New York City native, Elise Shin grew up a grocer’s kid on the Upper East Side. She helped her parents bag fruits and veggies, noshed on buttered matzah, and chatted with countless visitors. On weeknights, she attentively listened to her grandmother’s lurid, Korean folktales. The diverse, interactive theater that was her life bloomed a curiosity and love of story that would take her traveling across the globe and in the imagined world of books.

Her interest in story solidified at Cornell University where she studied allegorical works and mythologies. She went on to attend the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and The Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema for Creative Producing.

She taught at Seoul National University and worked with the NYC Mayor’s Office as a Digital Director for Health and Housing before transitioning into film.

As a producer, her short films have won awards and screened at films festivals including Berlinale and MoMA New Directors | New Films (More Happiness), and the Maryland International Film Festival (Cousins).

Now in Venice, California, Elise writes dramas that lean into the speculative space. They speak to the terrors of technology and humanity, as well as how we make sense of the world through story.

She’s worked in development at Quinn’s House, Radical Media, Magnolia Pictures, FX Networks, and Lionsgate. She has also had the privilege to provide research for Soo Hugh’s Pachinko.

Elise has advanced in fellowships and placed in Final Draft’s Big Break, ScreenCraft, WeScreenplay, and ISA Fast Track. Learn about her latest project Perpetual Dreaming on The Black List.

When she’s not writing and making rent, Elise can be found surfing her local break.