Chris M. Rutledge is originally from Chicago, IL and currently resides in Santa Monica, CA. Initially majoring in Architecture due to his passion for design, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management due to his interest in real estate development. He attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where he also pledged Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

Chris has been a technical writer and reviewer in the commercial real estate industry since 2002, by day; and creative writer since 1997, by night. He began his creative writing by penning short stories in 1997,  later started a novel, then subsequently transitioned into screenwriting in 2009 after taking a screenwriting course at Emory University. The transition to screenwriting was appropriate since Chris has a strong interest in writing, fused with a passion for film. He has written several feature-length screenplays which are available for review upon request. Chris decided to "reverse engineer" one of his screenplays into a novel, which would eventually become his first published novel, "Murder at Venegoni's" while making his sophomoric authorial release in 2019 with "ASCLEPIUS," and his latest novel release in 2020 titled, "We The People."

In 2018 Chris decided to direct and produce one of his screenplays. The short film titled "Trombone Jones" was completed in late 2018. His film would later be chosen as an Official Selection and Best Actor Nominee in the WideScreen Film Fest in Las Vegas in 2019, and an Official Selection in the Golden State Film Fest in Los Angeles in 2020. Chris has also worked as a script supervisor on several short films. See IMDb for full film credits.

Chris currently juggles both screenwriting and novel writing and plans to write future novels based on his screenplays and vice versa. Please contact him to view his screenplays or for screenwriting services.