The Mad Doctor of The Intercontinental Hotel

Michael Shane Bowles is a writer, director, photographer, and cinematographer based out of San Diego, California. Michael grew up on the East Coast, attended the Atlanta College of Art, then eventually headed west until finally finding himself in San Diego in 2011. Since then, he has worked full-time at one of the world’s premier leadership development organizations headquartered in Escondido, California, working his way up from multimedia specialist to cinematographer and studio technical director. It was in this role that he first uncovered his passion for the art and science of narrative filmmaking.

In retrospect, this was not unexpected. From a very young age, Michael has always been both an artist and an avid movie fan. Thanks to the keen eye of a loving aunt who recognized his talents, Michael was enrolled in art classes at age 4. Beginning with drawing and painting as a young boy, he soon progressed into photography and graphic design, and now focuses his artistic eye on creative film projects. Michael has always been driven to express his thoughts and emotions through visual means.

Michael began working on narrative short films in 2014. His early experiences on film projects cemented his love of being on set and collaborating with the incredibly talented pool of indie filmmakers found in San Diego. Since then, Michael has worked as the cinematographer or camera operator for many well-crafted shorts filmed in Southern California such as The Fischer Files (2023), Waylay (2019), Forever, My Love (2018), Break of Dawn (2018), Tosssed Assside (2018), and The Stay (2018).

In January 2023, he wrote and directed his first short film, The Mad Doctor of the Intercontinental Hotel, which is currently in the festival submission process.