MICHAEL GRADY

Born: 16 November 1968, Rockwall, Texas, USA, as Michael Patrick Grady.

Education: Texas Christian University [TCU] [1987-92]; Film Production Program, New York University [NYU] [1993]; Film Program, USC; Film Program, CalArts; American Film Institute [graduated in 1994].

Career: 'When he arrived at TCU in 1987, Grady took business and philosophy classes, eventually earning a bachelor's of business administration in marketing. It wasn't until his senior year, when he took an intro to film class, that he realized he wanted to be one of those people - the ones who make the movies. "I was into short-form media at first," Grady says. "Things like introductions to sporting events. I thought I would do commercials." Grady's senior year proved to be a turning point. The film class and an internship at J. Mitchell Johnson Productions in Fort Worth formed a foundation. Grady built on that base by doing some legwork. "I hustled for some entry-level jobs and made a few short films around Fort Worth." Grady then headed to the University of North Texas to earn a master's degree [all but thesis], then was off to New York University [NYU], where he took 18 hours of production classes and a cinematography class. His first exposure to the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles was a cross-country trip from Texas to California. "I knew no one in California and had only visited for one day prior to moving there for school at the American Film Institute [AFI] in 1993," he says. Grady's break into showbiz moved at the same pace as his trip from Texas to California. "It was a slow climb. I worked on crews and hustled and shot many shorts, music videos and small movies through the years. I was doing darker, smaller material," Grady says. "Dark and depressing. Nobody wants to pay to be depressed. For me, the challenge was going from doing dark, noir films to something different. 'Easy A' [2009] was a light and fun experience with a bunch of young, lead actors. It is not always that way." He generally seeks work near Manhattan Beach, Calif., where he lives with wife Erin Gordon-Grady, who is an early childhood program consultant for various clients in California, and their sons Ethan, 9, and Owen, 3. But when he can't, he occasionally packs up the family and takes them with him. He and Gordon-Grady sometimes talk about moving back to Texas, where they still have family and maintain strong roots. For now, they have to settle for small reminders of home. "My son is the only kid that will have a TCU jersey at Manhattan Beach Elementary School," he notes. Eventually he hopes to tick another genre off his movie bucket list - a Western. He figures for that one, they’ll come home to Texas.' [Brian Hudgins in The TCU Magazine, Fall 2011.]

Ph commercials. Ph music videos, e.g. 'Someday' [a: Flipsyde; d: James Cox].

'Hotel for Dogs' [2007]: DI Colorist Siggy Ferstl of Company 3 recently performed final color grading for 'Hotel for Dogs', the new comedy adventure from Nickelodeon Movies and DreamWorks Pictures. Ferstl collaborated with Director of Photography Michael Grady in developing a unique look to enhance the fun and charm of the tale of two kids who transform an abandoned hotel into a magical home for canines.

Ferstl was involved in the project from its earliest stages. His initial role was to supervise dailies processing and the application of a first pass color grade. That gave the film's production team a remarkably close representation of how the film would ultimately look.

'Dailies can strongly influence how people view the film, so it is important to lock in a look early on,' Ferstl observes. 'It is also helpful to me to be involved in shaping the look, even before it goes to editorial, because it results in better consistency and it lets me know what's in store.'

The film was shot entirely on 35mm film. Final grading was performed in a DI theatre equipped with the latest version of Da Vinci's Resolve color grading system. Having worked through the dailies together, Ferstl and Grady were able to proceed through the final grading process with relative ease as many of the creative decisions had already been made.

The look developed by Grady and Ferstl is designed to both complement the story and distinguish 'Hotel for Dogs' from other family films. 'Michael lit it with a lot of highlights and gold gels, so it is very, very vibrant,' notes Ferstl. 'He wanted it to be bright and colorful but to avoid the overly flat look that a lot of kids movies have today. He wanted to make sure the images had some nice contrast.'

Part of the challenge for Ferstl and Grady was dealing with the film's large and varied cast of four-legged stars. 'We wanted to be able to see the expressions on the dogs' faces and that was sometimes difficult as a few of the dogs were black,' Ferstl recalls. 'We spent a lot of time bringing out the details in their eyes.'

The film's hero dog, Friday, is white and so presented a challenge of the opposite extreme. 'He was very difficult to light, especially when he was standing next to a black dog,' Ferstl says. 'We often had to isolate and grade him separately to make him look great.' [From the digitalcontentproducer.com website.]

FILMS
1995	Baby Fat [Tamara Hernandez] c; short/8m; shot (on Saturday) in one weekend with 'The Slap' (on Sunday)
1995	The Slap [Tamara Hernandez] c; short/6m; see above
1996	Inside Out [Jason Gould] c; short/27m; addph; ph: Sharon Meir; also seg of 'Boys Life 3' (2000)
1996	Men Cry Bullets [Tamara Hernandez] c
1996	The Last Man [Harry Ralston] c; 2uc: Jaime Reynoso
1997	Scrap [Aubrey Boytos] c
1997	Diamonds from the Bantus [Raymond Polydoor] 16mm/c; 2uc: Jaime Reynoso; released in 2002
1998	Atomic Tabasco [James Cox] c; short/14m; prod NYU
1998	Only Once [Rocco Devilliers] c; short/56m
1998	The Last Late Night [Scott Barlow] c
1999	Beyond the Mat/Beyond the Mat: Unrated Director's Cut [Barry W. Blaustein] dv/c; doc/98m & 108m (2000); addph: Joan Churchill (Philadelphia), Robert Bennett (Los Angeles) & Joe Carmino Maxwell (Amarillo)
1999	Little Girl [Juliette Garrison] 16mm/b&w; 2uc: Dale Obert
1999	Along the Way/The Haven [Andrew Bowen] c; released in 2007
1999	The Boss [Louis Lombardi] c
2000	My First Name Spelled Backwards [Juliette Garrison] 16mm/b&w-c; cph: Dale Obert
2001	The Jolly Man [Jason Barnett] c
2002	One, Two, Three... [Miguel Rueda] c; short/23m; also seg of Showtime-tv '4th Annual Showtime Latino Filmmaker Showcase' (2003; 7 seg/150m)
2002	Wonderland [James Cox] c; 2uc: Patrick Rousseau
2003	Around the Bend [Jordan Roberts] c; 2uc: Philip C. Pfeiffer
2004	Neverwas [Joshua Michael Stern] s35/c; 2uc: Gregory Middleton
2005	Bug [William Friedkin] c; aph: Dylan Goss

