AVC: Hugh Jackman is incredible as Frank Tassone. You can ask him questions and he will explain things to you, he also expects you to work hard and put in effort. But these were people that saw me through my worst, most formative years and were among the first ever encourage me to even pursue creative writing for the first time, who gave me notes and helped shape me as a writer and a person. Allows extra credit opportunity and group projects are huge. It was kind of, at least from a literary perspective, very difficult for me to resist the idea of grounding the stories through the perspective of a high school journalist, because I also worked at that school paper years later, which, in a large way, defined my high school experience. During a field trip to Monsters, Inc., Mike met Frank McCay, and developed a goal to attend Monsters University and become a scarer. Mike Makowsky: bio, photos, awards, nominations and more at Emmys.com. Bad Education is a 2019 American crime comedy-drama film directed by Cory Finley and written by Mike Makowsky.It is based on the true story of the largest public school embezzlement in American history. I have to track down Cheaters, although I imagine that it’s probably not available on HBO Max because they’ve done a notoriously bad job of inventorying their old TV movies.

And it was the first time I’d met either of them. How do you take a man who really just wants to accomplish good things in society and see how he gets led astray? And we couldn’t believe that this man, Frank Tassone, who the whole community loved and trusted and had done so many positive things for the students that are in our town, could be implicated in such an egregious way. It’s very strange for me and very, very difficult to process for me and my family and my friends back home, my old teachers. You do have to pay attention in class and study a little for a test to make a good grade. MM: Mm-hmm, yeah. But fortunately my friends were really game to sign waivers and kind of be memorialized in that way. All quizzes and exams are open book and he gives extra credit. If you’ve seen season four of The Wire, you know that public schools, it’s not just about the education, it’s never just about the education. The downtown clock tower and Kitchen Kabaret, which is this kind of famous local eatery off exit 39 that if you’re not from the immediate area, might not mean so much to you, but visually, for anyone that’s grown up on Long Island and Roslyn, it means a great deal.

It was probably the biggest news story that ever happened in my hometown. Lecture is interesting. Really easy to talk to. I was in seventh grade at the time, but I had grown up in the school district and would graduate five years later out of Roslyn High School. He gives extra credit opportunities throughout the semester. I would take him again! And going back and speaking to my old teachers, I realized you don’t become a public school educator because you intend to steal $12 million. Can you talk about that decision?

And it’s an awfully cynical portrait of my school district, but also one that I think hopefully is as objective as I could have possibly made it, because I think that it is a reality about a lot of public schools in America, certainly in privileged communities like the one I grew up in on Long Island. But in adapting the events for his film, Makowsky never lost sight of the humanity of the victims—or the perpetrators. Follow his instructions on assignments (longer answers are better) and you should make a very good grade. There’s a handful of things, right? Connects and relates to students. He responds to email questions promptly & really wants you to succeed. How did you coordinate with Cory to capture that feeling? Mike Makowsky: Oh, I was totally aware of it. He encourages students to examine the physical aspects of the world we live in and the affects that impact it. It was right in the middle of the 2016 election. Bought the book and wasted 60$ you do not need it! We don’t forget our students.”. He’s a very tall man, and he just sort of summons this energy and like stares down at me and starts screaming, “Accelerate, accelerate!” The rest of the table, nobody was expecting him to come in with that much pathos at a table read. Website content © Television Academy.EMMY, EMMYS, and the Emmy Statuette are registered trademarks and/or copyrights Of ATAS and NATAS.TELEVISION ACADEMY and ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES are registered trademarks of ATAS. AVC: You grew up in Roslyn, which means you know what colloquialisms fit, what signifiers would make the movie look and feel like home. You truly do earn your grade in his class. *You don't need the book. That's how good of a teacher he is. Would take again. That’s not to blame the people that we worked with on the film, I don’t really know what their situation is, but there was one TV movie I was trying to track down with Holly Hunter—that “murdering cheerleader-housewife” movie. Professor Makowsky's Top Tags. The learning in this class is top notch. There were these deep-seated wounds that are still strongly felt by people whom I care about quite deeply in my town. 3. A lot has happened in the 11 months since Bad Education premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Hugh Jackman’s bravura performance first bowled over critics. We don’t often have a chance to really go back and process them.

And I’m playing Chad Schweitzer [laughs] and I’m going, “Assle-rate? I was in seventh grade at the time, but I had grown up in the school district and would graduate five years later out of Roslyn High School. The TelevisionAcademy.com sites look and perform best when using a modern browser. It’s just something that we’re constantly talking about, and that’s really exciting. AVC: There is always a concern when you adapt real-life events that you can end up unintentionally sensationalizing them. He's a awesome teacher, keeps the entertaining, and memorable.

AVC: The movie is as much about Frank’s ascent as it is his descent—in the opening scene, we see him riding high, being greeted like a celebrity. He is a modern teacher who understand how the students learn. Does he feel particularly at home at these education conferences in Las Vegas, or is there a different of himself that he’s showing when he’s sitting by himself ordering food at a bar at the hotel bar afterward? Did any of your memories from that time inform your script? Thought this class would be boring, but he made it super interesting. MM: Yeah. For as many TV shows and movies that are ripped from the headlines or based on real-life event, it’s still really strange to see something pulled from your childhood or adolescence on TV.

Along with Cory Finley’s conscientious direction, Makowsky added layers to all his characters, even the man he recognizes is the villain of the piece.

I took his online class and he was very clear and gave good feedback.

MM: Right. I feel like far too often, we think about high school and we just want to forget that whole experience, because it was so emotionally fraught for nearly every teenager in America. All Nominee Information (printable lists), Editorial Calendar and Production Schedule, Television Academy Throwback: Jackee Harry, PTE_72_WhatHaveYouBeenDoingDuringQuarantine_BF.jpg, 72nd Emmy Awards: What Have You Been Doing During Quarantine, The Interviews: An Oral History of Television, Foundation Alum Kristen Bartlett Continues to Find Major Success, Emmanuel Acho Breaks Out of the Box to Create Change, HBO, Pop TV Lead the Way at the Socially Distanced, Socially Aware 72nd Emmy Awards, Complete Listing Of 72nd Emmy Awards Winners, HBO Films in association with Automatik, Sight Unseen and Slater Hall Productions. It was certainly the most unique experience I’ve had so far as a screenwriter, but I can’t imagine that I’ll ever have an experience quite like it again. What are the factors that will pave that road for him? He tries to cover everything and you teach you as much as he can. And by then Pam Gluckin was deceased, so that decision was kind of made for us. Professor in the Geography department at Midland College. How did you go about creating that character? Years later, thanks to his hard work and lots of studying, Mike is accepted as a freshman at … Professor Mak really cares about what he is teaching. Especially for the chapter that are 70+ pages long). It was kind of just beyond all belief. I made a C in the class, but I skipped at least once a week. What changed your mind, and how did the character more generally change as you worked on the script? And how many of them actually come back and visit afterwards? But also just on a more general note, when I was writing the script, journalism at large felt like it was really on the verge of a complete and total de-legitimization.

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