Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Michael Goorjian is an actor, writer and director who first rose to prominence as Justin Thompson on the hit show “Party of Five” and Bob in the cult classic film “SLC Punk!”  

But he is perhaps best known among the Armenian community as the writer, director and star of the 2022 film “Amerikatsi,” which went on to become Armenia’s official entry for the Oscars’ International Feature Film category and the first Armenian film ever shortlisted.

The Weekly caught up with Goorjian to talk about his recent filmmaking workshop, his experiences filming in Armenia and the Armenian film community in Los Angeles.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Rosie Nisanyan (R.N.): Who are some of your favorite filmmakers or filmmakers that inspire you?

Michael Goorjian (M.G.): Mike Leigh for sure. Mike Leigh is a British filmmaker — “Secrets & Lies” and “Naked” are some of my favorite films of his. Also, Peter Weir, who is a filmmaker from Australia, whose early works, things like “Picnic at Hanging Rock” and “The Last Wave” were quite influential. He later went on to have a career in Hollywood; he made “The Dead Poets Society” and “The Truman Show” as well. 

One more modern one would be Sean Baker. Sean Baker did “Anora,” which won him a lot of awards last year. I like him because he is a truly independent filmmaker. I’m aware that many Armenians didn’t relate to “Anora” as a film, but as an independent filmmaker, he is an inspiration to me. To see someone like him succeed the way he has is very inspiring because he’s not Hollywood elite and he’s following his own path, his own vision. He deserves all the success that he’s had! 

R.N.: You’ve just finished hosting a hands-on filmmaking workshop with the Armenian Film Society (AFS). Have you hosted a workshop like this before?

M.G.: I’ve done it a couple of times, in different forms. It started at Loyola Marymount. A friend of mine was the Dean of the Theatre Department there and asked me to teach a class on “acting for the camera” or something like that. After two classes, I was like, “I don’t know what else to tell you. Why don’t we just make a film?” For that one, we wrote something in class, and I had a cinematographer friend come — we taught the students about all the different roles on set. We made a film and it was great!

Then I did a similar thing at a high school in the Bay Area, and in that one, we made a zombie movie. I’m also going to be doing a different kind of workshop in Armenia in the Fall through the American University of Armenia (AUA). I was telling Armen Karaoghlanian from the Armenian Film Society about it, and he said, “Well, would you be willing to do something similar with us this summer?” And I said, “Yeah, sure, why not?” And so that’s kind of how it came about.

R.N.: That’s awesome! So what did this workshop consist of? 

M.G.: We only had two weeks, so we made a short film. For one week, I talked about my experiences as an independent filmmaker, what I feel that means and the things that I’ve learned along the way about different aspects of filmmaking, like how to work with actors. And then the second week was pre-production. For this one, we had a short story from someone well-known in the Armenian community and had different people play different roles. 

Karbis Sarafyan, who is Angela Sarafyan’s brother, has a production company here [in Los Angeles], so he brought in a cinematographer and a couple of key crew members. We worked with the students and made a film yesterday! I think it’s gonna be pretty darn good! 

R.N.: You’ve been pretty involved with the Armenian Film Society — can you talk about its importance in the Armenian film community? 

M.G.: I’ve seen some attempts over the years in finding ways to bridge the Armenian community and the entertainment industry. But the success of the Armenian Film Society has a lot to do with [founders] Armen and Mary Karaoghlanian. They’re genuinely good people and they are very good at including everybody.

You know, Armenians can kind of all be in their tribes, but they do a wonderful job of bringing people together in the right way.

I ran into Armen in Armenia during the summer of 2023. We had a pre-screening of “Amerikatsi” through the UCLA Film Archive in Los Angeles. But for our actual premiere, I told Armen, “Why don’t we do it with you?” because he wanted to launch the Armenian Film Festival, so it worked out for all of us to premiere the film and the festival at the same time. I really dig what he’s doing. I’ve always been a believer that the more we all support each other, the better for everybody. 

