Michael LaFata

Principal at Love Stinks, LLC
Producer, Screenwriter and Actor

Los Angeles, California

Member Since:
December 2013

Last online:
> 2 weeks ago

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About Michael

As a writer/producer who loves telling the story through a unique lens, as well as having a financial investment and international business background, I’ve lived a wide-ranging life for the last 3 decades. Oddly enough, I've been able to weave both disciplines - creative & business, improbably though successfully, allowing for left brain/right brain harmony.

From my first comedic short film at 12 in Pennsylvania to improv comedy in San Francisco in my 20s to stand-up and sketch comedy clubs in Oakland and Los Angeles in my 30s, writing or preforming comedy was always apart of my life. Yet, also during this time, I was incredibly successful in several Fortune 500 companies. Seizing an opportunity the late 90s, I pivoted to the heights of private equity, a very un-funny world, working in Los Angeles and New York, ultimately running their International offices in London, and Paris. By the time I looked up, more than a decade had passed. Though I had developed incredible skill sets in another arena, my funny bone was breaking. I ached to get back to the creative. In 2011, I left the suit and tie, listening to my screaming soul, and moved back to LA to initiate my final moult.

Along with an outrageous imagination, my depth of life experiences help shape the unique perspectives I produce in my body of work. I love classic “fish-out-of-water” themes; It’s a scenario I know quite well. Writing about people in awkward, unfamiliar, or uncomfortable situations, then mining laughs with the purposes of showing how universal we all are.

My current project, a musical romantic comedy feature film, titled, “Love Is Afoot!” showcases this theme perfectly and also exemplifies the strengths of left/right brain collaboration: co-writing an award-winning script and music, and now producing it into reality.

Unique traits: PADI diver since 1987

Gender:
Male

Height:
6' 1"

Weight:
200

Body type:
Athletic

Hair:
Medium

Hair color:
Brown

Eyes:
Green

Ethnicity:
Mediterranean

Badges

Photos

Videos

Loglines

No Time for Losers Budget: $1M - $5M | Comedy It's 1998 and with the millennium around the corner, two slacker friends decide to work the pacific dates of a giant rock tour. Who knew the road trip of a lifetime could teach them a lifetimes’ worth of lessons.
The 'Lil Dirty Diaper Gang... Revisited Budget: $100K - $1M | Comedy Five grown orphanage men who never got picked as kids and who still live there, decide to revive a variety show from when they were youngsters, and raise money to save their orphanage.
Joy of Venus Budget: $100K - $1M | Musical ⋄ Animation With the backdrop of Astronomy verses Astrology, this animated musical short film examines the intricate relationship challenges of two autistic young adults as they fall in love during COVID-19. Keeping a distance works for them in this non-touching love story.
The Guesthouse Budget: $0 - $100K | Comedy Living in Hollywood, California, "tourist central," and needing money, a multi-generational gay couple become Airbnb hosts. The fresh upstart, Robby, convinces the older, reluctant, Bill, to embrace the ‘gig’ economy and turn their backyard guesthouse into a vacation rental. Needing a stellar "first review," Bill bends over backward to make it happen, testing his love of humanity.
Love Is Afoot! Budget: $5M - $10M | Comedy ⋄ Musical ⋄ Romance Love Is Afoot! is a musical romantic comedy set in the 1940s. It follows the lives and struggles of lovebirds Joe and Rose Marie, who are kept apart due to what society deems an unacceptable love- for feet! Through song and dance, they learn about the importance of love, acceptance, and staying true to oneself.

Credits

"F" (2006)
Film (short) by laceyface productions (Comedy, Film-Noir and Short) Executive Producer, co-writer, lead actor

Awards

Special Someone/Love Is Afoot! - Best Original Song - Bare Bones International Film & Music Festival
(2021)
"Special Someone/Love Is Afoot!" - Best Original Score - Bronze - Global Music Awards
(2021)
"Special Someone/Love Is Afoot!" - Best Original Song - Love Wins Film Festival
(2021)
"Love Is Afoot!" - Best Screenplay - Reading FilmFest
(2021)
"Special Someone/Love Is Afoot!" - Best Song - IFS, LA Film Festival
(2020)
"Love Is Afoot!" - Screenplay of the Year - Las Vegas International Film & Screenplay Festival
(2019)
"Love Is Afoot!" - Best Musical Screenplay - Moondance International Film Festival
(2019)
"Love Is Afoot!" - Best Musical Screenplay - Las Vegas International Film & Screenwriting Festival
(2019)
"F" Best Experimental Film - Las Vegas International Film Festival
(2007)
"F" Best Short Film - Calgary Film Festival
(2006)
"F" Most Memorable Film - Eugene Film Festival
(2006)