Michael Schock

Background

About Michael Schock

As an author of three published volumes on screenwriting and film narrative structure, I seek a position where I may share my knowledge with students by teaching at a post-secondary level. After completing the undergraduate program at the USC School of Cinema-Television, I engaged in ten years of independent study on script and film analysis, sharing my discoveries in print and online. I have since expanded into the interdisciplinary to explore the interactions between popular film narratives, cultural ideologies and contemporary sociopolitics. Having recently completed the Masters program at Reed College, I wish to share what I know with students who need to know it so they may better pursue their ambitions in film and television. Seven years of experience as a script reader and analyst led to the publication of my first book "Screenwriting Down to the Atoms: Digging Deeper into the Craft of Cinematic Storytelling." In the process of providing extensive written and oral feedback to young and developing screenwriters, I found that available instructional texts on screencraft were woefully incomplete and failed to provide certain fundamental principles absolutely necessary for beginners to understand how narratives function in cinema."Screenwriting Down to the Atoms" was designed to make up for where other texts had fallen short, correct common misassumptions, and provide a far more thorough understanding of the fundamental whats, hows, and whys of cinematic storytelling. Further intensive structural analysis of Hollywood film narratives led to my next two books,"Screenwriting & The Unified Theory of Narrative, Part I" and "Part II." These books answer many of the most difficult questions in the field of screencraft by combining various new and existing notions on plot, character, genre, and theme into a single overarching model. Though advanced material, these books were written with practical application in mind, with theoretical approaches intermediate or advanced writers could apply directly to their own work. I have since expanded my scholarship into the interdisciplinary realm of narrative studies. Recent areas of interest include the phenomenon of plot patterns, genre theory, and the structural communication of cultural ideologies through film narratives. I have written instructional materials aimed at beginning to intermediate writers since 2008. I have also been employed as a professional screenwriter and script consultant. I have additional background experience in film production, post production and acting.