Michael Lugenbuehl

Michael Lugenbuehl

SeaCave Productions
Director and Producer

Los Angeles, California

Member Since:
May 2016
Last online:
> 2 weeks ago
Invites sent:
0

About Michael

What do Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen and Michael Lugenbuehl have in common? Nothing. Well, not yet anyway. Chaplin and Allen are well known for writing, directing, acting and editing their own comedy projects. I began starting to do the same thing: taking classes in writing, acting, improv, editing, directing, cinematography and film history. My love for a good story, well acted, well directed and well filmed (using the camera as a story element more so than using it to show how good one can make an image look) is never-ending. It became apparent that none of these disciplines alone were satisfactory. But now, I do believe in the talents of writers, cinematographers, actors and other professionals to create a team to make movies. Some people see the director as the person sitting in a director’s chair who yells, “cut”! I see the director as the person creating the best space possible for the actor to feel comfortable expressing their choices; collaborating with the writer and cinematographer on the best choice to visualize and choreograph the intent and emotion of each passage; collaborating with the editors and musicians to convey, once again, the best choices for the overall film.

From Los Angeles.
Studied film at Villanova University, and Long Beach City College before that.
Improv at Groundlings.
Acting with Warner Laughlin, Stan Kirsch, Killian McHugh
Sid Fyld, Robert McKee and Blake Snyder fanatic.
After winning awards for Best First Short Film and later Best first Screenplay, I joined the corporate world to “catch up” I’m caught up!
I’m exited to pursue the ranks of Chaplin and Allen.
My first project is the 168 Film Festival speed challenge: Shooting May 2016. Here we go!

Unique traits: Director/Producer with Final Cut training, Groundlings improv training, advanced acting training and award-winning photographer.

Badges

Photos

Credits

  • Character

    Character (2012 - 2013)
    Television (Comedy) Actor A rag tag bunch of lovable randos stage the financial romance "1-1= None: Accounting on Her Return" on Theatre Row in Hollywood.

  • Misty Nights

    Misty Nights (2013)
    Film (Short and Comedy) Actor A trusting young husband seeks to prove that his wife's extracurricular affairs are not indeed affairs...

  • Radio Silence

    Radio Silence (2013)
    Film (Short and Comedy) Actor Add a Plot »

  • The Poor Boys

    The Poor Boys (2012)
    Film (Comedy) Actor Mac (the muscle) and Sully (the brains) have designed their perfect world. They make their rent money stealing parking meters, faking charity buckets and scamming their gullible neighbors for cash. Who needs running water when there's a perfectly good garden hose just outside! But all good things must come to an end... The Boys slumlord Mr. Sweeney sells the dirty Hollywood apartment complex to a real estate hotshot, Jason Miller. Miller then doubles their rent overnight leaving Mac and Sully thirty days to pay or get the hell out! Mac and Sully then resort to whatever they can to survive, even if that means kidnapping a dog named Sexy for ransom. When all their new scams fall short, they have to resort to the one thing they hate... Real jobs! Real jobs bring real change to their plans. Mac abandons Sully to date his new sexy boss Vanessa, leaving Sully hopelessly alone with Sexy the dog. With only days left to pay the rent, the Boys must reunite to avoid eviction from their crappy ... Written by Anonymous

  • The Zombie Whisperer

    The Zombie Whisperer (2011)
    Television Actor Even the dead have issues.

  • The Folding Channel

    The Folding Channel (2010)
    Video (Short and Comedy) Actor Claude Budee the flamboyant host of the Folding Channel Show has a fetish for folding. Finally able to turn his dream of folding into a weekly cable show, he hires a crew of misfits who unknowingly sabotage the show.

  • Jeffie Was Here

    Jeffie Was Here (2010)
    Film (Adventure and Comedy) Actor It's been a rough couple of years for Alan Mangold, a tightly-wound professor in his 30's who dreams of a better life beyond his shoebox apartment... if only he could complete his opus, "Orphan Bastard." When his Nana dies, Alan and his better-half Amanda must post an internet ad at the university to find a student who will share the costs of the emergency cross-country trip. Enter Jeffie: an inflammatory individual who fancies himself a scholar, a poet, and the embodiment of enlightened living. At first, the couple's travel companion seems to have responded randomly to their ad, but as the trip progresses, it becomes clear that Jeffie's presence relates to a web of tightly-held secrets between Alan and Amanda. Amidst infidelity, blackmail, run-ins with the law, and a painfully bad demo tape, the ride with Jeffie is unpredictable at every turn and by journey's end no one is left unchanged. Written by Anonymous

  • Material Girls

    Material Girls (2006)
    Film (Comedy, Family and Romance) Actor The silver spoon daughters of the late cosmetics empire founder Victor Marchetta, Avan and Tanzie, never even took an interest in the business, happy to let it be run by their and the firm's administrator, Tommy Katzenbach, while they lead socialite lives, aiming at a marriage with soap star Mic Rionn. Suddenly a scandal wrecks the firm's stock and their family reputation. Their credit cards are canceled, one of them torches the mansion, the other hands their sports-car to a thief mistaken for a parking valet. So they end up living with their Latina former cleaning lady. Help to investigate whether the firm is really best sold to competitor Fabiella, as Tommy claims, comes from hunky lab technician Rick, whom the previously mistook for the inexistent firm parking lot attendant, and Henry Baines, whose free law for the poor charity they didn't even consider for sponsoring. Written by KGF Vissers

  • Zyzzyx Rd

    Zyzzyx Rd (2006)
    Film (Thriller) Actor The family man accountant Grant travels to Los Angeles and meets the lascivious "Lolita" Marissa in a casino. While in the motel with Marissa, her violent ex-boyfriend Joey surprises them on the bed, hits Grant on the head, but he kills Joey. Grant brings Joey's body to bury in the desert Zyzzyx Road, but after digging a grave, he finds that the body is missing in the trunk of his car. Grant chases Joey with a shovel in the desert, and when he finds the man hidden in a abandoned mine, Joey discloses a secret about Marissa. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

  • Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

    Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    Film (Documentary) Actor Enron dives from the seventh largest US company to bankruptcy in less than a year in this tale told chronologically. The emphasis is on human drama, from suicide to 20,000 people sacked: the personalities of Ken Lay (with Falwellesque rectitude), Jeff Skilling (he of big ideas), Lou Pai (gone with $250 M), and Andy Fastow (the dark prince) dominate. Along the way, we watch Enron game California's deregulated electricity market, get a free pass from Arthur Andersen (which okays the dubious mark-to-market accounting), use greed to manipulate banks and brokerages (Merrill Lynch fires the analyst who questions Enron's rise), and hear from both Presidents Bush what great guys these are. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>

  • It Happened in a Bungalow

    It Happened in a Bungalow (2002)
    Film (Short) Actor A romance novelist in a restaurant uses all the people and sounds around him to create a romantic fantasy.

Awards

  • Best First Short Film

  • Best First First Feature Screenplay

Education

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