Carolyn Coal

Carolyn Coal is an award-winning writer and director with a portfolio in film and advertising. While earning her MFA at Art Center College of Design, she wrote and directed a short film entitled, Cache, which toured internationally and screened at Sundance. Her second film, Tell Me Who Ruby Was, drew similar praise including the Jury Prize at the Sonoma Film Festival. Building upon these early successes, Carolyn wrote and directed three award-winning feature length documentaries: A Place to Live, the story of seven LGBTQ seniors in search of affordable housing; Mad Skills, featuring champion drift racer, Rhys Millen; and, An American Craftsman, how a seemingly obscure woodworker influenced an entire art movement. Winning a Gold Clio for the first commercial she wrote afforded Carolyn the opportunity to utilize her storytelling skills in advertising where she developed and produced commercials and branded content for iconic clients such as Land Rover, Charles Schwab, and Kohler. Carolyn's been a screenwriting fellow at Film Independent, Berlin Talent Campus, and Outfest. She is currently developing a television pilot entitled Party Lines, which won Best Unproduced TV Pilot at the 2019 Los Angeles Television, Script and Film Festival and was a finalist in the California Women's Film Festival. At a recent TEDx event, Carolyn spoke about the profound ripple effect creative ideas have on the world.