Kellie Ann Benz

Kellie Ann Benz is a screenwriter, film producer, director, journalist and newspaper editor born in Redding, California and raised in British Columbia, Canada. In 1996, she wrote a script for a 13 minute short film, entitled The Second Coming. In 1999, she won a Telefilm Canada/Director’s Guild of Canada Kickstart grant to write, direct and produce another short film titled Cinderella; Single Again, which premiered at the 2001 Vancouver International Film Festival. Her third short film, Awkward, premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival. Since 2009, she writes a column covering short films and web series at The National Screen Institute, and the online resource, The Shorts Report. In 2010, she was chosen as one of six finalists for Vancouver’s annual Crazy 8′s event. Her short film, Stupid Chainsaw Tricks, was written by Kris Elgtrand and starred Tom Scholte. She moved back to the United States in 2014, and resumed her journalism career. She has served as the associate editor of Washington Coast Magazine, the lifestyles editor at The Daily World in Aberdeen, Washington, the editor of The Redwood Times, and special publications editor for the Eureka Times-Standard in Northern California. She also edited a variety of community newspapers in the South Bay, including Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Saratoga News, Campbell Report and Milpitas Post.