Michael Schelp is an American writer and director, former producer of the 2008 television series Cha$e

Cha$e

Cha$e is a reality television show aired on Syfy in the United States around the same time as Estate of Panic. It is based on the successful Japanese show "" which began airing on Fuji Television in June 2004...

, and current executive producer

Executive producer

An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...

 of MANswers

MANswers

MANswers is a late night comedy series that premiered on Spike on September 19, 2007.The series is produced by reality television production company, SuperDelicious, and airs on Spike. The executive producers are Kyle Danielson the Third, Adam Cohen, Cara Tapper, Joanna Vernetti, Akifumi Takuma and...

. Schelp founded the New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

-based production company Spark Plug Entertainment in 2006. The company has created several mockbuster

Mockbuster

A mockbuster is a film created with the apparent intention of piggy-backing on the publicity of a major film with a similar title or theme and are often made with a low budget. Often these films are created to be released direct-to-video at the same time as the mainstream film reaches theaters or...

 direct-to-video

Direct-to-video

Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...

 CGI films.

Career

In the 1990s, Schelp was Fujisankei Communications Group

Fujisankei Communications Group

, abbreviated FCG, is a keiretsu in Japan. This media conglomerate was founded by Nobutaka Shikanai. In 1991, it was the fourth-largest media company in the world and the largest one in Japan. In the same year, the company's yearly revenue was $5 billion....

's spokesperson and manager of business development. In 2007, Schelp became producer for MANswers, a project of Fujisankei Communications International

Fujisankei Communications International

Fujisankei Communications International, Inc. is the American arm of the Fujisankei Communications Group , an important Japanese media conglomerate of television and radio channels, magazine, newspaper, record and video game companies. The Fujisankei Communications Group owns about 100 companies,...

. Schelp has also acted as translator for Fujisankei, both in creating English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 subtitless for such projects as Dragon League, and in acting a interpretor for Fujisankei food star Harumi Kurihara

Harumi Kurihara

is a celebrity homemaker and television personality in Japan. Kurihara has often been called the "Martha Stewart of Japan", and has enjoyed popularity there for over twenty years...

 when she visited the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

While with Fujisankei, Schelp founded Spark Plug Entertainment in 2006 as a New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

-based production company to produce direct-to-video CGI films that were based on films from Pixar

Pixar

Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...

, DreamWorks

DreamWorks

DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...

 as well as other major studios.

Filmography

• Bug Bites: An Ant's Life (1998) (V) (writer/producer) (Re-released 2006)
• A Car's Life (2006) (V)
• Spider's Web: A Pig's Tale (2006) (V) (writer/director)
• Plan Bee (2007) (V) (writer/director/producer)
• Piper Penguin and his Fantastic Flying Machines (2008) (V)
• Cha$e
  Cha$e
  Cha$e is a reality television show aired on Syfy in the United States around the same time as Estate of Panic. It is based on the successful Japanese show "" which began airing on Fuji Television in June 2004...
  
   (6 episodes, 2008) (TV) (producer)
• MANswers
  MANswers
  MANswers is a late night comedy series that premiered on Spike on September 19, 2007.The series is produced by reality television production company, SuperDelicious, and airs on Spike. The executive producers are Kyle Danielson the Third, Adam Cohen, Cara Tapper, Joanna Vernetti, Akifumi Takuma and...
  
  (19 episodes, 2007–2010) (producer/executive producer)

External links