Tom Michaels

Can you explain to the audience your career?

Well my career basically started the day I moved to America as a child in the 1980’s. I remember the day my father bought a TV, the first film I saw was the classic Planet of the Apes, then right after came on Fist of Fury, followed by Dirty Harry. When I saw the image of Clint Eastwood pointing a gun, I nearly collapsed. I said to myself, “I want to be in movies.” Many years later, I moved to Los Angeles and eventually got settled in and got my first credit in 2011 and slowly started building my career. In the meantime, I applied and was accepted into the USC Cinematic Arts program where I eventually graduated in 2019. Since then I formed my own production company Orzel Films and to date have produced 3 short films. The first two, The Devil’s Entrance and Older Self have garnered acclaimed success, with a total of 45 awards and 84 nominations to date and still counting. Now with my third and final short, Come the Nightfall, I hope it garners similar success before I venture off to full Independent Features and TV shows. I have been very fortunate and lucky. It 's very humbling.

How many years have you been making movies?

I have been making movies since 2023 to much success and I hope to continue that trend toward feature films and tv shows.

Why did you start making movies?

I started making movies to control my own destiny. All of us have a voice and we use it in very unique and special ways and I chose the filmmaking route. It’s something that was always embedded in me throughout my life.

Tell us a little about your project. What will the audience be able to see in your film?

They will see something unique and different from an askewed point of my view, which is the way I view the world through a lens. It’s not your typical horror short. I hope you enjoy what I did with Come the Nightfall.

Why did you do this project?

The reason I did this project is because I wanted to make one more short film before jumping to the features world and I came up with a really good story and also, I wanted the experience to shoot on film. I decided 16mm would be the right way to go and if done right, the film would come out beautiful as long as we had the aspects tied in as well which we did. I hope the audience likes what we did with Come the Nightfall.

One of the problems some directors encounter is directing actors and dealing with some actors, especially in the amateur world. How do you see this topic? What kind of work do you do with them?

For myself, I am an actor first, so it’s a much easier task dealing with artists that are in your line of work. I do think what is important is that as a director you have to understand that not all actors work the same. Not all come from the method world of acting. Stage actors work differently as well, so you have to understand this and know when you hire that specific actor, you need to be familiar with their style and method so any potential programmatic issues do not arise on the set. This can make or break your production.

A good movie takes care of all departments. But normally we can not allocate all the resources to have a good photography or spend a lot of money on sound post production or budget to hire actors. In your project what % have you allocated to. I don't just mean money but time as well. Of 100% of the time/money, what % did you dedicate to each department?

I personally try to balance everything out as equally as possible. I remember my teacher and mentor at USC film school said to me, that when you decide to make a film, hire the BEST people you can and if you divide your time and money in finding and hiring these people, you will have a smooth production. Now don’t get me wrong, problems will arise during the production (it always does), but if you did your due diligence and put the time and effort into hiring the best you can then the problems will be solved during the production and you will end up at the finish line.

If you could go back, what would you change about this project? (1 thing only)

I wish I had more time. You come up with more filmmaking magic that way.

What are you happiest about this project?

What I was happiest about this project, is that I shot this on 16mm film. I love film and will always shoot on film and never stop.

Make a wish to the movie gods. What do you ask?

My wish to the movie gods would be that I create such an impactful one that many years from now, someone will be talking about how I influenced them as the way that I was influenced as a child.

What movie would you have liked to direct?

If I had to pick one movie throughout history to direct, it would have been George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

What kind of cinema do you like? Genre, directors, actors?

I enjoy horror, sci-fi, mystery, suspense and thriller. The directors that were very influential to be as a child growing up were Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and John Carpenter. Hitchcock was a master of suspense, Kubrick was a phenomenal visual storyteller, where as Carpenter was great storyteller as well but he looked at the world through the lens from an askewed point of view which I severely gravitated towards to. He is one of my favorite filmmakers of all time.

Imagine that all the movies are going to be lost. If you could save 3 movies, what would they be?

That’s a tough question. If I had to save 3 movies it would be North by Northwest, Escape from New York and Citizen Kane. Such a difficult question to answer!

If you have more projects underway, can you give us a bit of information?

Currently my production company has nearly 20 productions in developmental stages with 4, currently in pre-production. We also have numerous tv shows that are being developed as well.