Michelle Steffes is an award-winning writing/director whose short films have played in film festivals around the world and have aired on Hulu, FXX, and Freeform. She directed the fantasy drama Driftwood for AFI’s prestigious Directing Workshop for Women. Her sci-fi black comedy The Interview, which won grand prize at the Academy-qualifying USA Film Festival, led to her invitation to join the short film branch of the Academy. She also produced Destin Cretton’s Academy short-listed short film Short Term 12 and Lowell Frank’s student Academy Award finalist short film Day Labor.
During the pandemic, Michelle directed several commercial campaigns for VTech/ LeapFrog, the short branded horror/comedy film Summoned for M&Ms and 20th Digital, and the short drama film Life Partners for Disney Television Discovers Talent Showcase.
Michelle directed her first feature, For When You Get Lost, a coming-of-middle-age comedy-drama about family, death, and beer, in the Pacific Northwest in the summer of 2022. For When You Get Lost is currently in post-production.
Michelle was a recent fellow in The Black List and Women in Film’s feature screenwriting residency program as well as a recent fellow of the Walt Disney television directing program, through which she shadowed directors on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hulu’s Love, Victor and High Fidelity. Previously she shadowed on TNT’s Murder in the First and Netflix’s One Day at a Time.
Michelle previously worked as the Director of Development at Larger than Life Productions for writer/ director Gary Ross and helped develop Seabiscuit and the animated film The Tale of Despereaux.
Michelle has trained in directing at Beverly Hills Playhouse, AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, Judith Weston’s directing labs, Los Angeles Film Studies Center, and in comedy improv at iO West. She has previously served on the boards of Film School Africa, a South Africa-based non-profit dedicated to training young people in filmmaking, and the Alliance of Women Directors, committed to gender diversity in the director’s chair.