A 4-Part Live Online Masterclass for Cinematographers

Every Frame
Is a Decision.

Four online live sessions with Anastas Michos ASC GSC — Academy member, Emmy nominee, and Director of Photography for 30 years at the highest level of the industry. This is not a course on cameras. It is a course on how the system works.

Apply for Inaugural Cohort View Curriculum
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Anastas Michos ASC GSC on set
About the Instructor

Anastas Michos

anastasmichos.com

Anastas Michos is a cinematographer with over 30 years of studio and independent work across every genre. His collaboration with producer Guillermo del Toro and director David Prior earned him both an Emmy nomination and an American Society of Cinematographers Award nomination. Before becoming a Director of Photography, he worked for over a decade as a Steadicam operator, and his close association with Garrett Brown led to the co-designing of the SkyCam.

He is an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Society of Cinematographers, and the Greek Society of Cinematographers. He lectures at universities and workshops around the world.

Collaborators include directors and producers such as Milos Forman · Guillermo del Toro · Edward Norton
Danny DeVito · Mike Newell · James DeMonaco
Joe Roth · Kasi Lemmons · Bruce Cohen · Debra Chase
4
Live Sessions
2h
Per Session
20
Max Participants
30m
Direct Q&A
The Curriculum

Four live online sessions.
The complete picture.

This is not a technical masterclass on cameras or lighting gear. It is a masterclass on the things that separate working DPs from those who are not.

Session 1
How a DP Thinks
Craft & Visual Decision-Making

The best cinematographers do not react to what is in front of them. They arrive having already made the essential decisions. This session breaks down the mental architecture behind a professional approach to image-making.

  • Building an image from intent, not instinct: why every visual choice must be motivated
  • Pre-visualization in practice: what a working DP actually does before stepping on set
  • The decisions nobody sees: color, contrast, and movement as emotional language
  • How to read a script as a cinematographer
  • Developing and protecting a visual point of view
Assignment Submit a 1-page visual approach document for a scene you are currently prepping or have invented. Address: what is the emotional core, and how will your image-making serve it?
Session 2
Working With Directors and Producers
Collaboration & Communication

A DP serves two relationships on every project: the director who shapes the creative vision, and the producer who shapes the conditions under which that vision is realized. This session goes inside those partnerships.

  • The director relationship: how to read a vision and translate it into image-making decisions
  • The producer relationship: what producers actually need from a DP
  • Firsthand accounts from studio features, prestige television, and independent cinema
  • When to push back, when to absorb, and how to do both without losing the relationship
  • Communicating with ADs, department heads, and the wider crew
Assignment Write up a real or hypothetical director or producer conversation you have faced or anticipate. How would you approach it? What is the creative or practical disagreement and what is your strategy?
Session 3
How a DP Finds Work
Career & Business

Craft and collaboration skills mean nothing if the phone never rings. This session covers the actual mechanics of how directors of photography find work — and answers the question most workshops avoid: how do you actually get an agent?

  • How the phone rings, and what has to happen before it does
  • Building a reel that communicates a point of view, not just technical competence
  • Navigating rates, credits, and leverage at early career stages
  • Moving between formats: commercial to narrative, TV to features
Representation: A Dedicated Segment What agents actually look for. The difference between agents and managers. How to approach representation: cold outreach, warm introduction, and the role of your work. Direct perspective from a working agent relationship.
Assignment Bring your current reel or portfolio link. We will spend time in group critique examining what each reel communicates about its maker.
Session 4
How a DP Builds a Career
The Long Game

Careers are not built by accident. This session examines the decisions, early and ongoing, that separate cinematographers who sustain long careers from those who plateau. It also addresses the questions most workshops refuse to answer honestly: what this career costs, and how to make it sustainable.

  • What moves matter early and what is noise
  • Your visual identity as a professional brand
  • Staying current without chasing trends
  • How to handle slow periods, setbacks, and career pivots
The Personal Cost: An Honest Segment How to manage months away from home without losing what matters. What the career demands of a relationship. Building a crew and a core creative group you can sustain over years.
Final Session No new assignment. Individual verbal feedback on all work submitted across the four weeks. Open floor Q&A — bring the questions you have never been able to ask.
Enrollment

Simple pricing.
No surprises.

The inaugural cohort is the first run of the masterclass — 12 to 15 participants, smaller group, lower price point, direct access. Seats are limited and application is required.

Inaugural Cohort
$400
per seat · inaugural cohort only
  • All 4 live online sessions
  • 90 min instruction + 30 min direct Q&A
  • 12 to 15 participants maximum
  • Individual written feedback on all assignments
  • Sessions recorded for cohort members
Enroll — Inaugural $400
Standard
$750
per seat · post-inaugural
  • All 4 live online sessions
  • 90 min instruction + 30 min direct Q&A
  • Up to 20 participants
  • Individual written feedback on all assignments
  • Sessions recorded for cohort members
Apply for Next Cohort
Apply for The Working DP

The application is
two things.

A brief bio and your current reel or portfolio link. Priority is given to participants with demonstrable working experience. This is not for beginners. It is for emerging DPs who are serious about the craft and ready to understand the system.

Send Your Application
hello@theworkingdp.com Contact & Applications
theworkingdp.com Full Information
Monthly Inaugural Cohort Timeline