MELANIE SCHIELE is an award-winning writer, director, and producer from Midwood, Brooklyn.
She has earned both an MFA degree in Film Production from NYU’s Tisch Asia, where she was among the inaugural graduating class, as well as a BFA degree in Screenwriting with Honors from the Tisch-NY campus. Throughout her studies, Melanie was recognized as a University & Alumnae Club Scholar, Tisch Merit Scholar, Dean's Fellow, Governor's Committee Scholar, and Paulette Goddard Scholar. Her directorial debut DELILAH, BEFORE won the audience award for Best Short Film at the Tribeca Film Festival, and was distributed in Tribeca’s YouTube
Screening Room and the global platform Viki. Her follow-up short film ROCKAWAY premiered in "New Mavericks, Women Directors" at the Atlanta Film Festival and continued its long journey on the circuit, earning multiple awards in writing, directing, and performance. It was distributed via the Film Festival Collective, a carefully curated VOD platform honoring independent film.
Melanie’s screenplays have received over 40 accolades, including those from Nicholl, PAGE, Sundance, American Zoetrope, Slamdance, and NYU’s Fusion Film Festival. Her films have screened internationally with premieres spanning Tribeca, Atlanta, Palm Springs, Bilbao, Traverse City, BAMcinemaFest, Brazil, San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles, and Singapore.
Melanie takes great pride in creating character-driven, engaging, and socially conscious stories that facilitate a deeper understanding between everyday people. She strives to explore difficult subject matter in a nuanced, heartfelt way that can impact and inspire all types of audiences.
She has also spoken about the need for writing strong female characters and has shared her personal endeavors to achieve this in Tribeca's Future of Film and Women & Hollywood.