Rachel Benaissa

Writer

Agent

Emily Smith

Rachel Benaissa is a French actress and writer, based in London. Rachel’s writing is female-focused, often blending drama with dark humour and finding the comedy in the absurdity and challenge of everyday life. She writes unabashed about mental health challenges, identity and the conflict of multi-heritage labels with a fresh, vibrant humour and contemporary relevance.

Her dramedy feature script JULIET IS FINE placed in the top 10% of the 2020 & 2021 Academy Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship and as a Finalist in the 2021 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards. Her TV pilot INADEQUATE placed as a quarterfinalist, in the 2022 Filmatic Pitch Now Screenplay Competition & in the 2022 ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship. The script is loosely based on Rachel’s own experiences and follows a French-Algerian woman navigating a crisis of identity.

Rachel has written two television features for US network channels and is currently developing her short film THE COMMITMENT – a short dramatic comedy about postpartum depression. Rachel is developing a number of new television and film projects including a comedy-horror television idea, a cross-generational road-trip series and a comedy feature.

Previous projects include TV pilot ‘PANIC’, inspired by her own experience with generalised anxiety disorder which was a quarterfinalist in the 2021 ScreenCraft TV Pilot Script Competition & a semifinalist in the 2021 Script Lab Screenplay Contest.

Rachel studied Theatre & Filmmaking at the Gaiety School in Dublin and is represented as an actress by AK Agents.

Call Emily to discuss Rachel or other Writers

+44 (0)207 467 0107