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Michael-Ryan Fletchall, SOC Hollywood Expat

The Filmmaker Behind the Agency

Every agency founder has a LinkedIn bio. Most of them read like a résumé got wine drunk and tried to write poetry. This isn't that.

Hollywood Expat is where my thirty years of living inside the machine - sets, stages, edit bays, cockpits, and way too many craft service tables - collides with the brain that built EETHR. It's original scripted content in active development. It's production credits across live television, features, and commercial work on three continents. And it's a camera operator who still gets a little too excited when somebody rolls a Technocrane onto the stage.

The filmmaking career isn't separate from the agency. It is the agency. Every strategy, every workflow, every frame of content EETHR delivers was forged in the same place: on set, under pressure, with the clock running and the AD calling "last looks." The difference between a storyteller who's been in the arena and one who's read about it? About three decades, a few scars, and a very specific opinion about where the camera should go.

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What's Cooking

Currently in Development

I'm not going to tell you everything - that's what NDAs and pitch meetings are for - but here's what's on the stove.

These projects are built using EETHR's own AI-augmented production pipeline - the same workflow we deploy for clients. Hollywood fidelity at a budget that doesn't require a second mortgage or a nervous breakdown from your line producer.

If you're a development executive, producer, or financier and something here caught your eye - good. Scroll to the bottom. Let's talk.

Free Fall

Television Series

Free Fall

Drama | Action | Mystery

An airline captain saves everyone on board after a 39,000-foot plunge - then watches his life unravel when the NTSB accuses him of destroying evidence. Adapted from Emilio Corsetti III's Scapegoat. Hidden trauma, a double life, and a fight against institutional injustice. This one's been living in my head since I read the book, and it's the kind of story that reminds you why long form television series exist.

The Yachtsman

Branded Microdrama

The Yachtsman

Action | Adventure | Dramedy

A "lost" lottery winner cruises exotic ports - but he's actually a rogue operative for a clandestine UNESCO/Interpol division, recovering stolen cultural artifacts before black market smugglers can move them. Think Ocean's Eleven on a cruise ship with a Thomas Crown twist and a MacGyver toolkit. Each series plays out during a single voyage, with the ship's tender schedule as the ticking clock.

Minute Universe

Vertical Series

Minute Universe

Comedy | Action | Adventure

One-minute vertical episodes. Scripted. Acted. Complete narrative arcs in sixty seconds - comedy, drama, action, whatever the story demands. Designed for ad-supported platforms as high-energy standalone hits, but here's the trick: the episodes connect, and when stitched together horizontally, they become full short films. Two-tiered entertainment - the snack and the meal from the same kitchen.

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  • 6 Technology Innovations

  • 30+ Years Experience

  • 3 continents

  • 60 feature films

  • 40 television series

  • 70 commercials

  • 40 music videos

  • 1 Emmy nomination

ICG 600 SOC

Camera Operator

Before the agency, before the content series, before the founder title - there was the camera. There's still the camera, and always will be.

I've spent the better part of three decades looking at the world through a lens, and I still believe the camera operator is the most underappreciated storyteller on any set. We don't just frame the shot. We interpret the scene. We breathe with the actors. We move a two-ton Technocrane to position the camera in the perfect position at just the right time to capture the action.

My specialty is remote systems - the rigs that let you put the camera in places a human body was never meant to go. Telescopic cranes, remote heads, arm cars, cable cams, track cams, drones, manned aircraft, and underwater housings. If it moves, I've probably strapped a camera to it. If it doesn't move, I've probably figured out how to make it.

I stay active on set because the technology keeps evolving and because, let's be honest, I love it. Every gig makes me a better filmmaker, a sharper agency strategist, and the kind of person who still gets genuinely fired up when someone says "we've got a Scorpio V on a 50-foot Techno for the coverage."

Technical Capabilities

Specialty remote systems, telescopic cranes (Technocrane, Moviebird, Supertechno, Scorpio), remote heads (Libra, Titan, Scorpio, Matrix, Defy, Mo-Sys, DJI), arm cars, cable cam systems, track camera systems, drone/UAS operations (FAA Part 107, instrument-rated pilot), manned aerial cinematography, underwater camera systems, dolly operation, motion control/capture systems, live broadcast multi-camera operation.

Union Memberships

  • International Cinematographers Guild (ICG Local 600)

  • Society of Camera Operators (SOC)

 

Full resume and credits available upon request and on IMDb link. For availability, contact information is below.


Michael-Ryan on IMDb

Creative Work

Notable Experience

Here are some of the names you'll recognize — not because I'm name-dropping, but because you probably need to know whether the person writing your brand strategy has actually stood next to a Spielberg or a Ron Howard on a working set. (The answer is yes, for a decade, through Panavision Remote Systems and Pro-Cam Rentals. And I learned more about visual storytelling watching the masters up close at work than any film school could teach in four years.)

Emmy-Nominated: American Ninja Warrior

Academy Awards · NFL on Fox · Super Bowl 50 · MTV Movie Awards · American Idol · Germany's Next Top Model · Iron Chef America · Full Bloom · American Ninja Warrior · Big Brunch · Country Music Awards · Paradise Hotel · ESPY Awards · Athlos Track & Field

Avengers: Endgame · Marvel: Black Panther · Venom · Spiderman 3 · Mr. and Mrs. Smith · Mission Impossible 3 · The Last Samurai · Seabiscuit · Castaway · Perfect Storm · Ocean's 11 · The Italian Job · Constantine · Charlie's Angels · Fight Club · Galaxy Quest · Armageddon · Lethal Weapon 4 · Man on the Moon · Magnolia · The Grinch · Transformers · Clerks 2

Thirteen Reasons Why · Code Black · West Wing · House · E.R. · C.S.I. Las Vegas · Dexter · Star Trek: Voyager · X-Files · Deadwood · Alias · My Name Is Earl · Star Trek: Picard · Bondsman · Book of Boba Fett · Lodge 49

 

70 national and international campaigns including Honda · Toyota · Sony · Ford · McDonalds · American Express · Microsoft · BMW · Mercedes-Benz · Coca-Cola · State Farm · Victoria's Secret · Hewlett Packard · Levi’s Jeans · Southwest Airlines · Ethan Allen · American Eagle Outfitters · UPS · DirecTV

40 including Michael Jackson · Kanye West · Celine Dion · Shakira · Destiny’s Child · Alien Ant Farm · DMX · Lil’ Kim · Macy Gray · Iron Maiden · Mariah Carey · Elton John · Limp Bizkit · Back Street Boys · Faith Hill · LL Cool J · Metallica · Lenny Kravitz · Jennifer Lopez · Eminem · Will Smith · Justin Timberlake

The Forger (feature, starring Josh Hutcherson, Lauren Bacall, Alfred Molina, Hayden Panettiere) · Intelligence (short film, 5 festival awards, starring Milo Ventimiglia) · DVD On TV (FX Network series, directed) · It's a Mall World (MTV) · Winter Tales (American Eagle Outfitters) · Brooks McBeth: This Ain't Shakespeare (TV special)

Behind the Scenes

Hollywood Expat Series

 

Michael-Ryan Reflections

LET'S TALK SHOP

This isn't the agency inquiry form. This is the filmmaker's direct line.

If you're a development executive with a project that needs a writer-director who understands production budgets as well as he understands story structure - reach out. If you're a UPM or production coordinator looking for a specialty camera operator with three decades of experience and the union cards to prove it - reach out. If you're a producer exploring co-production, a financier evaluating talent attachments, or a fellow filmmaker who wants to collaborate on something that matters - you guessed it.

For camera operating availability, development inquiries, or production collaboration: