About:
Mike Jones has a background spanning writing, creative project development, technical production & screen education. He is an award winning writer, filmmaker and teacher with extensive experience in both traditional & new media production.
Mike is currently Head of Story for Portal Entertainment, developing immersive thrillers for new media platforms and is engaged in commissioned feature-film and television script development projects both in Australia and overseas. He is also lecturer in screen studies at the Australian Film TV & Radio School where he teaches across a range of diciplines and co-developed the world’s first graduate program in web-series development and online episodic storytelling.
Mike has worked both in Australia and internationally in script editing, series and feature script development as well documentary. He is an extensively published author of more than 200 essays, articles, reviews and books for students of screen media as well as a produced & award winning playwright, journalist & former editor for the Australian National Playwright’s Centre. Mike has lectured internationally on topics as diverse as screenwriting process, computer game narrative and visual effects. In recent years he has presented at the Virtuality conference in Italy in 2006, the Cinema & Technology conference in the UK, the keynote lecture at the IADIS conference on Computer Interaction and Video Gaming in Germany in 2010, ScreenFutures in Melbourne, the Australian Writers Guild conference, the Australian International Documentary Conference and public lectures on screenwriting and creative development technology in New York and Los Angeles. Mike is also active in research projects including current investigations into gaming and interactive entertainment and the role of traditionally skilled artists in new media forms.
Aside from writing, Mike is a highly skilled camera operator, photographer & editor and has worked on numerous short films, documentaries, exhibitions, music videos and video art projects. In addition, he has for many years been involved in the development of the Celtx writing and pre-production software system. Mike was formerly manager of the Vectorlab digital media studios at Australia’s largest museum, the Powerhouse. This role developed his rich expertise in digital platform development including key online and cross-media projects such as Wireless to Web - winner of a 2005 ATOM award, Soundbyte - winner of a 2003 Eureka Science Prize and a state Premier’s Award for online production in 2004. In 2007 Mike was presented with the Professional Teachers Council Outstanding Service Award for Teaching.
More than fifteen years diverse experience have shaped his broad and holistic perspective on Screen Media Narratives, Technologies and Futures…
