Lynda Balsama, Writer/Director
Lynda is an award winning Brooklyn based writer/director. She began her career in the editing room working with filmmakers and editors Ken Burns, George Stoney, Paul Barnes and Judith Helfand. She later moved to the camera department, working as an Assistant Camera, Camera Operator and Director of Photography on multiple feature films, TV and commercial productions including MTV's The State and The Rolling Stones Steel Wheels Tour.
She's written, directed and edited multiple short films including Orange Quarters, which was chosen to open the New York Comedy Film Festival National Tour two years running; for the Marshall's Women in Comedy Festival in both New York and Los Angeles, was winner of the Spotlight on New Work/New Directors by the New York Film Buffs Society, was licensed by Hypnotic and Brit Shorts, and has aired multiple times internationally on Showtime, IFC and The Movie Network among others.
She has over 20 years experience as a script analyst and story consultant for independent and studio feature films including Universal's Wanderlust starring Jennifer Anniston and Paul Rudd and NBC's Brenda Forever starring Ellie Kemper. Her original script BIG AMERICAN CAFFE was a finalist for the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab and was presented at a live reading for the Fifth Night Screenwriter’s Festival at the Nyuorican Poets Cafe. Her most recent feature script, JENTI GIRL, was a Semifinalist for the AMPAS Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting and is currently in development with her attached to direct.
Lynda's theatre work includes directing and co-producing "The Little Hours" based on the works of Dorothy Parker which was picked up for a six month run at the Algonquin, the award winning one- man show, "I Be Who Be", written by and starring Kevin Allison of MTV's The State and RISK!, as well as creating and directing a year-long actors' workshop designed to create the character-driven script KNOCKED OUT LOADED, subsequently chosen as Emerging Narrative for the IFP's Feature Film Market and Quarterfinalist for the AMPAS Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting.
Lynda holds a BFA in Film and Television from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with concentrations in Directing and Cinematography. Her thesis film, What Chester Makes won best documentary at the NYU Film Festival and was a finalist for a Student Academy Award.