Michael O'Rourke

Shadow FX Films
Screenwriter, Script Consultant, Story Analyst and Producer

Madison, Wisconsin

Member Since:
January 2015

Last online:
> 2 weeks ago

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About Michael

Michael O'Rourke directed five midnight projects at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which set the stage for construction of the Festival’s Black Swan. He co-founded Actors’ Theatre in Southern Oregon in 1982, producing 100 productions in 13 years, and served as executive director for the capital campaign to purchase and remodel a vaudeville house into the company’s 100-seat black box. Michael’s collaboration with Lakota actor Robert Owens resulted in a one-man show (“Walking on Turtle Island”) that toured internationally for 16 years. As managing artistic director of Anchorage Community Theatre he co-produced collaborations with the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which resulted in a Native American Music Award for Best Music Video (2005). Recipient of grants for development of heritage scripts celebrating the Klamath Siskiyou Bioregion, he wrote “In the Land Where Acorns Dance,” a screenplay based on a young poet’s life among the Shasta Indians in Northern California during the Gold Rush. The script received the 2015 Grand Prize at the Yosemite Film Festival. His adaptation of Native American activist Winona LaDuke’s novel “Last Standing Woman” was an Official Selection of last year’s Oaxaca FilmFest Global Script Challenge. O’Rourke’s credits include script consulting on the independent feature “All for Liberty,” earning a “Top 10 Revolutionary War Movie” in the Journal of the American Revolution.

Unique traits: "All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed." Sean O'Casey

Gender:
Male

Badges

Loglines

In the Land Where Acorns Dance Historical ⋄ Biography ⋄ Western Two young men raised as Quakers stake claims in the gold fields of California in the Rush of ’49. While BEN WRIGHT fights to be the preeminent Indian fighter of his time, JOAQUIN MILLER struggles to be the poet laureate of the land and its indigenous peoples. Contemporaries on the trail to gold and glory, their conflict defines the history of not only the West, but also the nation. While witnessing cataclysmic change brought on by 200,000 immigrants seeking gold in the traditional haunts of the California River Tribes, the poet Joaquin must put down his pen and pick up the gun to defend the Shasta tribe that has adopted him.
Wiindigoo the Cannibal Action ⋄ Historical Namaybin and his band of White Earth Ojibway face extinction, as their ancestral forests are clearcut in 1915. He rallies his family and neighbors for a last stand against lumber baron Lucky Waller, nicknamed “The Cannibal.” From a story by Winona LaDuke.
Agwajiing the Sanitarium Historical ⋄ Drama Young Native American sisters battle tuberculosis in a white-run sanitarium in the North Woods of Minnesota during the harsh winter of 1920. From a story by Winona LaDuke.
A Screw Loose Somewhere Romance ⋄ Comedy Jack, an Irish daredevil in an olde English pub, is lured to ride a midnight coach to parts unknown in the company of Britain’s most notorious villains.He soon learns they plan to deflower a dazzling beauty, who proves not only to be Jack's soul mate, but his comrade in arms. From a story by Charles Dickens.

Credits

Medal of Victory (2016)
Film (Action, Adventure and Comedy) Camera and Electrical Department After accidentally shipping a crate of nuclear fusion triggers to Malawi, soldiers Floyd and Stu go AWOL. Back in his old home town, Floyd is mistaken as a war hero and swept up in the local mayoral election. A comically absurd chain of events forces Floyd to decide whether to keep running or face his past and go home again.
Riot (2012)
Film (Drama, Family and Thriller) Miscellaneous Crew It is December in the busy city of Windsor, Ontario. University exams have ended and a group of young friends get together for a night on the town. After sampling in a number of vibrant clubs and downtown eateries, they take the party back to Myron's house. The following morning they are awakened in Myron's basement by some strange noises coming from the main floor. They soon come to the realization that someone may have broken into the home... Months have passed and it is now June. Yet the subject of the 'break in' is still fresh on everyone's minds. Suspicions are risen and friendships are broken. Who was behind this traumatizing event? Why did it happen to them? Whether or not these questions are answered, there is no question their lives are forever changed. Written by Kyle Mosonyi
All for Liberty (2009)
Film (Drama) Miscellaneous Crew It is 1775. Henry Felder, a Swiss-German colonist, lives with his family in the British colony of South Carolina. After many years of struggling with corrupt British rulers, Felder is urged by the new patriot governor to write Articles of Separation from the English King. Felder's old Indian fighting comrade forms a Tory militia to assist the Crown as the fight heats up. Written by Anonymous
Refuge of Dragonflies (2008)
Film (Short) Director Brought to trial by the blind judge Moon Dog, a visionary poet is condemned for a crime he tried to prevent. If he is to escape death by hanging at the Court of Miracles, he must surrender to the demands of the celestial street dancer, La Esmeralda. Based on characters in Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of Notre Dame," this contemporary adaptation features an international cast from 11 countries. Written by M. O'Rourke
Mystery Mansion (1983)
Film (Adventure and Mystery) Actor Susan and her brother Johnny go to spend the summer with their aunt and uncle, where they discover a map that may lead to some sort of treasure. Susan had been having nightmares about a girl, Rachel, who disappeared in a nearby mansion, now old and abandoned. Eventually, Susan and Johnny, along with their cousin Billy, begin a quest to find the treasure, as well as the answers to Rachel's disappearance. While they are doing this 2 escaped convicts are also looking for the same treasure! Written by M2argue@aol.com