professional career, Joel has worked for industry giants Clear Channel Communications and Infinity Broadcasting. His professional audio experience has also spanned from Detroit to LA for such companies as Harmony Park Creative Group, RMS Productions, WJR, Hollywood Recording, and Zacuto Audio in Los Angeles.
At MPI, Joel brings students a wealth of knowledge and practical training in production audio recording and post audio mixing. Joel is a 1980 graduate of Michigan State University with a B.A. in Telecommunications.
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- Erik Rubner - Gaffer and grip training
- Julie Schulze - AVID editing and script continuity
- Martin Krist - Protools and field audio engineer
- Richard Rothrock - Screenwriting and script continuity
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