Background
Borchardt was born and raised in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. His mother, Monica, is Swedish.
Borchardt was born and raised in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. His mother, Monica, is Swedish.
He is best known as the subject of the 1999 film American Movie: The Making of Northwestern, which documented two years he spent writing, shooting and editing his horror short, Coven (1997). He started making films at the age of fourteen with a super-8 camera that was given to him by a guy who lived down the street from him. After serving three years in the military, he continued his cinematic endeavors at the local university.
Filmmakers Chris Smith and Sarah Price began filming Borchardt while he was attempting to put together funding for his unfinished feature Northwestern.
After the project collapsed, Borchardt decided instead to finish Coven, which he had started years earlier. Since then Borchardt has been active appearing on television and in movies.
Borchardt has made five appearances on Late Show with David Letterman, including serving as Letterman"s 2000 election correspondent. He made several television appearances on The Show with Number Name, a show in Austin, Texas, between 2000 and 2003.
He and Mike also have their own series on Zero television, Mark and Mike and in, 2006, Mark and Mike hosted a national television special called Night of the Living Dead: Live from Wisconsin on Halloween night.
Borchardt has appeared in several movies, including The One (2001), The Tunnel (2001), Abby Singer, & The Godfather of Green Bay (2005). Borchardt also starred in Modus Operandi (2009), played a gravedigger in the partially animated comedy Hamlet A.D.D. (2014) and had a leading role in the horror feature The Hagstone Demon (2011). In addition, Borchardt also made a cameo in the music video for the Leslie and the Ly"s song "Zombie Killer" featuring Elvira, Mistress of the Dark on guest vocals.
He has contributed to Kevin Lindenmuth"s 2001 book, The Independent Film Experience ( ) and had his short stories published in magazines.
In 2004, he announced he would direct Scare Maine and sent out casting calls. In 2008, he announced a 2009 release date, which was originally slated for a 2005 release.
As of Summer 2010 the movie was still in production. In April 2012, Borchardt stated that about 65% of the film had been shot, and that he was happy with the first forty pages of the script.
However, he maintained parts of the script needed to be revised and while he had rough-cut some of the footage, there was no completion date in place for the project
According to a March 2013 update for the Scare Maine IMDb page, the release date has been set for April 1, 2014.