Lights!

Camera!

Action!

Troy!

Huh?

A round of applause is in order for Troy’s Motion Picture Institute for gaining fresh national recognition as one of America’s elite career schools.

The institute, now in its 25th year, was among 17 schools nationwide selected for a 2023-24 School of Distinction Award from the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges.

The honor goes to schools for commitment to quality educational programs and adherence to standards set by the accrediting commission. The commission is an authority for more than 700 private, post-secondary, technical and vocational schools, colleges and programs of instruction.

For Douglas Schulze, president of the Motion Picture Institute, the award “is testament to our continuing efforts to provide top-tier education in motion picture production.”

It’s also evidence, Schulze said, that the school’s “special sauce” of academic and hands-on education — including instructors with experience in the film industry — is working.

From its operations in a former Chrysler studio at 2040 Crooks Road, the institute has graduated more than 2,000 students into the work of movie and film production.

“A lot of people think you have to go to the West or East coasts to learn how to make movies,” said Schulze, a Michigan native born in Detroit. “But we are Michigan’s best-kept film school secret.”

The institute provides more than 20,000 square feet of teaching and workspace for students to immerse themselves in a range of skills, including screenwriting, directing, producing, cinematography, art direction, sound mixing and film production. Among lessons learned, Schulze said, is “on-set protocols” to prepare students for real-life work demands.

Some 100 students graduate each year, Schulze said, with more than 70% reporting job placement.

“You can’t turn on a television without seeing our graduates listed in the credits,” he added.

Many graduates are active in independent filmmaking, while others work for studios and companies that produce advertising and promotional films. Among those cited by Schulze:

• Six graduates listed in the credits of the movie, “Beverly Hills Cop.”

• Todd Douglas Miller, a documentarian, with “Apollo 11” and showings in IMAX theaters and the Sundance Film Festival to his credit.

• Lapeer-born Amber Harely, script supervisor for the movie “Fly Me to the Moon.” Starring Scarlett Johansson, the romantic comedy was released nationally this month. Harely’s other credits include “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and the dystopian thriller “Civil War.”

• Zack Begans, principal host of the Travel Channel series “Ghost Adventures.”

For Schulze, the institute’s success and longevity add to a filmmaking career that began while he was a student at Eastern Michigan University. While there, he founded the Eastern Film Coalition, bringing together other like-minded students focused on moviemaking.

Among those was Kurt Mayry, a University of Michigan student and partner with Schulze in the Motion Picture Institute. In the years that followed, Schulze and Mayry were active in independent filmmaking, including what Schulze describes as “low-budget action movies.” Among those were films starring John Saxon, who worked on more than 200 television and movie projects, including horror movies, Westerns and martial arts movies.

Schulze and Mayry were among the founders of the Motion Picture Production Program Institute, offering students a one-year vocational program and intensive on-set training. The inaugural class began in 1998 in Oak Park and the institute moved into the Troy facility in 1999. It took the name Motion Picture Institute in 2012.

From its beginning, the institute’s mission has been to provide training for students to learn their craft, associate with professionals and gain hands-on experience. Students vary in age, from recent high school graduates to adult working professionals.

“There are times when we are amazed at our longevity,” Schulze said. “But still, at its core, the school began with a mission statement to be an incubator for all types of filmmaking. That’s still true.”

For more information, visit motionpicture.edu.

Don’t be fooled by Maverick’s first name. The Pembroke Welsh Corgi is a team player.

Working with his Southfield-based trainer, Maverick was part of Team USA which brought home a team silver medal from the 2024 World Agility Championship in Bourgbarre, France.

The annual event was a showcase for more than 200 competitors from more than a dozen nations.

For Maverick and trainer Jeremy Gerhard, a veterinary technician working in Commerce Township, the success was another high mark in a partnership arranged in 2017 by Maverick owner Sally Slade of Grand Blanc. The showdown in France was their fourth international event together.

The dynamic duo was assembled, Gerhard said, when Slade was recovering from knee surgery and sought a partner for her Maverick. About the same time, Gerhard’s pet dog had died.

Slade often joins Gerhard and Maverick at trials to review training and strategy.

Maverick “has a big heart and is a hard-working dog who always likes to please,” Gerhard said.

For Maverick, he said, plain pancakes are an effective treat and reward.

“Sally makes him pancakes wherever we go to compete,” he said. “She brought pancake mix to France and made them for him.”

They’re served up without syrup or other goodies. “He good with plain, old pancakes,” Gerhard said.

Maverick puts in the work, but always prefers competition to training. And, while he enjoys the camaraderie of his teammates, Maverick is “all business” when competing on the agility course.

Moreover, he really cranks up the effort and performance in front of an audience, Gerhard said.

“In practice and the early rounds of competition when the crowd is smaller and it’s more quiet, his times are slower,” he added.

But when the competition and audience heat things up, Maverick gets cooking.

“He can be pretty darn focused,” Gerhard said. “Maverick likes a crowd, so the atmosphere (at the world championship), where most competitors are ringside, watching and cheering for others, is perfect for him.”

The competition includes dogs of all breeds and sizes in a race against the clock through an array of obstacles: hurdles, tunnels, hanging tires, weave poles – and more. Winners are those with the fastest times and fewest penalties.

Maverick competed in the 10-inch height category.

In France, Gerhard said, “we (had) a couple of faults that potentially cost us another medal or two, but Maverick ran really well, as he always does.”

“This was our fourth year as part of Team USA, and it is always a great thrill and makes me so proud to represent our country and the United States Dog Agility Association,” said Gerhard, secretary and trial chair for the Canine and Combustion Dog Agility Club, Michigan’s oldest dog agility club.

The USDAA is the world’s largest independent authority for the sport of dog agility, with more than 45,000 registered competitors among more than 200 breeds.

A Michigan resident since 1990, Gerhard’s interest in dog training began as a high school student in Massachusetts, where he attended some dog training with an aunt.

“I was hooked from then on,” he said.

Gerhard and his wife have two dogs of their own, an Australian shepherd and a border collie. Both have competed with the USA team, he said.

Maverick’s next big showing is expected in October at the U.S. national championships in Arizona.