Susan Kelejian

Screenwriter

Ojai, California

Member Since:
June 2024

Last online:
2 days ago

Invites sent:
0

About Susan

To be an artist is to spend a lifetime developing one's craft. To be an imposter is thinking that AI can get you there.

FOR FILM:
Started writing screenplays Jan 2024
GOALS:
To write in every film genre for the years 2024-2025
End of year goal 2024 is to have been paid for a film, a polish, or something in the biz. UPDATE: hit this goal! September 2024
2025l: sell a screenplay
2025: start production

2024:
--Feature script "BELIEF," currently being shopped /"Belief" had its debut as a stage play in February 2024 in WV
--Feature Script "Bad Axx" currently being shopped
--"Love in the Wings" currently being walked into Hallmark by director
--"He/She/Us" produced in Kyiv 2023 as a Stage Play, in Detroit in Feb 2024, and Fall Audio drama in Los Angeles

I am published in Romance (under a different name).
AEA/ Dramatists Guild of America
Started in Hollywood in mid 1980's, worked as a grip/electrician, make-up, wardrobe, 1AD, Prod Manager
Trained in acting and had a bunch of stories I tried to sell
Multiple awards as a Theater Professional, produced playwright

Pulled bio:
Artistic Director (Ojai Valley Artists Theater Ensemble), Susan Kelejian, started acting professionally after running away to France at age 17 and landing a job in a commedia dell’ arte touring company.
Susan first came to Ojai in the 1990’s with the Ojai Shakespeare Festival (OSF) playing Prospera in The Tempest. which was the "play which changed my life" and started her on an in depth journey towards searching for a higher consciousness and knowledge in Esoteric Studies. She has lectured, toured, and taught at several Universities. She returned to Ojai in 2017 after being away for a few years in Los Angeles where she became the founder and Artistic Director of Equine Dell Arte, the only professional theater company in the world to consistently perform Shakespeare on horseback.
Susan is an award-winning playwright, actor, and director throughout Southern CA and has created her own unique methodology for acting.
Her education is from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Goddard College (BA in Script writing and Metaphysics), USC (MSW for Social Work) and MUW (MFA in Theatre Education,)UMS for PhD in Metaphysical Science, and holds an LCSW in psychotherapy.

After years of studying neurodivergency, especially with creative types, Susan has developed an hypothesis on how the "non linear" brain functions, has applied her approach with over 150 patients in the last 15 years, and subsequently has reframed ADHD to a different diagnosis (AFS, or Attention Fluctuation Spectrum). She is currently writing a book on her research and experience. (2024).

Unique traits: too many to list

Gender:
Female

Badges

2024-11-05

Writers' Room Member

Certifications

Photos

Loglines

Bad Axx Budget: $5M - $10M | Action ⋄ Comedy When her entire world as she knows it falls apart, an overweight, insecure middle-aged housewife finds her internal "bad ass" and takes matters in her own hands for the first time in her life.
The Vigilantes Budget: $10M - $30M | Thriller ⋄ Action When a young Navajo granddaughter of a US Senator gets kidnapped by traffickers, an underground group of five women jump on the case, aiming to save her before she disappears forever.
He/She/Us Budget: $0 - $100K | Romance ⋄ Drama After nearly a year apart, ex-partners agree to meet. Paolo has strikingly changed, while Astrid struggles to make the necessary transitions in order to return.
Hell's Giving Budget: $0 - $100K | Horror ⋄ Comedy In this comedy- horror short, a tight-knit Black family move into an upscale White neighborhood and find themselves in the middle of a nightmare: the Turkeys have turned on the humans for their Thanksgiving dinner.
Love in the Wings Budget: $100K - $1M | Romance ⋄ Comedy When romance novel reading Olivia is given her first theater directing job at the local playhouse, she grapples with the challenges of Hamlet, all the while not realizing she will be finding her own love in the wings.
BELIEF Budget: $1M - $5M | Thriller ⋄ Drama With everything on the line, obsessive cryptozoologist Dr. Kate Sheffield, races to find the necessary proof that Bigfoot exists, but struggles with doubt when dark family secrets suddenly appear.

View all 6 loglines

Awards

TIFA Winner "He/She/Us"
(2024)
IIFA Winner "BELIEF"
(2024)
MIFF Winner "BELIEF"
(2024)
TAMIZHAGAM INTL FEST BEST short script Winner He/She/Us
(2024)
Influx Honrable mention Best Script "BELIEF"
(2024)
AIMAFF Honorable Mention best Script "BELIEF"
(2024)
Imaginarium Finalist Best Script "BELIEF"
(2024)
Fright Night Official Selection "Hell's Giving"
(2024)
IndieX Winner Best Short Script "Hell's Giving"
(2024)
London Int. FF Winner Best Horror, Outstanding Short Script "Hells Giving"
(2024)
London In FF Winner best LGBTQ script "He/She/Us"
(2024)
London Int. FF Winner Best Thriller Feature, "BELIEF" Honorable Mention Best Feature
(2024)
Miami Womens Film Fest Winner Best short script "He/She/Us"
(2024)
Out on Film Atlanta Finalist "He/She/Us"
(2024)
BBIFF Best Short Script "He/She/Us"
(2024)
Montreal Shorts Best Script "He/She/Us"
(2024)
CIneverse Finalist "Bad Axx"
(2024)