Hi, I'm Michael Rotiroti.
I'm a director of photography and camera operator in Boston, and I cut a good amount of what I shoot. Most of the work is documentary and news, made around Greater Boston, the North Shore, New England, and New York.
This page is here so you don't have to email me before you can start writing. The bios are ready to reprint as they are, both headshots are cleared for editorial use, and every award is listed with the production it belongs to. Help yourself to any of it. If what you need isn't here, email me and I'll send it the same day.
Michael Rotiroti is a director of photography, camera operator, and editor based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Good for a panel listing, a caption, or a lower third. Third person, because that is how it gets printed.
Start here
If you're on a deadline, these four are almost certainly what you came for. Everything further down the page is detail you can come back for.
What I make
Most of my work is documentary and news camera. On HBO's Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning I was a director of photography, camera operator, and gimbal operator, filming the three part series across Greater Boston. On MTV's 16 and Recovering I ran camera and boom inside Northshore Recovery High School in Beverly, Massachusetts. A room like that only works if the crew is small and calm, and staying out of the way is most of the job.
The rest of the week looks different, and I like that it does. I shoot and edit Cardillo's World for NBC Sports Boston. I was the director of photography on the Museum of Fine Arts Boston's Encounters with Eternal Presence. I edit Hyper Local for Hearst Media and run ENG camera on Dirty Water Media's series for NESN. Earlier on I was a union production assistant on Netflix's Don't Look Up, FX's American Horror Story, and Apple TV+'s Spirited. Alongside the freelance work I'm on staff at Boston University's College of Fine Arts.
Still photography is where I started and I never put it down. I earned my BFA in Photography from Endicott College in 2020, and I still shoot Fenway Park and the North Shore on a slow shutter with the camera moving on purpose. Every frame is a single exposure, nothing composited and no filter doing the work. Those become hand signed limited edition prints and a photo book in the print shop. I live on the North Shore, I work across New England and New York, and I'm usually up for the drive.
What the work has won
These belong to the productions, not to me. So I have listed each one with the show that won it and exactly what I did on that show, and I would be grateful if you word them the same way. It is the honest version, and it is also the more interesting one.
News & Documentary Emmy Award
HBO's Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning won it.
I worked on the three part series as a director of photography, camera operator, and gimbal operator, filming across Greater Boston.
duPont-Columbia Award
The same HBO series, Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning, also received a duPont-Columbia Award.
Same job for me on it: director of photography, camera operator, and gimbal operator.
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for Journalism
MTV's 16 and Recovering received the award, which honors reporting on the lives of the disadvantaged. The four part series was filmed inside Northshore Recovery High School in Beverly, Massachusetts.
I was a camera operator and boom operator during production, and assistant camera, key production assistant, and assistant editor in post. The award itself was given to Steve Liss, Ben Hurvitz, Lily Neumeyer and the team at MTV News, which is where I sit.
Boston Press Photographers Association
A photograph of Endicott College's Gulls celebrating in the fog during the Commonwealth Coast Conference field hockey championship in Beverly, Massachusetts, took first place in the Sports category of the BPPA college contest. More of the photography, including the later BPPA placings, is on my photography page.
Fact checking on a deadline? Email me at film@michaelrotiroti.com and I'll send you the official announcement for any of these, plus the production contact if you need to go straight to the source.
Selected credits
The short list, with the outlet and what I actually did on each one. The full role by role version is in the Credits tab on my about page.
- Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning HBO Director of photography, camera operator, gimbal operator
- 16 and Recovering MTV Camera and boom operator, assistant camera, key PA, assistant editor
- Cardillo's World NBC Sports Boston Director of photography and editor
- Encounters with Eternal Presence Museum of Fine Arts Boston Director of photography
- Hyper Local Hearst Media Regular editor
- Series for NESN Dirty Water Media Recurring ENG camera operator
- Don't Look Up Netflix Union production assistant
- American Horror Story, season 10 FX Union production assistant
- Spirited Apple TV+ Union production assistant
- Sacred Cod Discovery Channel Production assistant, additional motion graphics
Bios you can paste
Two lengths here, plus the one line up at the top of the page. They're written in the third person so they drop straight into a program, a byline, or a chyron without anybody having to rewrite them. Take the one that fits your space, and if you need a version cut to a specific word count, ask and I'll write it.
Michael Rotiroti is a photographer and camera operator in Boston. He earned his BFA in Photography from Endicott College in 2020, and his documentary and news work has been recognized with a National News and Documentary Emmy, a duPont-Columbia Award, and an RFK Journalism Award.
Good for a program note, a speaker page, or the end of an article.
Michael Rotiroti is a director of photography, camera operator, and editor based in Boston, Massachusetts, working across Greater Boston, the North Shore, New England, and New York. He earned his BFA in Photography from Endicott College in 2020.
His camera and edit credits include HBO's Murder in Boston, where he was a director of photography, camera operator, and gimbal operator, NBC Sports Boston's Cardillo's World, where he shoots and edits, MTV's 16 and Recovering, where he ran camera and boom, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston's Encounters with Eternal Presence, where he was a director of photography. He is a regular editor for Hearst Media's Hyper Local and a recurring ENG camera operator on Dirty Water Media's series for NESN. Earlier in his career he worked as a union production assistant on Netflix's Don't Look Up, FX's American Horror Story, and Apple TV+'s Spirited.
His documentary and news work has been recognized with a National News and Documentary Emmy, a duPont-Columbia Award, and an RFK Journalism Award. Alongside the camera work he is on staff at Boston University's College of Fine Arts, and he sells hand signed limited edition prints and a photo book of his own photography through michaelrotiroti.com.
Good for a press release, a festival program, or a crew deck.
Headshots, take either one
Both are cleared for editorial and promotional use alongside a story, a program listing, or a speaking credit, and you can crop either one however your layout needs. For anything else, just ask me first.
The square portrait is Photo by Tom Tranfaglia, 2025. Credit him if your layout has room for it.
Need something else? A horizontal crop, a print resolution file for a magazine or a printed program, or a photograph of me actually working on set. Email me and I'll get it to you.
A few details worth getting right
- Name
- Michael Rotiroti It's the one that most often comes out wrong. R O T I R O T I, no hyphen and no middle initial.
- Roles
- Director of photography, camera operator, editor
- Based
- Boston and the North Shore, Massachusetts I work across New England and New York.
- Education
- BFA Photography, Endicott College, 2020
- film@michaelrotiroti.com
- Website
- michaelrotiroti.com
- @rotirotim
- in/michaelrotiroti
On camera work, Director of Photography or Camera Operator is the right title, and cinematographer reads fine in prose. Photographs are credited Photo by Michael Rotiroti, and I'd ask that a photograph not get cropped so tightly that the signature or the frame edge disappears. Prints and the photo book are in the print shop if that's what you're writing about.
One thing I do care about: the awards belong to the productions, so please word them as recognition the work received, the way they're worded above, rather than as personal titles. The images on this page are cleared for editorial use with a story about me or the work, and for anything beyond that, just ask first and it's usually a yes.
Ask me for anything that isn't here
An interview, a bio at a different length, a quote for a story, a still from a specific shoot, or a question about whether I'm free for a shoot. Email reaches me first and I answer it myself, so you're not going through anybody.
film@michaelrotiroti.com
