Hi! My name is Michael Doerge, I’m a Digital Media Production major at Kent State University, with a concentration in Digital Film.
I was born and raised in Medina, here in Northeast Ohio, but I moved to Kent in 2018 to pursue my degree. I have 3 siblings: my older sister, Caralyn, works in Cleveland and is a prolific local theatre actress; my older brother, Billy, works with my dad and uncle in Strongsville and is an avid hunter (he just got engaged to his girlfriend, which is very cool); and my little brother, Jacob, is still in high school, pursuing a career in computer science. My parents, Bill and Mary, are NE Ohio natives as well, living in Strongsville for most of their lives and proud supporters of their very busy children.
I love movies and I want to be involved in the making of any of these kinds projects. I’ve always loved writing and around my senior year of high school I started teaching myself how to write screenplays via youtube videos and by reading scripts of my favorite movies — which is a great segway!
It’s really hard to have just one “favorite” movie, but Rian Johnson’s Brick (2005) is what I have to put at #1. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in Johnson’s debut feature, it’s a super-low budget indie detective story that turns its limitations, in terms of budget, into creative fuel and shows that you can make something really intense and awesome without millions of dollars. It’s a big inspiration to me. More recently, I just saw It Comes at Night (2017) and that movie freakin’ rocks, you should go watch it.
I wanted to intern at the GCFC because it’s the most accessible way for me to get my foot in the door in the film industry. I wanted to meet people and get involved and start working with professionals and get experience. I was born and raised in NE Ohio so it’s just a great fit. I’m excited to get to work in the industry in whatever capacity I can, and to get to know people that work here and to find out how to make this a full-time career. As I said before, I love movies and I love making movies! Which is also a great segway —
— I want to make movies! I aspire to be an independent film director and/or screenwriter. I’ve been a writer since I was very young, and ever since I took up filmmaking late in high school it’s kind of become an obsession of mine over the past 4 years. It’s really become my medium for expressing myself – specifically with screenwriting. I just started pre-production on my senior thesis project at Kent State right now, and I’m excited to start production in January. I’m super excited to graduate and start working my way into my career!
You can subscribe to my Youtube channel; I post my class projects there if you’re interested.
Check out a video from Michael’s channel below!