Michael Giannantonio is highly experienced and knowledgeable in virtually all aspects of live and planned production including: live entertainment, theatrical & production lighting, cinematography, scriptwriting, development, broadcasting, financing, pre-production, production, post-production, marketing and distribution. A few of Michael’s current goals include writing and directing motion pictures for a global market, and producing / filming high end television content.

Michael was born on March 12, 1973 on K.I. Air Force Base in Michigan, USA. Little was it known at that time that Michael was destined for a lifetime in the entertainment industry. Michael displayed his creativity and leadership abilities at a very young age. While in elementary school Michael took to the arts creating sculptures, paintings, etc, often finding his works on display in the school’s front office, and winning many awards in art fairs. Michael had even mastered his first magic trick at a very young age. By the age of 11, Michael had made his first musical recording. Before age 12, Michael was performing complex magic tricks for his friends and family. It was around this time Michael also discovered the video camera and had begun developing ideas and producing home videos. Coming from poverty, at age 13, and not being old enough to legally work in the state of Arizona, Michael learned the meaning of hard work when he worked through his summer recess for his neighbor, owner of Performance II Body Shop in Glendale, Arizona. Michael made a mere $50 per week and was able to save his hard earned money to buy something he had found he was fascinated by, the guitar. Michael purchased his first guitar and spent his spare time learning to play. at age 14 Michael started his first local band, ‘Nitefire’. Michael then made his professional debut as a musician at age 15 when Nitefire played its first paying gig at the famed Mason Jar in Phoenix, Arizona. This led to a 10 year career as a professional lead guitarist in popular Phoenix, Arizona local rock bands.

As with many struggling artists, Michael’s story a difficult one. Michael has struggled for many decades of his life. At age 17, with his stepfather in prison and his family struggling for survival, with a mere 3 1/2 credits left, Michael was forced to leave high school in order to work full time as an electricians apprentice. Michael once again excelled and within a few years Michael found himself managing electrical crews on Large projects such as Fry’s Grocery Stores, Target, Marshalls, and more. Shortly there after Michael was working as a journeyman electrician for the International; Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 640. During this time Michael’s latest band was making some progress, headlining major venues within the Phoenix area, and growing a fan base. While working protocol level 5 tool install on swing shift at Intel’s new FAB 12 plant in Chandler, Arizona, Michael discovered something he saw a big future in, computers. Being no stranger to technology and having built many computers of his own, Michael saw big potential in the direction Intel was going in with their new Pentium 4 microchip processors. This led michael to leave the electrical field and transition into the technology industry.

Michael accepted a position as a salesman at a multisite technology company in Phoenix, Arizona. Within 6 months Michael was promoted to shift manager. Shortly thereafter Michael was promoted to the stores manager. Meanwhile, Michael’s band, Loaded Gun, was in the studio recording. After a failed recording session caused by another member of the band, Loaded Gun lost a potential record deal. That failure pushed Michael to leave the band and move into a new creative direction, a solo act, where Michael was ultimately to become a world renown stage hypnotist and magician. At this time Michael was now overseeing the management of several locations and realized there was nowhere left to go within the company. There was only one thing left to do, start his own technology company. Michael formed a new technology company, Performance PC Computers. As with everything Michael had done, he immediately excelled. Michael worked directly with venders such as Intel and Microsoft to create the worlds most advances personal computers. Michael went on to acquire government technology contracts in which he established citywide municipal local and wide area networks, sat on the boards of municipal CIS and technology committees, implemented municipal technology policies, and advanced the technology sectors within his state. Michael was even called in to certify the Y2K status of all embedded chip equipment in multiple cities, safely carrying municipalities, and their communities, into a new decade.

Being successful within the technology sector left Michael with something missing, his creative outlet. Michael began channeling some of his profits into his magical and hypnotic stage show. Michael then took this show on the road, touring the world performing at elite venues. In 2003, after becoming a world renowned stage hypnotist and magician and having started numerous successful companies, Michael formed another company, a talent agency responsible for the representation of entertainers. His stage acts were also being regularly featured on national and international television shows, in print media and even on radio broadcasts. During this time, Michael also found himself writing and consulting for feature films, as well as producing professional video related works and arranging feature film financing in his “spare time”.

In late 2004, Michael, now performing in excess of 250 live shows per year for casinos, fairs, festivals, theme parks and more, found himself somehow feeling “empty” inside, after all, he is an artist at heart. In 2005, along side lifelong friend, John Voight, Michael wrote, produced and directed his first award winning short film titled, “The Devil Inside”. The success of this short film led to Michael’s retirement from the stage and to his transition into film and television. In 2006, Michael and John partnered with a Phoenix based educational institution to established a post grad production and post-production house. During this time the duo stated that they learned a lot of tough lessons within the industry.

Michael utilized decades of stage production, audio, visual, computer and lighting knowledge within an executive level management position as the manager of lighting and power distribution for a tri-state live event production company. Michael then left this position to spend the next year and a half writing, producing, directing and editing all types of video productions for a large, well known Scottsdale, Arizona based production company. At the same time, Michael was aligning himself within the television and film industry working as a producer and director of photography on national television shows. Michael then entered the television and film industry as a freelance producer, director and director of photography. Since doing so, Michael has accepted many positions within the film and television industry as he felt it would be best to have working knowledge and experience within every department. Michael often states “A true leader understands that they themselves must have worked within a department in order to truly understand that departments needs.”

Michael currently finds himself writing, producing, directing and filming feature length and short subject films, television shows, documentaries, commercials, corporate videos, artist profiles and more. Michael, alongside his production company, Summitstar Films & Entertainment, finally feels he has found his true calling and loves his aspiring career in film and television. With a new studio on the way, Michael looks forward to a long and prosperous career sharing creative and artistic visions with the world.