A former press aide for the New York State Assembly, radio news reporter and public relations professional in his native Buffalo, NY, MICHAEL SMITH parlayed his passion for ideas into copywriting and creative director positions at ad agencies in New York and Southern California in the 1980s and 1990s. Since the, he’s written and produced over 600 TV spots, radio commercials and corporate videos for all kinds of clients, all over the country as executive producer/creative director of Beard Boy Productions, a company he founded in Tustin, CA, in 1994.

Also a spare-time author, Mike’s written feature stories for National Lampoon, National Geographic Kids, Men’s Exercise, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, San Antonio Express News, St. Petersburg Times and Buffalo News. He’s also helped publish a comic book and a children’s book parody based on a satirical character he created: Pete the PO’d Postal Worker. A vocational high school drop out, Mike can be found listening to Metallica while scraping Beeman’s off the bottom of the corndog counter at Wal-Mart.