A B O U T
As a producer and executive producer, he has helped realize many groundbreaking films in the last twenty years, most made under $3 million. Notable collaborators include Kelly Reichardt and Todd Solondz. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit “Producer of the Year” Award and was one of Variety’s 2007 “10 Producers to Watch.” His films have garnered nominations and prizes from the Academy Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards and many more, and have played all of the top festivals worldwide. JUNEBUG, starring Amy Adams, made its international premiere at Cannes in 2005 and went on to be one of the lowest-budgeted feature films ever nominated for an Oscar (Best Supporting Actress, 2005). Other films as a producer include CHOKE (Clark Gregg, Chuck Palahniuk), THE COMEDY (Rick Alverson), FREE IN DEED (Jake Mahaffy, winner of the Orizzonti Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival ’16), FAY GRIMM (Hal Hartley), and Bela Tarr’s final film, THE TURIN HORSE.
Ryan’s two current films are Dónal Foreman’s THE CRY OF GRANDUAILE, a film backed by the Irish Arts Council, and Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich’s THE BALLAD OF SUZANNE CÉSAIRE, which stars Zita Hanrot. A gallery installation version of the latter was shown at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami from April 2023 to January 2024. The feature and gallery version have both been invited to the Whitney Museum 2024 Biennial. THE BALLAD OF SUZANNE CÉSAIRE will start it’s feature festival tour in competition at Rotterdam 2024.
Ryan’s articles about the history and state of Independent Film appear in Filmmaker Magazine and other publications. Ryan is a proud Screen Actors Guild member, and as a Producer, a voting member of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences. Ryan is also a professor of Film at Emerson College and an E.U. citizen of Ireland.
GREYSHACK FILMS is a development and production company committed to creative, thought-provoking, energetic new cinema designed within a low-budget model. Company president Mike S. Ryan is a veteran member of the independent film community, and NYC native, who started out in the industry’s 1990′s heyday as a Location Manager for such producers as Christine Vachon, James Schamus, and Ted Hope. Ryan managed such iconic indie films as Ang Lee’s THE ICE STORM, Todd Haynes’ FAR FROM HEAVEN, and Todd Solondz’s STORYTELLING, as well as such big budget studio films as MEET JOE BLACK, AS GOOD AS IT GETS, and Ang Lee’s RIDE WITH THE DEVIL.