Mike Farrell

Television Production Manager Executive
Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET)

Michael Farrell has close to four decades of public broadcasting experience, 37 of which have been spent in production in Nebraska and the Great Plains. As NET’s Television Production Manager Executive in charge of Project Development, Mike is responsible for the origination, production, and management of the network’s broadcast and non-broadcast television programming and projects since 1998. An employee of NET since 1972, he previously was head of Cultural Affairs, a producer/director, and a cinematographer/editor. Mike has a Master’s Degree in Filmmaking and Visual Communications from the Chicago M.S. Institute of Design with an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from A.B. Indiana University in Bloomington.

Mike’s areas of specialization include history and humanities documentaries as well as programs about diverse topics such as rural and environmental issues, the fine arts, opera, ballet, jazz and blues. His award-winning production In Search of the Oregon Trail has been aired three times on prime-time national public television and was one of the top ten most-watched PBS programs in its premiere year of 1996. A Sand Hills Story traces the natural, social, and environmental history of the Nebraska Sand Hills. The Platte River Road places the controversy over the future of the Platte River system in a historical and environmental context, and won the coveted Western Heritage - National Cowboy Hall of Fame Award, Best Documentary.

Mike has been making boxes, assemblages, and photographs since the late sixties. The creative process in making films and making assembled objects and photographs is similar in that each involves a search and selection, editing, and final presentation.

“Whether watching or creating video, I first want to know: ‘Who is the audience and what is the story?’ ”