Say hello to the newest member of our BFA Film Production faculty: Michael Tuxhorn, a.k.a. Tux. Michael comes to us with a broad background in film, largely in writing screenplays and television pilots. We talked about all that and the work they're doing with the students in our department.
Say hello to the newest member of our BFA Film Production faculty: Michael Tuxhorn, a.k.a. Tux. Michael comes to us with a broad background in film, largely in writing screenplays and television pilots. We talked about all that and the work they're doing with the students in our department.
To learn more about Michael, start with the bio on our website: https://theatreandfilm.olemiss.edu/MichaelTuxhorn.html
Then check out their IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7795228/
And hop over here to learn about some of Michael's projects: https://writers.coverfly.com/profile/writer-61297353c-88194
The Department of Theatre & Film is grateful for its patrons and corporate sponsors. As a department we are committed to the high quality instruction that our students receive. Investing in the students’ education and these quality productions helps us move toward our common goal of graduating successful, creative adults who are lifelong learners. If you are interested in contributing to these efforts, please visit https://umfoundation.givingfuel.com/theatreandfilm
From The Department of Theatre & Film at the University of Mississippi, this This is Stage & Screen.
Katherine Stewart
Hello and welcome back to Stage & Screen. I'm your host, Katherine Stewart, and my guest today is a recent addition to our BFA Film production program. Michael Tuxhorn AKA Tux. Tux joined our department last fall as an instructional assistant professor of film production, coming to us with a background in writing screenplays and pilots that often focus on identity and perspective. We talked about all that and more, so stick around.
Katherine Stewart
Good afternoon, Michael. Thank you so much for uh, taking the time to chat with me today. I'm looking forward to visiting.
Michael Tuxhorn
Yeah, of course I'm looking forward to this too. And making my podcast debut
Katherine Stewart
Great, great, great. Well, if you wouldn't mind just to get us started, kind of introduce yourself to and tell. Us who you.
Katherine Stewart
Are and where?
Katherine Stewart
You're from and and what you do.
Michael Tuxhorn
Yeah, I'm Michael tuxhorn. I'm currently an instructional assistant professor at the University of Mississippi for the film production program, the BFA. This is my first year teaching full time first year in Mississippi, so I'm having all sorts of really exciting experiences getting used to, you know, teaching some of the classes on. Teaching right now and. Just having a very exciting time getting up. Do it all.
Katherine Stewart
So what brought you to our film production program?
Michael Tuxhorn
I've always kind of wanted to get into education. Education is something that my family's been part of for. I guess at least two generations now. And so I've always sort of like. Had a had an inclination towards getting into education, and I knew. So that even if I, even if I was just just spectacularly successful in the industry, I knew that I always wanted to get into education in some capacity. And so I saw this as a really great opportunity to join a really exciting and growing program and. One of the things that I really wanted to explore with this program when I applied for this position is I realized that. That this is an area that I think is underserved by the film industry. I don't. I think that a lot of film like a lot of the film industry, a lot of storytellers in film, especially coming out of my grad school experience in Los Angeles, which is so focused on itself more than anything. Yeah, I realized that Mississippi is a state that. Is sometimes featured in films, but it's not always featured in a way where it feels like it's telling the stories of Mississippians. It's telling stories that sort of feature Mississippi as a backdrop, and I was really curious to see if I could, you know, help develop and help boost the voices. Of these storytellers that I feel haven't really seen a lot of representation in the film industry. And you know, especially a state that's so close to where a lot of film is happening in Atlanta. I thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to try to get those storytellers some additional opportunities.
Katherine Stewart
Yeah, it sounds like Mississippi itself was a. Bit of a draw for you.
Michael Tuxhorn
Yeah, I think it was in a way. It's not. I don't think that there was ever a point in my life where I sat down and thought. How do I? Get to Mississippi, but. You know. It it was just such a great confluence of events like it's such a when I saw the opportunity and it, I knew that I had to make sure that I didn't just let it pass me by.
Katherine Stewart
Can you tell us a little? Bit about what you're doing with. Our students, what are you teaching?