With actress Sienna Miller - "Factory Girl"

2005	Factory Girl [George Hickenlooper (replaced Warren Beatty)] dv+s8+s16-to-35mm/b&w-c
2006	The Dead Girl [Karen Moncrieff] c
*2007*	Six Bullets from Now [Stephen T. Kay] pre-production; status unknown
2007	Hotel for Dogs [Thor Freudenthal] c; addph: David Stump; see above
2008	Notorious [George Tillman Jr.] s35/c; 2uc: Martin Linss & Joe Williams
2009	Easy A [Will Gluck] HD (Genesis)-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c
2010	Faster [George Tillman Jr.] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Igor Meglic; aph: Dylan Goss
2010	Friends with Benefits [Will Gluck] HD (Sony F35)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; aph: David B. Nowell & (New York) Brian Heller; ph end title seq: John Frost
2011	Gone [Heitor Dhalia] RED Epic-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; aph: Dylan Goss
2012	Stand Up Guys [Fisher Stevens] RED Epic-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c
2013	Annie [Will Gluck] HD (Sony F55/p & F65/p)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc (+ 2ud): David M. Dunlap; aph 2u: Dylan Goss; retelling of film (1981, John Huston; ph: Richard Moore)

TELEVISION & INTERNET
1998	G vs E [ep #1 'Orange Volvo' dir by Jonas & Josh Pate + ep #2 & #4-11 dir by various] 22-part series, 1999-2000; 1st season, 1999 (11 ep); cph (#1): Bill Marley & Bill Butler; other ph (#3): Patrick Darrin
1999	good vs evil/G vs E (title #15, #18 & #22) [ep #12-22 dir by various] 2nd season, 2000 (11 ep); cph (#22): Bill Butler; ep #22 was originally intended as the pilot
2000	Dead Last [various] 13-part series, 2001; other ph (pilot): Peter Levy
2001	Maybe It's Me [various] 22-part series, 2001-02; 2uc: Patrick Rousseau
2002	Hack [ep #6 'Slippery Slope' dir by Robert Singer] 40-part series, 2002-04; 1st season (22 ep), 2002-03; other ph: Ken Kelsch (pilot), Adam Kane (3 ep), Sharone Meir (5 ep) & Craig DiBona (12 ep)
2003	One Tree Hill [pilot dir by Bryan Gordon] 187-part series, 2003-12; 1st season, 2003-04; other ph: Billy Dickson, Peter Kowalski & Stephen Thompson
2004	Jonny Zero [pilot dir by Mimi Leder] 8-part series/16mm, 2005; other ph: Craig DiBona (7 ep)
2004	The Dead Will Tell [Stephen Kay] tvm
2013	The Michael J. Fox Show [pilot dir by Will Gluck] 22-part (7 unaired) series/HD (Sony F65), 2013-14; other ph: John Inwood
2014	The Leftovers [ep #8 'Cairo' dir by Michelle MacLaren & #10 'The Prodigal Son Returns' dir by Mimi Leder] 28-part series/HD (ARRI ALEXA), 2014-17; 1st season, 2014 (10 ep); other ph: Michael Slovis (pilot; shot in 2013) & Todd McMullen (7 ep)
2016	Ozark [ep #5 'Ruling Days' & #6 'Book of Ruth' dir by Andrew Bernstein] series/HD (Panasonic VariCam 35), 2017-present; 1st season, 2017 (10 ep); other ph: Pepe Avila del Pino (#1-2) & Ben Kutchins (#3-4 & #7-10); for Netflix

MISCELLANEOUS
1987	Two Moon Junction [Zalman King] co-grip; ph: Mark Plummer
1991	JFK [Oliver Stone] uncred co-prod asst; ph: Robert Richardson
1992	Freaked/Hideous Mutant Freekz [Tom Stern & Alex Winter] co-grip; ph: Jamie Thompson
1994	The Nature of the Beast/The Hatchet Man/Bad Company [Victor Salva] co-grip; ph: Levie Isaacks
1994	Victim of Desire/Implicated [Jim Wynorski] co-grip; ph: Carlos González
1994	Hellraiser: Bloodline [Kevin Yagher] best boy grip; ph: Gerry Lively
1995	No Way Back [Frank A. Cappello] best boy grip; ph: Richard Clabaugh
1995	Independence Day [Roland Emmerich] co-rigging grip; ph: Karl Walter Lindenlaub
1995	Magenta [Gregory C. Haynes] gaffer; ph: Mark Anthony Galluzzo
1996	The Ritual [Gore Verbinski; short] co-best boy electric; ph: Neil Shapiro
1996	Money Talks [Brett Ratner] co-best boy; ph: Russell Carpenter & Robert Primes