Isabella Culver is a British-American Writer, Director and Actor who grew up in South-East London. In 2020 Isabella won the ShortFLIX award run by Sky Arts and Creative England for her short film ‘SEVEN SISTERS’ a modern-day drama that follows a teenage girl as she seeks solace after a traumatic sexual assault. Isabella will direct the short which will premiere on the Sky Arts channel.
Isabella has recently been working with Bryncoed Productions on youth drama series ‘WHAT’S GOOD?’. ‘WHAT’S GOOD?’ was born from a writer’s room supported by the BFI Young Audiences Content Fund, Isabella then went on to write the pilot and treatment for the project. The Young Vic Theatre in London hosted a rehearsed reading for ‘WHAT’S GOOD?’ which was directed by Akaash Meeda.
Isabella recently directed thirty-minute short film ‘These Four Walls’ written and starring Callan Allen. ‘These Four Walls’ explores male mental health in the time of lockdown, a subject very close to her heart. As well as directing drama Isabella also directs music videos, in the past year she has worked with many up-and-coming artists including OSOM, Catching Cairo, Jean Mikhael and Achorsong.
In 2017 Isabella won The Bristol Old Vic ‘Open Session’ playwriting competition for her debut play ‘The Dissociation of Shirley Mason’. Over the course of a year Isabella worked with the highly acclaimed Writing Department at The Bristol Old Vic to develop her work. ‘The Dissociation of Shirley Mason’ a physical theatre play and psychological thriller focussing on mental health in the 1950’s, was staged at The Bristol Old Vic and received a five-star review from A Younger Theatre. During her time working with The Bristol Old Vic Isabella was mentored by James Peries and also completed an R&D for her new play ‘FLORIDA SNOW’ a coming-of-age tale set in Daytona Beach Florida.
Isabella studied theatre at The BRIT School and went on to receive a 1st Class BA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. After graduating Isabella acted as Assistant Producer during an internship with immersive theatre company ‘RAUCOUS’ under Artistic Director Sharon Clark. During her time at Bath Spa she participated in the Creative Thinking Competition and was selected to be part of The Hot House Collective run by Ark Data Centre’s. She worked with them over the course of six months to develop ideas for VR and Brainwave reader games to be used in schools for children with learning difficulties.
2022
UNTITLED
Writers room
Vertigo
2020
WHAT’S GOOD?
45’ TV Pilot & Treatment
Bryncoed Productions
Lead Writer
THESE FOUR WALLS
30’ Short Film
Verum Films
Director
SEVEN SISTERS
Shortflix 2020
Sky Arts & Creative England
Writer & Director
(In Development)
https://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/peckham-filmmakers-work-broadcast-on-sky-arts/
2019
AS DEAD AS IT GETS
60′ TV pilot
Bryncoed Productions
Writer
AS DEAD AS IT GETS
Bryncoed Productions
Writers Workshop
THE DISSOCIATION OF SHIRLEY MASON
The Bristol Old Vic
Directed by Peter Lesley Wild
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ review – A Younger Theatre
2018
R&D THE DISSOCIATION OF SHIRLEY MASON
The Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
R&D FLORIDA SNOW
The Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
AWARDS
2020
ShortFLIX Final 5
Creative England & Sky Arts
https://www.creativeengland.co.uk/shortflix-final5/
2017
Bristol Old Vic ‘Open Sessions’ Playwriting Competition Winner https://bristololdvic.org.uk/press/
2017
Bath Spa Global Citizenship Certificate
2016
Bath Spa International Bursary
2015
Ark Data Centre’s Hot House Collective
2014
Ark Data Centre’s Creative Thinking Award, Shortlist