Brief biography
Once upon a time, I was a business executive with an MBA running companies owned by the federal government. I sat on 60 Boards of Directors. Always the youngest person in a Board meeting, I learned to use humor and moxie in order to get my positions heard. I loved it, but longed for a more creative career. I started taking improv comedy classes, and ultimately ended up graduating from the Second City Conservatory and performing a lot of improv around LA. Improv was never a career for me, it was purely for fun, but learning how to write on the spot/on stage inspired me to start writing. It was improv, also, that drew me to start making short films improvised over a weekend at various 48 hour film competitions.
As a writer, I was not very good at it. Initially. But I took a lot of classes, found mentors, and eventually, started winning competitions. I won the CineStory Screenwriting Awards, honed my feature-writing skills, and then became a Finalist in the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. I also became a Finalist in the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, and recently, I won the Grand Jury Prize for the Nashville Film Festival Screenplay Competition. I turned one of my features into a children’s novel, which I am still revising, but it has a fair bit of book agent interest. I’m also writing a YA comedy novel, and will adapt that one into a feature as well.
Two years ago, I started writing pilots. Why? I fell in love with TV. Sure, I’d always watched and enjoyed shows, but wow, I’m in awe of this golden age we’re in. One of my recent faves was your own American Crime Story “People vs. O.J. Simpson.” I was riveted. My first pilot reached the Finals of the CineStory TV/Digital Competition, and my second pilot last year was a Sundance Episodic Lab second rounder and reached the Finals of the Script Pipeline TV Writing Contest (top ten out of 2,700 pilot submissions). My goal is not to just write TV but also to direct it.
As a director, I went from making 48 hour films to being a participant in the AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women. My AFI DWW short THE DEATH OF TOYS played in 40 festivals and won various awards. I concentrated on writing following my short’s festival run, but began to miss directing. As I never went to film school, but instead got my MBA, I felt my technical knowledge could be expanded. So two years ago, I began taking film classes at a local community college. Recently, I made two shorts. I was fortunate that top screenwriter Terry Rossio “Pirates of the Caribbean,” offered to have me direct a short he wrote. I am currently completing post on his THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS, which is an anti-gun violence satire. Following the short’s festival run, I intend to make my own first feature, a high concept anti-gun violence fable.
