Confirmed Engagements
Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford
New Renaissance Project — Two-Day Intensive Seminar
The flagship seminar of the New Renaissance Project, held on the Oxford campus. Filmmakers, theologians, and cultural critics in conversation about the three classical transcendentals and what genuinely new work might look like.
About the project →Oxford University — TORCH Programme
The Humanities and the Moving Image
Invited address for the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities — on the question of whether film can carry the weight of humanistic inquiry, and what is lost when it refuses to try.
Brigham Young University — Marriott Center
BYU Forum Address
The BYU Forum Address is delivered to the full student body in the 23,000-seat Marriott Center — one of the largest regular speaking venues in American higher education. Micheal spoke on the power of stories to form the moral imagination and Walden Media's conviction that the marketplace is hungry for films that take people seriously.
Watch on BYUtv →Ethics & Public Policy Center — Faith Angle Forum
Faith, Film, and the American Story
The Faith Angle Forum convenes senior American journalists — Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal — with practitioners to discuss the intersection of faith and public life. Micheal's full session was transcribed and published by EPPC. It includes the origin story of the "Micheal" spelling, the William F. Buckley connection, and the full account of Walden's education strategy from Waiting for Superman to Won't Back Down.
Read full transcript (EPPC) →Hillsdale College
Let Them At Least Have Heard of Brave Knights and Heroic Courage
Delivered on the opening night of Amazing Grace. Published in Imprimis, Hillsdale's monthly journal with 5.5 million subscribers — the most widely distributed journal in American conservative thought.
Read in Imprimis →University of Notre Dame — de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture
Ethics and Culture Cast — Episode 77
Extended conversation with the de Nicola Center on faith, film, and the responsibility of storytellers to the culture they inhabit.
Listen to episode →Speaking Topics
What I talk about.
Stories & Culture
Why narrative is the most reliable engine for forming the people we hope the next generation will become — and what Hollywood keeps getting wrong about it.
Education as Civil Rights
The scandal of American public education — and the argument that school choice is the civil rights issue of our era, made from three decades of working at the intersection of film and learning.
Faith & the Creative Life
We don't need more Christian films. We need more filmmakers who are Christians. The distinction matters — and living inside it for thirty years has taught me something.
Campaign Strategy
How to build the audience before you open. What 547,826 simultaneous readers taught me about grassroots activation that no media buy can replicate.
The New Renaissance
The case for why we are at a hinge moment in cultural history — and what it would take to build a generation of storytellers equal to the moment.
Producing Independent Film
The economics of values-driven entertainment — how to make films that matter without losing money, and why the two goals are less in tension than Hollywood wants you to think.
Book Micheal
Speaking inquiries welcome.
For universities, conferences, faith communities, and corporate audiences. Available for keynotes, panel discussions, and workshops.
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