By the lake, Chicago, Spring 2023
Writer, Producer, Director creating content for immature grown-ups, very wise children and therapy pets; graduate degree in filmmaking from Columbia University; written, directed produced/co-produced 3 shorts since 2017, Breathing above the Treeline released with 14 live screenings world-wide and multiple awards and nominations; Bat and Groped in completed July 2023; Nicholl Fellowships Quarterfinalist; experienced writer (for-hire and optioned) with a penchant for writing comedy.
I am a filmmaker, academic and a member of the faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago. I earned an MFA from the graduate film program at Columbia University in New York City and a BA from Wesleyan University. I spent three years in Denmark where I was awarded a production grant from the Danish Film Institute. I wrote, directed and produced an experimental award-winning short called Weaning (Løsrivelse). I wrote, directed and co-produced a dramatic short Breathing above the Treeline which enjoyed a robust reception on the festival circuit. I recently completed Bat a dramatic short which shot early March 2019 and was awarded an Illinois Arts Council Agency grant in October 2019. In addition, I have completed Groped which I wrote and directed in November 2019. I am Associate Professor, Adjunct at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where I teach Beginning Screenwriting and a course of my own design on worldbuilding called Structuring Narrative and Building the Imagined World. I have taught introductory and advanced production and screenwriting courses at Columbia College Chicago since 2004 and at the School of the Art Institute since 2015. I have presented internationally on narrative and narrative structure and have published extensively on the hero’s journey. I am currently in development on a family sitcom based in Brampton, Canada called Meet the Singhilas #brampton.
I have expertise in narrative structure, screenwriting, story design, story architecture, three-act structure, character development, dialogue, archetype, narrative mapping, fairytale structure and the hero's journey. In addition, I have expertise in directing and editing for narrative.