Local Film Icon putting Michigan Made Movies on the Map

by Ryan M. Place

The true beating heart of the Michigan film industry will always be independent film. No one understands this better than Doug Schulze.

Schulze was born in Detroit in 19–, but his family moved to Waterford a few years after the 1967 Detroit Riots. He’s an independent film producer, writer and director and received his Bachelors of Science in Cinematic Arts from Eastern Michigan University in 1997.

“I remember my favorite professors were Lucy Liggett and Henry Aldridge. I absolutely loved Aldridge’s film theory classes. He’s a wonderful gentleman and outstanding teacher,” Schulze recollects.

“I’m very pro alma mater. EMU offered me a great education and great networking experience. My true film education, though, was directly participating in the independent film movement outside of formal EMU,” says Schulze.

Schulze wrote, produced and directed Hellmaster (92), Dark Heaven (02) and Dark Fields (09) starring David Carradine, shortly before his autoerotic asphyxiation in Thailand.

“I’ve always loved film ever since my parents took me to see 2001: A Space Odyssey back in 1968, and I’ve never really considered doing anything else for a living besides making movies,”

says Schulze. “My two biggest cinematic inspirations are George Romero and Stanley Kubrick. Romero represents the achievable for those who aren’t LA film schooled, while Kubrick is the classic artist whom you aspire to be as good as.”

“When not making my own films, I’m busy critiquing student movies,” he says.

Schulze is also founder, CEO and head instructor at the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan, Michigan’s firstlicensed film school.

“MPI offers immediate gear access to state of the art equipment and DIY hands on training,” he says.

Schulze opened the school in 1995 in Troy, along with his friend, University of Michigan grad, Kurt Mayry. MPI has roughly 100 students per year. The total cost to attend is $10,500, and students attend class all year round, consisting of three formal 12 hour days a week, then an additional minimum of 12 out of class hours spent writing, rehearsing, editing, etc., making it a very intense, hands-on school.

“Kurt and I were getting invited so often to advise other aspiring filmmakers that starting a film school seemed like a natural progression for us. It grew from us offering weekend workshops to getting licensed and creating a formal curriculum,” he says. “It’s a very rewarding experience, being able to teach film […] I critique and shepherd and dictate the curriculum at MPI and continue to mentor grads. ”

Both through MPI and the creation of his own films, Schulze is instrumental in continuing to solidify Michigan’s presence in the film industry. Every movie Schulze and his crew have produced was shot in Michigan.

“Hellmaster was shot at Clinton Valley insane asylum in Pontiac,” he says. “We had to write to Governor Engler to get access, and he was very supportive. [It’s a] beautiful building with Russian pillars and gorgeous archways—and we could sometimes hear patients, a few wings over, screaming. It was spooky.”

Schulze and his crew just shot Mimesis, a zombie movie about people who mimic, starring Sid Haig (famous for his roles in Spider Baby, Coffy, Jackie Brown and House of 1000 Corpses).

“Mimesis took 12 weeks preproduction and was shot in 24 days over the summer of 2010,” he says. “It was a wonderful experience.”

MPI will be relocating to the 200,000 square foot Raleigh Studios in Pontiac in March 2011. And, if that isn’t enough excitement, Schulze and his wife are celebrating their tenth anniversary in May and have a baby girl on the way.

Motion Picture Institute of Michigan is located at 1116 East Big Beaver road in Troy and can be reached by phone at 248-528-1760. Check out MIP on the web at: www.mpifilm.com.