Tracie Laymon

Last updated

Tracie Laymon
Born
Houston, Texas
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, and producer
Website http://www.tracielaymon.com/

Tracie Laymon is an American screenwriter, producer, and film director. Raised in Houston, Texas, she studied film at the University of Texas at Austin. Laymon began her film career in Texas, where she created music videos and short films recognized at various film festivals.

Contents

After college, Laymon moved to California, working as a production assistant on the 2007 film *Blades of Glory*. Her short film *Inside* premiered in 2009 at the Milan International Film Festival, winning the Best Short Film award from the Women’s Image Network.

She directed *Goodnight Burbank*, recognized as the first half-hour comedy series for the internet, which premiered on Hulu in April 2011 and was acquired by Mark Cuban for HDNet later that year. Her short film *A Hidden Agender* premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival and won the Jury Award for Best Dark Comedy at WorldFest Houston.

Laymon was named to the Independent Film Channel's list of emerging "Icons" and "Film Innovators." She has worked on various projects, including a segment of the women’s anthology film *Girls!Girls!Girls!*, which starred Elaine Hendrix and Octavia Spencer. Her scripted material has received multiple accolades, including Best Screenplay at the LA Comedy Festival and Best TV Pilot at HollyShorts.

Her 2018 short film *Mixed Signals* premiered at the Oscar-qualifying LA Shorts and won several awards for Best Director at various festivals. Laymon has also directed a proof-of-concept pilot for Tess Allen's *Matched* and served as an observing director on Showtime's *Shameless*. She has taught animation and live-action filmmaking at organizations like Ghetto Film School and on Stanford and Berkeley campuses.

Her latest short film, *Ghosted*, has received multiple awards, including Best Director at the Big Bear Film Summit and Best Short Film at the Seattle Film Festival.

Career

Texas

Tracie Laymon was born and raised in Houston, Texas. [1] [2] She pursued film studies at the University of Texas at Austin. [3] Laymon served as assistant director on the music video "Frijolero" by the Mexico-based band Molotov, which won a Latin Grammy Award. [4] In 2004, she received recognition for her work on the music video "better?" for the group 54 Seconds, [5] which won the SXSW Jury Award that same year. [4] She spent time in Austin, Texas, creating short films and worked on the production staff of The Real World: Austin . [4]

California

Tracie Laymon worked as a production assistant on the 2007 film Blades of Glory [1] and served as office manager for the 2008 film U2 3D . [2] By 2009, she was based in Los Angeles as a filmmaker. [3] In May 2009, her music video "Falling From Mars," featuring musician Alyssa Campbell, won the Music Video Award at the on Location: Memphis International Film Festival. [4] Laymon directed the short film Inside, which premiered at the Milan International Film Festival in May 2009 and was nominated for Best Short Film at the festival. [5] Additionally, she was featured as part of the Independent Film Channel's "IFC Icons," highlighting her contributions to film and video. [6]

Filmography

YearFilmRole
2009InsideDirector, Producer, Writer
2011Girls! Girls! Girls!Director, Writer
2011A Hidden AgenderDirector, Writer
2011 Goodnight Burbank Director, Writer (uncredited)
2018Mixed SignalsDirector, Producer, Writer
2020GhostedDirector, Producer, Writer
2024 Bob Trevino Likes It Director, Producer, Writer

