Mike began his career on the stage, careened into television and then wobbled over to documentary filmmaking where he now happily resides. 

In the early days there was a lot of tap dancing and smiling on the community theater stages of San Diego.  Then Shakespeare and wannabe avant-garde work (twenty years after it was avant-garde) at UCLA Theater Film and Television.  Then off to New York for a healthy mix of musicals and downtown experimental work (see UCLA training) with a company he has now headed for over twenty years called Hoffenrich.  Working with the incredibly talented actors and actresses in Hoffenrich, Stutz began to see that if you create something new and different some folks will actually come see it and a few might even like it. 

He also learned that it’s hard to live on fifteen thousand dollars a year in New York City for eight years.  Thus came television back in LA.  He did some good work that he was proud of, directing some really funny comics and actors on Comedy Central, TBS, Nick at Nite and other networks.  But he also did some pretty bad work.  Please don’t make him recount it here. 

Suffice it to say like some artistic Prodigal Son he reached a point that he needed some forgiveness for his televised transgressions.  He was either going to make something he could be proud of and really cared about or he was going to die trying.  So, wanting to live, he created Don’t Change the Subject, a darkly comedic documentary about suicide. The movie is a very personal project.  Suicide and denial are a not so proud tradition in Mike's family.  It's been in his head for a very long time and he's glad to finally let it out.  It was taking up far too much space that could otherwise be used for trivia and petty grudges.