Michael Tuxhorn
Yeah, right now I'm actually teaching the same cinematography course twice. It's sort of a. We switched a few things around with our sort of course progression and so I'm actually teaching cinematography one to our second year and 1st year students. So separately because we're moving it from the second year to the first. So I have to sort of make sure that you know, just because we're changing the program, nobody has to miss out. On a class. So that's that's been really interesting teaching the same class. To two different sort of like skill groups, two different levels of experience teaching it kind of back-to-back. So that's also been a pretty fun experience trying to just keep track of my own thoughts and what I've told one class and not the other. It feels like every week I'm remembering some small tip that I didn't ride. Into like the. Lecture notes that is really useful to know, but I feel like I'm only ever remembering to tell like 1 section and not the other and it always swaps from week to week. And so right now I'm doing the cinematography course my first semester I did the introduction and production course so. You know, I cover a lot of the bases in that course, and now I'm really focusing in on camera work and visual storytelling, which is so exciting because that's like the key element of the medium. So it's really great to see these students beginning to really develop their own vision and develop as storytellers visually. So I'm really excited to be part of it.
Katherine Stewart
So do you have a teaching philosophy or or what kind of experience can students expect to have with you?
Michael Tuxhorn
Oh boy, I feel like I'm still headed figuring that out for myself. What I'd like to do is I'd like to make sure that everyone feels welcomed in my classroom. I think that that's a goal. That every educator should keep in mind. But that's something that I try to pay a particular mind to, and I try to especially right now when I'm dealing with so many classes that are so hands on and so skilled based, I try to make sure that if anyone has a curiosity and a particular skill set, they don't feel like they're pressured out of it or into it one way. Or the other. Because especially just there's so many roles in film that historically have been sort of stratified in various ways. You know, one thing I always like to tell my students about is how, like in the early days of film, like women were pushed out of. Editing because initially they were kept in editing because you know, back when you're dealing with film strips, the process of it was kind of seeing like, Oh well, like that's like little hand work. It's like sewing. It's like sewing machine operating. And so women were sort of relegated to film editing and then somewhere around, like the 20s and 30s, when they were developing all this film. The theory that revolved around editing. They were like, Oh no, this is an art. What are women doing here? And so in Hollywood, they pushed all the women out of these positions, but they're like. A lot of programs still try to, you know, serve women into roles in editing, away from the camera, away from directing. So that's something I also try to pay particular mind to when I try to get students to be aware of that, because even just within the last decade, I've, you know. Like a lot of the female film makers that I'm friends with have found themselves begin to be like pushed towards editing still. Like I had a friend who applied to a direct drawing program in Graduate School, and she expressed no interest in editing because she has no interest in editing. They denied her a role in the directing program, but offered her a role in the editing program until she was successfully able to formalize a complaint and get into the directing. Program which is fantastic for her, but it's still a shame that you know the the thought was still there to try to get a woman into the editing program and out of directing, so that's something I want students to be aware of so that they can continue to try to solve that problem when they see it.
Katherine Stewart
Who must be great to work with? With your colleagues like Sarah and Jay who are inhabiting. Different roles in filmmaking.
Michael Tuxhorn
And it really is great as well to, you know, be able to point to people like Sarah and Jay, who are successful in like producing successful as directors of photography, really like behind the camera and point to that and use that. I find that you know that they are inspirational and aspirational figures for a lot of students. They should look up to. You know Jay and Sarah?
Katherine Stewart
So you have written several TV pilots and screenplays. Can you tell us a little bit about your?
Michael Tuxhorn
It's really interesting to be on that side of things. The writing side, because a lot of the times a lot of your work doesn't end up being like produced. So it's harder to point to like the things you've been involved with. Like I have friends that are in like lighting departments. And so like they get to every time some series comes on TV. Where they can point me to some streaming show and be like I lit that scene. I'm the person that like lit up that guy's face and so they get to take a little bit of pride in that. I'm just like I I'm under 3. NDA's right now.
Speaker
Right.
Michael Tuxhorn
That are never going to. Get made. So a lot of the work ends up being you kind of have to like, take pride in your own work because a lot of the times it's not going to end up where you want it to end up. But that's such an exciting part of the process I find whenever you're like you hand the script off to a director who's trying to get it, you know. The meeting with Netflix for it. Well, so I've had like, a few screenplays get, like, optioned. And I've been working with a few independent directors on like a few feature. The films I'm working, I have a pretty good relationship with one director at the moment who I have like years, years long relationship with and so like we've like been working together on like a mini series and right now she is having me go over and sort of she's bringing on board a short film project that she's hoping to get shot this fall. That she's maybe thinking about trying to turn into a feature, so that's also an exciting conversation. But yeah, I I just like to with writing, which is what I like to focus on, even though, you know, sometimes I do some work as like a producer. I like to vary it up quite a bit. I like to. Jump around for pilots like half hour comedies, hour long dramas, even over to like features I've written a few features that have been kicked around a few places.
