Motivated to become an exceptional storyteller through film and visual media, Mitchell German studied filmmaking and screenwriting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts—one of the premier film studies programs in the United States (if not the world). He graduated with a complete doctrine on storytelling theory in his arsenal; yet something was still missing in his understanding of the way stories operated. 

Mitchell spent ten years studying every available book and “expert” on storytelling, but he found they mostly taught the same regurgitated information. It wasn’t until 2002, after endlessly studying the movie Liar Liar, that Mitchell discovered the key and developed his unique approach to story construction that would become Your Storytelling Potential. 

His storytelling method formed the basis of the first instructional course he compiled for screenwriters—the Mega Course—as well as his enormously successful Plot Control screenwriting software that has since been adapted for novelists (Chapter Control), television writers and producers (Episode Control), college essay writers (Essay Dog), and even business entrepreneurs running webinars and launching new products. Today, Mitchell’s book Your Storytelling Potential is an essential resource for writers of all backgrounds and experience levels. He currently resides outside of West Palm Beach, FL. 

Screenplay writer, stand-up comic, and actor Russell Phillips is a graduate of SMU’s Communications Program (Cinema Sequence) in Dallas, Texas. As a student, he earned a spot in visiting UCLA professor Richard Walter’s screenwriting seminar. Russell’s scripts helped him forge valuable industry contacts, but none of the projects quite came together. In the pursuit of stronger script writing skills, he acquired a robust library of how-to books and continued to register for available advanced learning courses—until he found Mitchell German’s Your Storytelling Potential Method.

Russell was an early Plot Control user and Mega Course student. After many years away from creative writing, he revisited the Mega Course during the early days of the 2020 worldwide pandemic and found the message of Thematic Relevance powerfully resonant. He recognized that Mitchell German’s method was not a mere explanation of storytelling ideas, but a very different model for story construction. Today, Russell enthusiastically joins Mitchell to help bring the method Your Storytelling Potential Method to top professional and novice author-storytellers the world over. He currently resides in East Texas.