Francine Michelle

*Member The Actor’s Studio Writer/Director Unit

IMDb

Francine Michelle is an independent filmmaker who has written, directed, shot and edited projects big and small, including a documentary of the making of Ice T’s rap album, Black Ice, Urban Legends. Her narrative feature film, Desertion, which she both wrote and directed, garnered much attention at the LA Femme Film Festival in Beverly Hills, took home the top feature award at The Valley Film Festival, and was nominated for best feature by a first time director at The Heart of England Film Festival.

Francine has been writing short and long form scripts for two decades. Although a director first, she found a love for writing when unable to find projects that impassioned and spoke to her. Francine worked as a writer’s assistant for an indie film screenwriter who taught her a great deal about finding her voice in the narrative and optioned another feature with his independent film company. Her short film, Mislabeled, was a finalist in the Women in Media CAMERAderie initiative.

Francine started her directing journey as a theatre director, which gave her a great deal of experience working with actors and coaching them on their emotional journeys. Francine directed on stages large and small throughout her college career and then in Los Angeles as well. Since moving to Austin, she directed The Shape of Things at Zach North and Mesmerized at the Georgetown Palace Theatre.

Formal education-wise, Francine was selected to be a part of the inaugural class in Directing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In addition, she studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York, and was accepted as the youngest ever Director Member of the famed Actor’s Studio Writer/Director Unit. She taught acting for over a decade at the New York Film Academy, the Lee Strasberg Institute, and was invited to teach a special Acting for Film Course in Salerno, Italy. Since moving to Austin, Francine has taught at Zach Theatre as well as ACC.