Awards and nominations

YearAwardProjectCategoryResult
2004SXSW Film Festivalbetter?Best Music VideoWon [7]
2008Las Vegas International Film FestivalFalling From MarsGolden Aces AwardWon [7]
On Location: Memphis International Film FestBest Music VideoWon [7] [4]
The Feel Good Film Festival Best Music VideoWon [7]
2009Milan International Film Festival AwardsInsideBest Short FilmNominated [6] [7]
Fantastic FestOfficial SelectionSelected [7]
Women's Image Network (WIN) AwardsBest Short FilmWon [7]
2011Dallas International Film FestivalGirls! Girls! Girls! (Segment: A Hidden Agender)Official SelectionSelected [7]
San Diego Film FestivalBest Feature FilmNominated [6] [7]
Twin Cities Film FestivalOfficial SelectionSelected [7]
Carmel Art and Film FestivalOfficial SelectionSelected [7]
Beverly Hills Short Film FestivalBest Short FilmSelected [7]
LA Comedy FestivalOfficial Selection and Best ActressNominated [6] [7]
Louisville International Film FestivalOfficial SelectionSelected [7]
La Femme Beverly HillsBest ProducersWon [7]
2012Houston International Film FestivalBest Dark ComedyWon [7]
2013LA Comedy FestivalOne Small Step for NeilBest ScreenplayWon [7]
2018Catalina Film FestivalMixed SignalsBest ShortNominated
LA Femme International Film FestivalBest ShortNominated
LA Shorts International Film FestivalBest Short FilmNominated
Louisville's International Festival of FilmJury AwardNominated
Portland Film Festival, USBest Short FilmNominated
Women Texas Film FestivalBest DirectorWon [7]
2019Independent Shorts AwardBest Director (Female)Won
Method FestBest DirectorWon
LA Under the Stars Film FestivalBest WriterWon
2021Catalina Film FestivalSaturday Night LesbianBest Feature Screenplay1st Place
Big Bear Film SummitGhostedBest DirectorWon
Best Narrative Short FilmWon
Big Sur International Short Film Screening SeriesBest DirectorWon
LA Shorts International Film FestivalBest Short FilmNominated
Los Angeles Shorts & Script FestivalBest of FestivalWon
Hollywood Gold AwardsBest DirectorWon
Flickers' Rhode Island International Film FestivalBest Short FilmNominated
Portland Film FestivalBest Short FilmNominated
San Diego International Film FestivalBest Short FilmNominated
Seattle Film FestivalBest ShortWon
Best DirectorWon
Best WriterWon
Women Texas Film FestivalBest DirectorWon
Storyteller AwardWon
Yucca Valley Film FestivalBest Short FilmWon
2022LA Under the Stars Film FestivalSuperstar (Best Rated Film)Won
2024SXSW Film FestivalBob Trevino Likes ItNarrative FeatureWon

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renée Zellweger</span> American actress (born 1969)

Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, she was one of the world's highest-paid actresses by 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Linklater</span> American film director, producer and screenwriter (born 1960)

Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016); and the romantic comedy Hit Man (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Kahn (director)</span> American music video director

Joseph Kahn is a Grammy-winning South Korean-American film and music video director. Kahn has worked with various artists such as Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Eminem, Backstreet Boys, Imagine Dragons, Lady Gaga, Rob Thomas, Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, Kelly Clarkson, Ava Max, Mariah Carey and Destiny's Child.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kat Candler</span> American independent filmmaker

Kat Candler is an American film writer, producer, and director. She wrote and directed the 2014 film Hellion, and has worked on television shows including 13 Reasons Why and Queen Sugar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Hickman</span> American singer (born 1963)

Sara Hickman is an American singer, songwriter, and artist.

South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both scope and size every year. In 2017, the conference lasted for 10 days with the interactive track lasting for five days, music for seven days, and film for nine days. There was no in-person event in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Austin; in both years there was a smaller online event instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Babbit</span> American filmmaker

Jamie Merill Babbit is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She directed the films But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), The Quiet (2005), and Itty Bitty Titty Committee (2007). She has also directed episodes of such television series as Russian Doll, Gilmore Girls, Malcolm in the Middle, United States of Tara, Looking, Nip/Tuck, The L Word, Silicon Valley, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Orville, Only Murders in the Building, and A League of Their Own.

Kris Lefcoe is a film director and writer based in New York City. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in philosophy, before attending Norman Jewison's Canadian Film Centre as a Director Resident. Many of Lefcoe's films are dark comedies about contemporary culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Steinbauer</span> American film director

Benjamin Jeffrey Steinbauer is an American director, showrunner, writer, and producer who directed the feature documentary Winnebago Man (2009). Steinbauer also directed the documentary Chop & Steele (2022), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and was the showrunner and director of the episodic television show High Hopes for Jimmy Kimmel's Kimmelot. He also directed the PBS show Stories of the Mind and the CBS docuseries Pink Collar Crimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Spiro</span> American film director

Ellen Spiro is an American documentary filmmaker. She is a producer and director of the television documentary Are the Kids Alright?, which won an Emmy Award in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keegan DeWitt</span> American musician

Keegan DeWitt is an American film composer, singer-songwriter, and actor. He was raised in Oregon and now resides in Los Angeles. He is the lead singer of the indie rock band Wild Cub, as well as a composer for film scores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolyn Wonderland</span> American singer-songwriter

Carolyn Wonderland is an American blues singer-songwriter and musician. She is married to comedian and writer A. Whitney Brown.

