
Michael Beach Nichols
Directing
Biography
Michael Beach Nichols is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker based in NYC. His most recent project, a four-part true crime docuseries for ABC News / Hulu called Mr & Mrs Murder, came out in July 2025. It quickly became one of ABC News' most popular docuseries ever, even earning accolades from the GOAT Steven Spielberg. Before that, he directed Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini (2024), crowned Hulu’s most-watched docuseries ever with 3.6 million views in its first week. Previously, he partnered with Oscar-winning Topic Studios and Magnet for the genre-bending and proudly polarizing horror/comedy Wrinkles the Clown (2019). His universally acclaimed breakthrough feature documentary, Welcome to Leith (2015), received an Emmy nomination for Best Documentary after bowing at Sundance and SXSW. His debut feature Flex Is Kings (2013) was a smash hit at the Tribeca Film Festival. He is the co-founder of No Weather, a filmmaking collaborative based in New York.
Known For

Six renowned LGBTQ+ directors explore heroic and heartbreaking stories that define America as a nation. The limited series spans the FBI surveillance of homosexuals during the 1950s Lavender Scare to the “Culture Wars” of the 1990s and beyond, exploring the queer legacy of the Civil Rights movement and the battle over marriage equality.
Pride

In the early 1990s, with homophobia and hate crimes on the rise as the AIDS crisis worsens, a serial killer preys upon gay men in New York City, infiltrating queer nightlife to find his victims.
Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York

In 2018, a small-town murder in Minnesota shocks a community when 56-year-old wife, mother, and grandmother Lois Riess kills her husband David and goes on the run from the authorities. Years later, Lois sits down with the filmmakers telling her story for the first time. Lois herself attempts to explain her reprehensible actions which reveals a disturbing family history and an addiction to gambling.
I'm Not a Monster: The Lois Riess Murders

A Brooklyn youth football program and its selfless coaches provide a safe haven for kids to compete and learn lessons that will take them far in life.
We Are: The Brooklyn Saints

Four close friends' seemingly perfect lives unravel after one vanishes on a hunting trip. Nearly 20 years later, the truth emerges with devastating consequences.
Mr. & Mrs. Murder

Keith and Sherri Papini's seemingly idyllic family life is shattered when Sherri vanishes from their northern California neighborhood, triggering a frenzied search that becomes news around the world.
Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini

In September 2012, the tiny prairie town of Leith, North Dakota, sees its population of 24 grow by one. As the new resident's behavior becomes more threatening, tensions soar, and the residents desperately look for ways to expel their unwanted neighbor.
Welcome to Leith

Tegan Quin (from Tegan and Sara) has been the victim of identity theft and an ongoing catfishing scam for over 15 years. While investigating, she shares for the first time, how she was ensnared in toxic fan culture that revealed the dark side of fame.
Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara

We all know Curious George. But what about his creators, Hans and Margret Rey? From fleeing Nazi Germany on handmade bicycles to encounters with exotic animals in Brazil, the Reys lived lives of adventure that are reflected in the pages on one of the most treasured children’s book series of all time.
Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators

In Florida, parents can hire Wrinkles the Clown to scare their misbehaving children.
Wrinkles the Clown

Journey to the edge of Brooklyn and of street performance itself in this sparkling portrait of the freeing power of art. Reem is the savvy promoter, Flizzo the undefeated local legend, Jay Donn the innovator with the talent to carry him far away from home. Uniting them is a competitive dance form of dramatic contortions, simulated violence, flowing footsteps and the occasional humorous touch. Welcome to the world of Flex.
Flex Is Kings

Despite decades of documented abuse and hundreds of deaths, thousands of teenagers across the United States are held in cultlike reform programs that generate multibillion-dollar profits with little to no government oversight. Told through the personal lens of three families' journeys through what's come to be known as the "troubled teen industry," THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT is an intimate portrait of trauma and what it means to survive that asks if healing is possible in the absence of justice.
The Kids Are Not Alright

Dubbed New York's "Queen of the Night," proto–club kid Susanne Bartsch has been throwing unforgettable parties for over 30 years and is still going strong.
Susanne Bartsch: On Top

Explores the wins, losses, sweat and tears at the tournament in rural Pennsylvania.
Big Dreams: The Little League World Series 2024

THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN explores the troubled mind and tumultuous life of amateur artificial intelligence researcher Chris McKinstry. Without a college education or the backing of a major research lab, McKinstry managed to develop a model for AI that sparked polarized reactions among experts in the field. Plagued with mental instability, he ultimately left in his wake a swath of broken relationships and intriguing theories, ultimately culminating in an online forum post detailing his last moments. Across Canada to South America, Chris's friends, lovers and colleagues share their experiences with a creative man bent on fame and immortality. And the rich archives Chris left behind paint a vivid picture of a scientific outsider struggling against circumstance and biology.
The Man Behind the Curtain
Bill's fifty-two years old, has a mountain man beard, and delivers pizza on a fixed gear bicycle in Brooklyn. Over the course of several shifts, the film unveils an intriguing man rushing food to your door while it's still hot and fresh.
Delivery

Young men seek salvation while learning to ride bulls at an annual christian camp in western Oklahoma.