Michael Churchill, one of Toronto’s top producers and creative directors, has served the broadcast and production industry’s most demanding clients with peak creativity and careful management of their production resources. He has worked extensively as a hands-on producer, designer/director, editor and computer animator. He recently won Gold and Silver BDA Awards for Network re-design and Title Openings for Report on Business Television. Among Churchill’s current work now on the air includes opening title, bumpers, lead-ins and feature segments for TSN’s hard-hitting sports show, "The Reporters." which also won a Gold BDA. He has won numerous awards including a Gemini Nomination for Best Picture Editing for his work on "The Magnificent One, the Mario Lemieux story", a feature-length documentary. He also received a Worldfest Gold and Creative Summit Award for Best Title Openings and a Telly Award for Best Animation in a television commercial. His special effects work for Devine Entertainment helped that company’s "The Inventor’s Series" garner both Emmy and Gemini Awards.

As a producer, Michael has been responsible for planning and effectively managing sizable production budgets. He gained this experience both in his own companies and as Executive Producer and Creative Director of The Studio Upstairs, a division of Creative Post. Following the creation of Churchill Media Group, a media and print design company, and Art ’n Motion, a broadcast design company, he launched GFX Animation in 1994, offering high-end design, animation and visual effects to create show openings, title design and 3D character animation.  Before starting these companies Michael served as producer/director for seven years at Toronto’s Ad-Venture Communications, where he was responsible for managing production, post-production, and the design department. In August 2000, he merged GFX with Twister Digital Design to create The Studio Upstairs.

Michael and his companies have worked for such other clients as: Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, Global Television, CTV, TSN, CBC, Discovery Channel, Young and Rubicam, Grey Worldwide, and Bates USA.  He has designed and art directed for numerous high profile projects, including the Gemini Award-winning programs, "September ’72" and "Forever Rivals." Other projects include designing and directing the new branding for Global News, network design for MenTV, and the broadcast design for the 2001 and 2002 Gemini Awards for CBC.

Michael has had a long interest in establishing programs to ensure the industry’s future. He was instrumental in establishing and teaching the Alias Animation Program at The International Academy of Design. Michael’s graduates have gone on to work on such films as "Doctor Doolittle," "The Cell" and "Existenze."

Michael graduated with top honors from the Audio Visual and Television Production Program at Humber College of Applied Arts and Technology where he worked as a technician in his graduating year.  He also spent a year as an animation camera operator and roto-scope artist for Light Box studios.