<i>Colin Fitz Lives!</i> 1997 independent film

Colin Fitz Lives!, also known simply as Colin Fitz is a 1997 independent film directed by Robert Bella. Colin Fitz Lives! was shot on 35mm in New York City. The budget was $150,000 and the film was shot in 14 days. It had its World Premiere in Dramatic Competition at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. The film won awards at several film festivals, including the Austin Film Festival and the Long Island Film Festival. However, it did not receive theatrical distribution, as Bella lacked the funds to finish the film's post-production, pay deferred salaries, and secure music rights for more than a decade after the festival.

<i>Sironia</i> 2011 American film

Sironia is a drama film directed by Brandon Dickerson and starring Amy Acker, Wes Cunningham, Tony Hale, Robyn Lively, Carrie Preston and Meaghan Martin. It was shot on location in Waco, Texas and Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athina Rachel Tsangari</span> Greek filmmaker (born 1966)

Athina Rachel Tsangari is a Greek filmmaker. Some of her most notable works include her feature films, The Slow Business of Going (2000), Attenberg (2010) and Chevalier (2015) as well as the co-production of Yorgos Lanthimos' films Kinetta (2005), Dogtooth (2009), and Alps (2011). In her versatile work for cinema, she has also founded and been director of the Cinematexas International Short Film Festival. In 2014–2015, she was invited to Harvard University's Visual and Environmental Studies department as a visiting lecturer on art, film, and visual studies.

Geoff Marslett is an American film director, writer, producer, animator and actor. His early career started with the animated short Monkey vs. Robot which was distributed internationally by Spike and Mike's Classic Festival of Animation on video and Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation in theatres. More recently he directed several successful narrative feature films including MARS, as well as producing and acting in the experimental documentary Yakona. He appears onscreen in Josephine Decker's Thou Wast Mild and Lovely which was released theatrically in 2014. He currently resides in Austin, Texas and splits his time between filmmaking and teaching at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliza Hittman</span> American film director

Eliza Hittman is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer from New York City. She has won multiple awards for her film Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which include the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award—both for best screenplay.

Jen McGowan is an American filmmaker. At the 2014 South by Southwest Film Festival, McGowan won the Gamechanger Award for Kelly & Cal, her first feature film. McGowan is the creator of filmpowered.com, an international skill-sharing, networking and job resource for professional women in film and television.

Sophie Deraspe is a Canadian director, scenarist, director of photography and producer. Prominent in new Quebec cinema, she is known for a 2015 documentary The Amina Profile, an exploration of the Amina Abdallah Arraf al Omari hoax of 2011. She had previously written and directed the narrative feature films Missing Victor Pellerin in 2006, Vital Signs in 2009, The Wolves in 2015,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duane Graves</span> American film director, screenwriter, and editor

Duane Graves is an American film director, writer, producer, cinematographer and editor who has produced a body of work spanning multiple genres. In 2023, Deadline Hollywood announced he was named one of Coverfly's best up and coming screenwriters. His career began with the documentary Up Syndrome, which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2001. A portrait of his childhood friend born with Down syndrome, Up Syndrome won numerous awards, including the National Media Award from the National Down Syndrome Congress in 2002, and the Grand Prize at the 2006 Movies Askew Film Festival hosted by Clerks (film) director Kevin Smith. He formed Greeks Films with film school peer, actor and filmmaking partner Justin Meeks in 2001.

References

  1. 1 2 "Tracie Laymon". Allmovie . www.allmovie.com. 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Biography for Tracie Laymon". Turner Classic Movies. www.tcmdb.com. 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Goodbye Michael Jackson: Star, brother, friend, father". CNN . Time Warner. July 7, 2009. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lo and Behold: On Location Film Festival Awards". The Commercial Appeal. Memphis, Tennessee. May 4, 2009.
  5. 1 2 Langdon, Jessica (September 27, 2009). "Doctor's first film called powerful". Wichita Falls Times Record News. Texas. p. A1. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Tracie Laymon: Inside". TVN. www.televisionet.tv. June 2009. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Tracie Laymon". IFC Icons. Independent Film Channel. 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2010.

Further reading