Mike S. Ryan

Mike S. Ryan has produced 30 plus independent features including award winning features for such directors as Todd Solondz, Kelly Richard, Hal Hartley and Bela Tarr. 


Junebug is one of the lowest budgeted films to receive a Oscar nomination (Amy Adams' first). His films have played all of the top international festivals including winning awards at the Spirits and Gotham's. Mike’s most recent film is The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, which started in competition at Rotterdam 2024 and went on to play TIFF and NYFF and theaters in the US in 2025. It won Best Experimental Film in 2024 by the National Society of Film Critics.


Mike is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and he is an Associate Professor at Emerson College where he teaches Producing and Narratology. He is both a US and Irish Citizen.

Courses and Content

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Event Recording

Story Forum: Exploring Art and Innovation - ON DEMAND

Story Forum: Exploring Art and Innovation - ON DEMAND

Together with creators, educators, industry leaders, and technologists, we explored the creative technologies that are impacting storytelling and how today’s artists are evolving. Now you can experience it all on-demand for free.
Video

Storycraft in the Age of AI: Narratology, Structure and the Human Voice

With: Joseph Couch and 2 more
FREE

Storycraft in the Age of AI: Narratology, Structure and the Human Voice

With: Joseph Couch, Mike S. Ryan and Alicia Van Couvering
AI is entering storytelling, but the real question is not whether machines can generate scenes. It’s whether we can use AI to help humans build better stories: more coherent, more original, and more emotionally honest. This panel explores how narratology (the study of story structure, meaning, and form) can guide human-centered AI tools toward new plot structures for the modern age, beyond inherited templates like the Hero’s Journey. This session will examine how creators can keep the moving parts of a story legible, stress-test decisions, and discover new shapes without flattening the original voice.
FREE