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Hester Schell

(She/Her/Hers)

Screenwriter | Director | Instructor | Actor | Producer

  • SAG-AFTRA

Biography

HESTER SCHELL, M.F.A.
Author, Director, Optioned & Produced Screenwriter. Produced Playwright.

Hester writes roles for middle aged and senior women in stories about social and environmental good. As a produced writer Hester’s shorts have placed in festivals with awards. Both her comedy web series and a documentary landed distribution. Evolving from theatre roots (acting) Hester is an award-winning director and veteran acting teacher. Film crew experience spans casting, script supervising, pre-production through distribution. She has cast commercials, industrials, shorts and features. During her transition from professional actor and director, to full time scriptwriter, she took a detour into academia, becoming a full professor of film and theatre. She retired  from academia in 2015.

Schell is the author of the critically acclaimed CASTING REVEALED: A Guide for Film Directors, now in its 2nd edition with Routledge Press, 2016. The first edition was published by Michael Wiese Productions in 2011. She published Bay Area Casting News from 1995 to 2015 and enjoyed a column with Script Magazine where she focused on acting and casting. 

June 2025 - Completed shooting on a teaser for Drop-In Squad. Building out the Pitch Deck.

January 2025 - Coverfly's RED LIST, Family Friendly, (Drop-In Squad)

September 2024 - Finalist, Scriptapalooza Features (A Matter of Time)
In January 2023, INVISIBLE, a co-write by Gabriell DeBear Paye and Hester Schell was optioned. Schell and Paye met in 2009 at the longest running script network in America: Harvard Square Script Writers. They began INVISIBLE in 2015. INVISIBLE placed as a semi finalist in the WOMEN WHO WRITE IN FILM (2019) competition and a quarter finalist in the Portland Screenplay Competition (2021). INVISIBLE received a "recommend" from Extreme Screenwriting.

 

Find Hester online at Facebook, LinkedIn, IMDb and IMDbPRO.

HESTER SCHELL, M.F.A.
Author, Director, Optioned & Produced Screenwriter. Produced Playwright.

Hester writes roles for middle aged and senior women in stories about social and environmental good. As a produced writer Hester’s shorts have placed in festivals with awards. Both her comedy web series and a documentary landed distribution. Evolving from theatre roots (acting) Hester is an award-winning director and veteran acting teacher. Film crew experience spans casting, script supervising, pre-production through distribution. She has cast commercials, industrials, shorts and features. During her transition from professional actor and director, to full time scriptwriter, she took a detour into academia, becoming a full professor of film and theatre. She retired  from academia in 2015.

Schell is the author of the critically acclaimed CASTING REVEALED: A Guide for Film Directors, now in its 2nd edition with Routledge Press, 2016. The first edition was published by Michael Wiese Productions in 2011. She published Bay Area Casting News from 1995 to 2015 and enjoyed a column with Script Magazine where she focused on acting and casting. 

June 2025 - Completed shooting on a teaser for Drop-In Squad. Building out the Pitch Deck.

January 2025 - Coverfly's RED LIST, Family Friendly, (Drop-In Squad)

September 2024 - Finalist, Scriptapalooza Features (A Matter of Time)
In January 2023, INVISIBLE, a co-write by Gabriell DeBear Paye and Hester Schell was optioned. Schell and Paye met in 2009 at the longest running script network in America: Harvard Square Script Writers. They began INVISIBLE in 2015. INVISIBLE placed as a semi finalist in the WOMEN WHO WRITE IN FILM (2019) competition and a quarter finalist in the Portland Screenplay Competition (2021). INVISIBLE received a "recommend" from Extreme Screenwriting.

 

Find Hester online at Facebook, LinkedIn, IMDb and IMDbPRO.

Projects (6)

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Drop-In Squad
Feature
  • Dramedy .
  • Family .
  • Young Adult
0 Recommendation
0 Award
Watch Video
Available
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INVISIBLE
Feature
  • Comedy .
  • Dramedy .
  • Romance
0 Recommendation
1 Award
Watch Video
Available
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TRAGIC FLAW
Feature
  • Thriller
0 Recommendation
1 Award
Watch Video
Available
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Seven Generations: S1E1 - Colony Collapse
TV Pilot (One-hour)
0 Recommendation
1 Award
Watch Video
Available

Credits (1)

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Climate Change: Cape Lookout
Written by
Short Documentary
  • Drama .
  • Historical
0 Recommendation
2 Awards
Watch Video
Produced

Education

American Academy of Dramatic Arts
University of Utah
Portland State University
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Hester Schell

Screenwriter | Director | Instructor | Actor | Producer

  • SAG-AFTRA
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Conversations
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