The District of Columbia Office of Motion Picture and Television Development (MPTD) is pleased to honor Michael J. Hardy, former Army Officer, government media producer, and associate producer of the new critically acclaimed film Fort Bliss, as the October Filmmaker of the Month. Michael J. Hardy (Mike) is a promising new filmmaker offering a fresh and unique perspective to feature filmmaking due to his military background and experiences.
Mike began his career as a United States Army soldier and government media producer and has quickly delved into his new role as a producer and director. Immediately after finishing a second tour in Afghanistan in 2010, Mike entered American University’s film school, where he trained as a writer, director and producer. His very first teacher was Professor Claudia Myers (October 2011 Filmmaker of the Month), who taught screenwriting. After attending a screening of her film, Kettle of Fish, Mike volunteered to help on her next project, Fort Bliss, which was at that time just a script. Mike initially made some minor but important script suggestions concerning military accuracy and gradually accumulated more responsibilities with the film.
Fort Bliss, which stars Michelle Monaghan (True Detective) and recently received critical acclaim during its limited release in New York, NY; Fort Bliss, Texas; and Los Angeles, CA, is currently running in Washington, D.C. at the West End Cinema. Mike served as an associate producer for the film and was instrumental in the scenes filmed in El Paso, Texas on the actual Fort Bliss Army post. There he served as production coordinator and military advisor for the crew.
Mike finished his military career in 2013, which allowed him to focus full-time on Fort Bliss and film study. Mike’s graduate thesis short film, a comedy, Saving Mr. Yamamoto, was awarded best fiction film, graduate division, by American University’s School of Communication for 2012-2013. Further advanced film study at the Art Institute of Washington yielded another successful short comedy, The Ticket, which won best narrative short film at that school’s Visually Wired Film Festival in 2014. Mike also contributed production assistance to several projects with colleagues, including fellow D.C. filmmaker Harold Jackson’s Under the Bourbon Moon.
Mike recently completed a summer in LA film program where he met several leading producers and worked on the short film, Preggers. Mike is currently working as crew on a Hollywood feature film due for release next year and he is developing a feature script and a couple of television projects that have received attention from Hollywood, one of which is a series set in D.C. at a magnet school. Mike’s long-term goal is to eventually become a television showrunner while continuing to make independent feature films.
Michael currently resides in Ward 1 of the District of Columbia.
MPTD launched the Filmmaker of the Month initiative to feature a District-based filmmaker who exemplifies the vast amount of talent and creativity based here in the nation’s capital. The Filmmaker of the Month initiative is part of MPTD’s mission to elevate the national and international profile of the city’s most talented filmmakers. Previous filmmakers honored include documentary filmmaker Doubleback Productions founder Adrena Ifill, Fate of a Salesman director Tessa Moran, Time Traveling Media Founder Lawrence Green, and award-winning documentary filmmaker Andre Dahlman .
You can visit the Filmmaker of the Month section to learn more about Mike and previous Filmmaker of the Month recipients.