Biography
Mike Manasewitsch is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, director, editor, writer, cinematographer, and motion-graphics artist whose work spans comedy, music videos, television, animation, and digital series. His 20-year career fuses studio-level precision with a lifelong DIY streak rooted in punk, alt-comedy, and hands-on filmmaking.
Born in Walnut Creek, California, Mike Manasewitsch grew up working at Blockbuster Video, cycling through more free movies than any teenager should reasonably have access to - an unconventional but constant crash course in filmmaking. In high school, he lived in the darkroom and shot every band performance, skate video, and backyard-wrestling segment he could get near, naturally embedding himself among artists, punks, and weirdos in the kind of chaotic creative environment that produces filmmakers.
After completing Diablo Valley College's Film & TV Broadcast Certificate Program, he moved to Los Angeles and interned for casting directors Victoria Burrows (The Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future) and Valerie McCaffrey (American History X, Detroit Rock City). His first feature, Neo Ned (Jeremy Renner, Gabrielle Union, Cary Elwes), pulled him into the art department and ultimately into IATSE Local 44 as a set dresser and assistant prop master.
In the union, Manasewitsch worked on major productions including Weeds, Big Love, MADtv, Crank Yankers, The Middle, and numerous feature films-building a technical foundation in cinematography, lighting, and production design while gaining a deep understanding of how images are built, shaped, and lit.
Simultaneously, he became a long-standing director, shooter, writer and editor within Channel 101, the groundbreaking DIY film collective created by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab. Across more than fifteen years, he directed and contributed to dozens of shorts alongside the emerging creators of Rick and Morty, Drunk History, Community, Tim & Eric Awesome Show, The Sarah Silverman Program, and Acceptable TV. The fast, comedic, ingenuity-driven format of Channel 101 remains a core part of his style.
As digital comedy exploded, Manasewitsch became a go-to director and cinematographer for Funny or Die, CollegeHumor, AwesomenessTV, NBC Digital, G4, The Soup, and others-working with Zach Galifianakis, Jennifer Aniston, Kumail Nanjiani, Katherine Heigl, Dave Coulier, Andrea Barber, Jaleel White, Nick Swardson, and more. His work includes pieces for Between Two Ferns, FOD Exclusives and celebrity-driven branded comedy campaigns.
He later directed and created Nickelodeon's digital-shorts pilot that launched several future series regulars and continued with Nickelodeon as a director, editor, and graphics artist on Unfiltered (two seasons), the Nickelodeon NFL Wild Card Game, Nickelodeon's NFL Christmas Day Game, Slime Cup, Treasure Truck, the Kids' Choice Awards, and many more.
His commercial and branded clients include Nintendo, Amazon Games, AT&T, Vanity Fair, Microsoft, Wired, The Athletic (NYT), Subaru, beauty Rest, Jack in the Box, Ulta Beauty and multiple VR/animation studios. His editorial and animation work has appeared in major promotional campaigns for Star Wars: Rogue One, Black Panther, Pitch Perfect 3, The Disaster Artist, Stranger Things, and Vanity Fair's annual Oscars coverage.
In music, Manasewitsch is the longtime visual collaborator for Sweatband Records, directing official music videos for The Manx, DEAF CLUB, Squid Pisser, Cancer Christ, and many others. He also works closely with GWAR, directing music videos, tour promos, and the 12-minute surreal comedy pilot "Grodius Maximus Does the Dishes." Additional music video credits include Childish Gambino, the Bengals, Ted Leo, King Woman, Super Unison, and extensive live-performance cinematography across LA's punk/noise/metal scene.
Today, Mike Manasewitsch continues to write, direct, shoot, edit, animate, and design across formats-bringing together two decades of practical filmmaking, deep comedy instincts, punk energy, and a relentless DIY spirit.
