Michael J. Reistetter is an award-winning journalist, editor, and filmmaker based in New York. His work spans narrative journalism, local news, sports and entertainment, digital media, and independent cinema.

His work has been published by New York Post Sports, The South Shore Press, The Messenger Papers, The Long-Islander, and ScreenRant. Additionally, he has consulted and crewed on productions for Barstool Sports, Bleacher Report, HBO Max, Netflix, TNT Sports, Roc Nation, Ralph Lauren, HGTV, Overtime Sports, and Omnes Films.

Reistetter has been credentialed at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, the US Marine Corps’ interactive and intensive “2023 Educators Workshop Boot Camp,” the 2025 Gilgo Serial Killer Trial, and Tennis’ 2026 US Open.

Throughout his career, Reistetter has spotlighted influential community figures, immersed himself in New York’s sports and entertainment scenes, helped bring legacy print newspapers into the digital era, and produced films that champion the work of fellow homegrown artists.

Raised in the golden age of topical stand-up and the prestige “dramedy” boom, Reistetter was drawn to storytellers who could find humor in life’s mightiest gut-punches. That sensibility continues to shape his work today. He has an instinct for knowing when a story calls for gravity, when it can benefit from levity, and when the two belong in the same room.

Whether he’s memorializing the East End’s rowdiest summertime staple or unpacking just how much fraudulence a political shyster managed to get away with (until he didn’t…), his work is grounded in curiosity, character, and the belief that serious storytelling doesn’t always have to take itself too seriously.

As a kid, he would have said his passion was writing. Today, the answer is broader: telling stories.

Beyond his own reporting and filmmaking, Reistetter consults with colleagues and clients on lifestyle and culture media strategy and independent screenplays. He continues to pursue leadership opportunities in newsrooms and on set while expanding his work beyond narrative journalism and toward filmmaking.

His next major project is a coming-of-age feature he intends to direct and shoot in Suffolk County, New York. Additional screenplays slated for development through his forthcoming production company, RF5, equally build upon themes that recur throughout his body of work. These include masculinity and mental health, grief and loss, friendship as surrogate family, the plight of the well-rounded athlete, stage fright and performance anxiety, imposter syndrome, fear of failure and embarrassment, the unexpected trauma of success, and ultimately, learning how to laugh at yourself.

Reistetter is also the founder and manager of the Long Island Crush, established in 2015, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Stan Musial Men’s Baseball League since 2021.