Mark Travis' Biography

Directing

Mark Travis created THE TRAVIS GROUP in 1992 as a training and consulting company for directors, actors and writers. In 1999 he joined forces with director/writer Frederick Johntz and they formed TRAVIS-JOHNTZ PRODUCTIONS (www.travis-johntz.com) which has become a prestigious development and consulting company for both studio and independent feature films and television.

Mark Travis has been represented as a director for many years on the Los Angeles and off-Broadway stages by such critically acclaimed productions as A Bronx Tale, Undressing New Jersey, Faithful, Once A Man Twice A Boy, Time Flies When You’re Alive, Cafe 50’s, No Place Like Home, Equus, Wings, TheComing of Stork, Linke vs. Redfield, Verdigris and The Lion In Winter. His producions have garnered a total of thirty Drama-Logue, L.A. Weekly, Drama Critics’ Circle, A.D.A and Ovation awards.

Mark did his graduate studies at the Yale School of Drama and is a former creative consultant to film director Mark Rydell.

His television directing credits include The Facts of Life, Family Ties, Capitol and the Emmy Award-winning PBS dramatic special, Blind Tom: The Thomas Bethune Story. In 1990 he completed his first film, Going Under, for Warner Bros., starring Bill Pullman and Ned Beatty. 1992 Mark opened The Travis Group, (which became Travis-Johntz Productions in 1999) a consulting and development company for directors, writers and producers (www.travis-johntz.com). In 1999 he directed the documentary, Earlet and in 2001 he wrote and directed The Baritones (a parody of The Sopranos). He is currently co-directing the documentary Ancient Light for Piko Productions in Hawaii (www.pikoproductions.com) which will be released in 2007.

Teaching

Since 1992 Mark has been sharing his techniques on writing, acting and directing worldwide. His personalized approach and hands-on workshops provide students with an unparalleled learning experience.

Consulting

With his partner, Frederick Johntz, Mark has served as a Creative Consultant on several feature films including: Men of Honor; Barbershop; Barbershop 2; The Day Reagan Was Shot; Norma Jean, Jack and Me; The Last Run; Tournament of Dreams, Del Rio, Black Irish and television episodes of Lois and Clark; The Pretender; Picket Fences, 90210, Melrose Place; Strong Medicine; NYPD Blue; The Practice and Ally MacBeal.

Writing

Mark’s screenwriting credits include: The Baritones; Jeremy and the Aunties (currently in preparation); and The Nap. Current projects in development HausFrau, The Ride and Siblings.

Mark is the author of the Number-One Best Seller (L.A. Times), THE DIRECTOR’S JOURNEY: the Creative Collaboration between Directors, Writers and Actors. His second book on directing, DIRECTING FEATURE FILMS (published in April of 2002) is currently used as required text in film schools worldwide. He is currently writing two new books LIFESTORIES: the Art and Craft of Autobiographical Storytelling and THE DIRECTOR’S BAG OF TRICKS.