Douglas Heil, M.F.A.

Professor Emeritus

Email: heil@uwosh.edu

Website: http://www.uwosh.edu/facstaff/heil

M.F.A. in Film, Northwestern University
B.A. in Rhetoric (English), University of Illinois.

During his years as a professor in the Radio TV Film department, Douglas Heil taught courses in media aesthetics, narrative scriptwriting, narrative film production, educational and corporate media, and career preparation. He has twice received the UW-System Regents Teaching Excellence Award — first as an individual and more recently as a member of the RTF Department — and at UW Oshkosh, he has been awarded the John McNaughton Rosebush Professorship, the Distinguished Teaching Award and the TRISS Endowed Professorship.

Within production, Heil produced the independent feature film Another Yesterday, and composed the music and lyrics to the song central to the story’s mystery. The film has won over 50 awards, including Best Film of the Festival at the Manhattan Rep’s STORIES Film Festival, Best of Show in Drama at the Depth of Field International Film Festival, Best Feature at The Network Film Festival, Best LGBTQ+ Film at the Global Independent Film Awards, Best Cultural Impact Movie Award at the SoCal Film Awards, and the Best Cross-Culture Award at the Japan Film Festival Los Angeles. (His song “Another Yesterday” has won Best Original Song at the Queen Palm International Film Festival, the American Tracks Music Awards International Contest, and the Festigious International Film Festival, and he and music score composer Asuka Ito won the Award of Outstanding Excellence in Music/Songwriting at the CineMagic Film Fest.)

His McFarland-published book The Art of Stereography: Rediscovering Vintage Three-Dimensional Images took First Place in the Fine Art/Photography category of the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards. His earlier book Prime-Time Authorship: Works About and by Three TV Dramatists was published through Syracuse University Press. Essays and creative work have appeared in Writing & Pedagogy, Stereo World, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Creative Screenwriting, The Pacific Review, Journal of Film and Video, Film & History, and Literature/Film Quarterly.

He was also writer/producer/director/cinematographer/editor/composer for the short film So Much That We Share, which won the Silver Award for Best Community Relations Video at the Quasar Awards in New York City. In addition, he was writer/producer for the short film The Story of the Cat, which won over 10 awards and aired on HBO, Cinemax and Showtime. Seven songs from his musical Jason & Media: What Really Happened have received citations at national songwriting competitions. His satire “Obnoxious Obfuscation” has also received a national citation.

Heil will continue to be a support resource for the RTF program and RTF students.