Mike Petty is a freelance reporter and playwright. He began his career in Washington DC covering issues related to health, science and technology and has since completed assignments in dozens of countries on three continents on issues related to people and the planet. He has recently finished a stint as a contributing editor for a new start-up magazine: the Brussels-based Global Review. Petty makes his film directing debut in an independent short based on his Chicago produced play, Locked-Up Down Shorty's. Bruce Heller, producer of the new Miramax film, All the Pretty Horses, recently produced his second play, In Walked Monk, in Los Angeles.