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Publicity / The Art of Tron
Mike Bonifer¹s first job after graduating from the
University of Notre Dame with a degree in business, was working in
marketing for Procter & Gamble. (Among his accomplishments at P&G,
he claims responsibility for the Do Not Overbeat warning
included for many years inside boxes of Duncan Hines Cake Mix.)
Having explored the world of consumer marketing, Bonifer moved to
Chicago, and began his writing career. He co-authored (with L. G.
Weaver) Out of Bounds, a humorous history of Notre Dame
football, which was a
Sports Illustrated Book Club selection. (He has authored two other
books, The Art of Tron, and The Making of Dick Tracy.)
Upon moving to Los Angeles, he became a senior staff publicist for
Walt Disney Pictures, where, among his many exotic assignments, he
handled publicity for Tron the first feature film to make
extensive use of computer-generated imagery.
He next formed Mica Productions (with Cardon Walker,
Jr.) to produce marketing media and original programming exclusively
for Disney. Their documentary series The Disney Family Album,
was twice nominated for a Cable ACE award for Best Informational
Series. When his two sons were young, Bonifer
worked out of his home as a freelance writer, director, producer,
and volunteer YMCA basketball coach. During this phase of his
career, his clients included The Walt Disney Studios, The Disney
Channel, Sea World, Columbia Pictures, MGM/UA, LMNO Productions,
Bogner Entertainment and Epic Productions.
In 1994, he co-wrote and directed the feature film,
The Lipstick Camera for Triboro Entertainment and 20th
Century Fox International . Also in 1994, he produced the Toy
Story web site for Disney. This led to a two-year contract to
produce all of Disney¹s movie web sites, including Disney¹s first
live webcast, the premiere of The Hunchback of Notre Dame
from the Superdome in New Orleans. He formed a small internet
company (with Jonathan Bogner), which was later sold to Boxtop
Interactive in Los Angeles, where he became creative director.
Boxtop Interactive was later sold to iXL, Inc., where he was Senior
Vice President, Creative. At iXL, his clients included Mountain Dew,
Merrill Lynch, Franklin Covey, Hot Topic and Frito-Lay, among
others.
While at iXL, he produced (with Moon Zappa) a year
long webisodic series called Icheewawa that was sponsored by
Dorotis. During his tenure as an internet executive, Bonifer became
known as an expert in the uses of storytelling for media design, and
in the creation of multi-channel narratives. In 2001, Bonifer became
Vice President of Creative for Vidyah, a video streaming company.
Later in 2001, his original feature film script, Band Camp
was purchased by Universal Pictures and producer Larry Gordon,
prompting him to leave the internet behind and resume his nascent
career in the entertainment business. He has recently completed
another script, Struck by Lightning, a story about a
Midwestern family that adopts and rehabilitates unwanted horses.
His current writing project, Radio Girls, is a
feature film about early radio from the perspective of two young
girls whose father is a big radio star. He is currently producing a
documentary called Finding Bill Murray about his quest to get
Bill Murray to play the lead in Struck by Lightning. When he
can get around to it, he is writing a book about his internet
experiences that will blow the lid off something, he¹s not sure
what, but something. Bonifer has two sons, Adam, 17 and Alex, 14. He
wants everyone to know that he loves his family very much, and that
has made all the difference.
Related Links
- IMDB Entry for
Michael Bonifer |