And so with this workshop, it’s the first that he’s done. He does screenings and presentations, but he and his wife are going to be doing more interactive stuff like this, so this was to get the ball rolling.

R.N.: Since I’m not in Los Angeles, I also really love that the Armenian Film Society promotes the work of Armenian artists on their Instagram. 

M.G.: That’s actually sort of how we first became friends! He had posted something about Hovik Keuchkerian, who is a Spanish-Armenian actor, who ended up playing a major role [Tigran] in “Amerikatsi.” I was searching for an actor and found him through the Armenian Film Society’s Instagram. And when Armen reached out to me at some point later, I told him he’s responsible for helping cast Hovik. 

R.N.: That’s so cool! I do want to talk about “Amerikatsi” — what was it like filming in Armenia? 

M.G.: We shot right at the beginning of COVID, so that made it crazy just in and of itself. But all things considered, it was a positive experience. I look forward to making more films in Armenia and I’ve been advocating for it here in Los Angeles. I just had a meeting the other day with another American-Armenian filmmaker who’s going there in August to film.

The more we can promote films getting made in Armenia, the better. And they don’t necessarily need to have an Armenian theme to them; just shooting in Armenia is a great thing.

R.N.: “Amerikatsi” became the first Armenian film to make it on the Oscars’ shortlist in the International Feature category. Can you talk about what the Oscars campaign experience was like?

M.G.: Yeah, it was pretty wild. I’d never done it before, so it was new to me. But at the same time, I think the tough part was that it took a lot to convince Armenians that it was possible. The thinking has been like, “Why? Why even go there? Because of course, we’ll never win.” It’s not easy, but it’s like anything — it’s politics and business. Yes, you have to make a good film, but with regard to the politics and business side of it, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be doing it. We have a huge community here in Los Angeles and that’s so much of why and how you compete for stuff like that. And look, I like awards, but I don’t really care that much; I just want to make good movies. But in terms of what [an award] does for Armenians and the country, the positives are so big. 

We just don’t have a lot of news, and most of the news that goes beyond the Armenian community is pretty much negative.

Having positive news that reaches non-Armenians, about Armenian culture or about the country, it’s only good.

 And the ability to compete in that particular arena, it’s doable for a lot of reasons. We did very, very well, but hopefully I’m just kind of paving the way and more people will see that we can do it. 

R.N.: Do you have any advice for aspiring Armenian actors and filmmakers?

M.G.: Meet people and get involved in stuff. Make stuff and be willing to be bad. Don’t expect things for nothing, you know.

My friend, Anahid Nazarian, is a producer and has worked with Francis Ford Coppola for many years. She was recently in Los Angeles and the Armenian Film Society had an event and asked me to interview her. Her advice was, “Don’t ask me to read your script.” At the end of the day, it’s work. You can’t just expect someone to read your script, read it correctly, take it in and give notes — that’s maybe my whole day. That’s a lot to ask of somebody and a lot of people don’t get that. That’s just one example, but I think clearly understanding the give and take that happens in the entertainment industry is important.

I feel like I’ve been exposed to more Armenians who are either in the industry or who are doing very well, and they want to help other Armenians, for sure. But they can’t help everyone. So you have to understand the cost of it and what you can bring to the table.

Just because you don’t have a ton of experience doesn’t mean you don’t have anything to bring to the table.

 So think about that and figure out what things you can offer in exchange if you want help from somebody or if you’re trying to make a connection. 

R.N.: What are you working on now? What can we expect next?

M.G.: I’m doing more episodes of “The Lincoln Lawyer” that come out later this year. I have some projects that I’m directing that are all in development, but nothing I can talk about just yet. And like I said, I’m going to be in Armenia this Fall doing a similar workshop to what we did here, but it’ll be a little bit more geared towards writing.

You can follow Michael Goorjian on Instagram, watch “Amerikatsi” on several streaming platforms and catch him on Season Four of Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” this October.