Mark W Travis

"My mission is to assist artists in effectively expressing themselves by helping them to discover their personal connection to their work, and to give them the tools necessary to bring that personal expression to life."

Mark W. Travis

Since 1992 Mark Travis has been sharing his techniques on writing, acting and directing worldwide:

USA:

  • The Directors Guild
  • American Film Institute
  • Pixar Animation Studios
  • UCLA Extension
  • Taos Talking Pictures
  • Film Festival
  • Denver Film Festival
  • Hollywood Actor's Workshop
  • Hollywood Film Institute
  • Idaho Film and Television Institute

JAPAN:

  • Film & Media Lab
  • Vantan Film School

GERMANY:

  • UW Filmseminares
  • ActionConcept
  • Eric Pommer Institute
  • Konrad Wolf Film School
  • Munich Film School (HFF)
  • Münchner Filmwerkstat

POLAND:

  • The Film Farm in Kotla

ENGLAND:

  • Raindance
  • Paradigm Film Productions
  • Hurtwood House
  • Metropolitan Film School
  • London Film School
  • The London Film Academy
  • Lionhead Studios
  • Media Center Cornwall (Penzance)
  • Cornwall Film (Truro)

FRANCE:

  • The Cannes Film Festival

NETHERLANDS:

  • The Maurits Binger Institute (Amsterdam)

UKRAINE:

  • Hollywood School in Ukraine (Kiev)

BRAZIL:

  • Film Planet (Rio de Janeiro)

RUSSIA:

  • International Film Actors Workshop (Moscow)

SPAIN:

  • afilm International Film Workshops (Sitges, Barcelona)

NORWAY:

  • Norwegian Film School (Lillehammer)

IRELAND:

  • FAS Screen Training Ireland (Dublin)

Mark Travis' Biography

 

Directing

Mark Travis created THE TRAVIS GROUP in 1992 as a training and consulting company for directors, actors and writers. In 1999 he joined forces with director/writer Frederick Johntz and they formed Mark TravisTRAVIS-JOHNTZ PRODUCTIONS (www.travis-johntz.com) which has become a prestigious development and consulting company for both studio and independent feature films and television.

Mark Travis has been represented as a director for many years on the Los Angeles and off-Broadway stages by such critically acclaimed productions as A Bronx Tale, Undressing New Jersey, Faithful, Once A Man Twice A Boy, Time Flies When You’re Alive, Cafe 50’s, No Place Like Home, Equus, Wings, TheComing of Stork, Linke vs. Redfield, Verdigris and The Lion In Winter. His producions have garnered a total of thirty Drama-Logue, L.A. Weekly, Drama Critics’ Circle, A.D.A and Ovation awards.

Mark did his graduate studies at the Yale School of Drama and is a former creative consultant to film director Mark Rydell.

His television directing credits include The Facts of Life, Family Ties, Capitol and the Emmy Award-winning PBS dramatic special, Blind Tom: The Thomas Bethune Story. In 1990 he completed his first film, Going Under, for Warner Bros., starring Bill Pullman and Ned Beatty. 1992 Mark opened The Travis Group, (which became Travis-Johntz Productions in 1999) a consulting and development company for directors, writers and producers (www.travis-johntz.com). In 1999 he directed the documentary, Earlet and in 2001 he wrote and directed The Baritones (a parody of The Sopranos). He is currently co-directing the documentary Ancient Light for Piko Productions in Hawaii (www.pikoproductions.com) which will be released in 2007.

 

 

Teaching

Since 1992 Mark has been sharing his techniques on writing, acting and directing worldwide. His personalized approach and hands-on workshops provide students with an unparalleled learning experience.Mark Travis Teaching

 

 

Consulting

With his partner, Frederick Johntz, Mark has served as a Creative Consultant on several feature films including: Men of Honor; Barbershop; Barbershop 2; The Day Reagan Was Shot; Norma Jean, Jack and Me; The Last Run; Tournament of Dreams, Del Rio, Black Irish and television episodes of Lois and Clark; The Pretender; Picket Fences, 90210, Melrose Place; Strong Medicine; NYPD Blue; The Practice and Ally MacBeal.

 

 

Writing

Mark’s screenwriting credits include: The Baritones; Jeremy and the Aunties (currently in preparation); and The Nap. Current projects in development HausFrau, The Ride and Siblings.

Mark is the author of the Number-One Best Seller (L.A. Times), THE DIRECTOR’S JOURNEY: the Creative Collaboration between Directors, Writers and Actors. His second book on directing, DIRECTING FEATURE FILMS (published in April of 2002) is currently used as required text in film schools worldwide. He is currently writing two new books LIFESTORIES: the Art and Craft of Autobiographical Storytelling and THE DIRECTOR’S BAG OF TRICKS.

"Mark Travis is the only practical teacher of directing I've ever met—and simply the best. I learned more from him than I did in four years of film school!"
Cyrus Nowrasteh, Writer/Director, THE DAY REAGAN WAS SHOT, PATH TO 9/11
"I was immediately able to apply the principles learned in his class when I began to direct"
Jonathan Pontell, Co-Executive Producer/Director, ALLY McBEAL, CHICAGO HOPE
"An eye-opening description of the work that needs to be done before one frame is filmed."
Alejandro Ferreyra, Screenwriter Magazine