About Michael R.R. McLaughlin

That's me! Screenwriter / Director / Author, but primarily entrepreneur of life. So, let me tell you a little about myself.

I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, went to Newport Harbor High and then Del Norte High School, before attending film school from 1993-96, where I shot several short films, including the Student Emmy® award-winning The Fourth Trimester, and a feature length version of that film. Believing that one learns by doing something rather than just by reading about it or being taught it, I also wrote, directed, shot, edited, and sometimes acted in a scene on video every week outside of class, as well as watching fifteen classic films outside of class a week. Of course, since then I have been trying to unlearn everything taught to me in school, (mostly formulaic clichés), and rediscover myself as an artist.

Just before graduating, I came back to Los Angeles and formed a production company to shoot an independent film. The company was MRM Productions; and the film was Of Love & Betrayal, a simple story I intended to shoot in 16 mm on my own sailboat with some friends from film school. The project snowballed into a 35 mm project shot on a 76' schooner on location in the Bahamas. There were several tropical storms, hurricanes, dealings with drug dealers, DEA agents, two murders, and the usual cast & crew love affairs along the way; and they weren't even in the movie we were making. What fun!

Although I believe my primary talent lies in directing film, I do a great deal of writing. I have finished several feature scripts in addition to Of Love & Betrayal, and have several more in development. I also scribe a little literature, including The Hero Sagas novels (originally released under the pseudonym of Sterling Drake); they are featured in the web pages associated with this site. Rüneglaive: Sword of Heroes is the first book in a fantasy trilogy available exclusively on the net, along with the maps, histories, languages, heraldry, and artwork of Indrēl.

E-mail me at mrm@mrmproductions.com !