Katherine Stewart
Very cool. So are you working on any new projects of?
Michael Tuxhorn
Yeah, I'm working on. I'm working on another pilot at the moment. I was invited into a private writers workshop being run by one of my old professors, and so I'm currently in the middle of writing that pilot. Right now I'm getting a lot of great feedback on it, so I'm pretty excited about it. It's still. In the developing stages, but I'm pretty excited about it because it does. It centers a lot of characters that I do find are underrepresented, like for instance. The lead character is someone who's on the autism spectrum, and as someone who's on the autism spectrum, that's something that I want to see a little bit more varied representation of, because right now I do find that a lot of that representation in film and TV. Sort of limited to, you know, characters like Sheldon from The Big Bang theory that are pretty like limited in scope. They kind of play into certain stereotypes. And so I was excited to try to write a character. That maybe doesn't play into all those stereotypes, but still has that authentic representation and it's it's not just a label, it's part of a larger identity and it's not the exclusive realm of that person's identity. But outside of that, I'm also just trying to write it so that it's like a really fun, engaging. Mystery with a sort of science fiction and almost sort of like western edge to it. I like to combine a few different genre elements, so I'm hoping that when the script is finished, it's gonna it's gonna make sense the way it does in my head.
Katherine Stewart
Can you talk a little bit more about some of the other contracts you've worked on?
Michael Tuxhorn
For instance, the the mini series that I have been riding with my director friend that I have that creative relationship with, that's a mini series. That is, it's a period piece mystery. So it's sort of a whodunit. My this director draws a lot of inspiration from old, like classic murder mysteries like the work of like Acantha Christie for instance, which was sort of a challenge for me when she brought me on to that project to help her write that, because that's not quite my usual, you know, storytelling vein. That's not usually what I go to, but that's been a lot of fun trying to develop, you know what? Language is going to be specific to that time period. What stories are going to feel a little bit more authentic to that time period while still having this sort of updated feel that she's going for? So that's something that has been exciting for me because that's not usually what I ended up getting into. I'm not usually drawn to things like period Peaches. But that's been a bit of a challenge for me to get into, but it's been very rewarding and she's been able to share that around to a few different places and get a little bit of buzz going for that in her circles. UM. So I'm hoping that, you know, she'll be able to push that over the top soon, but she just has a we like as a lot of us in the film industry do. She just has a lot of, like irons in the fire. I I know how that is. I had to sort of cool that down a little bit to focus on education out here. But like I said, I'm working on my own pilot. I'm helping her with that. There are few other deals that I'm hoping might still happen with some of the scripts that have been optioned or projects that directors brought me on. To in the past that. I I feel like I still have a little bit of hope for some of those, but you know, sometimes things just languish in what's called like production, help production health.
Katherine Stewart
All of that sounds very exciting. We are nearing the end of this spring semester. Do you know what? You'll be teaching in the fall.
Michael Tuxhorn
I have a pretty good idea. I'm not sure that we're fully settled on all the details right now. I believe that I'm going to be teaching producing 1. As well as. The junior practicum. Ask and I believe I'm also set to be teaching the introduction to production course again to the incoming first year students, and I'm excited about all the. Three of those. I'm excited to be revisiting in class that I taught last semester. You know, getting to take everything that I learned from that experience and update. My syllabus update my teaching methods, update my lectures with what worked and what didn't work, and then the junior practicum is also just an exciting challenge to take on because that is such a great experience for the students. For the junior practicum, the junior filmmaking students get to work really closely with the third year performance students, they are actually getting to work with, you know, trained actors. They're actually getting to work with people that aren't just, you know, their friends that happen to be available that. Day to help them film. So I think that that's a really great experience for them and they're going to be able to focus on these projects. In a way that they have into. In the past, cause we've expanded the sort of scope and the time that's made available for the junior practicums. So they're going. To get more time than ever to really Polish these projects and work together and plan ahead. So I'm really excited to be able to be part of that.
Katherine Stewart
Well, Michael, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me.
Michael Tuxhorn
Yeah, of course.
Katherine Stewart
Once again, that was Michael Tuxhorn, instructional assistant professor of film production. We've got more info about Tux and their work both in and out of the department for you in the show notes, so don't forget to check those out. Our next couple of episodes will focus on little shop of horrors. The final production of our spring season, which runs in Fulton Chapel, April 18th through 20. First, you know that's going to be a fun one, so stay tuned for those episodes. Or better yet, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Until next time. This is Stage & Screen.