LAURA SEAY
Laura Seay is an award-winning director, writer, and actor with a sharp eye for performance and a gift for bringing urgency, depth, and precision to any genre.
She grew up on the move—an expat kid with a duffel bag of half-understood customs, learning to watch, to listen, to read the room before she entered it. The movies were always on. They played late into the night, as her mom fielded every question about what was happening on screen. Instead of I’ll tell you when you’re older, she shrugged and laid it all out, spoiling Casablanca before Laura hit double digits. Looking back, she had about as much choice in becoming a filmmaker as a goldfish has in learning to swim.
Her latest short, ▶️ The Coupon, a Kafkaesque comedic romp, won multiple awards across the festival circuit, including Best Comedy Short at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival and Best Short at the Tohorror Film Festival. It also screened at Fantastic Fest, FilmQuest, Telluride Horror Show, Slash International, and other leading genre programs. ▶️ The Baldwin Archives, a reimagining of James Baldwin’s 1969 BBC interview, was named one of Awards Daily’s “25 Best Shorts at HollyShorts,” with additional screenings at Outfest, NewFest, and Out On Film. Her directorial debut, ▶️ Speak, premiered at the Nantucket Film Festival and raised funds for Good Shepherd Shelter, a Los Angeles refuge for survivors of domestic abuse.
Laura was recently selected for the highly competitive Ryan Murphy Half Initiative, where she shadowed Maggie Kiley (Doctor Odyssey, American Sports Story, Dr. Death, Scream Queens). She also shadowed Monica Raymund (Dexter: Original Sin, The Sinner, Raising Kanan), and was invited to train under Dan Attias (The Wire, Homeland, Snowfall, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) through Sundance Collab’s Directing for Television Intensive. She was also a finalist for SeriesFest’s Shonda Rhimes Directing Mentorship.
An actor’s director with roots in performance and stand-up, Laura brings a sharp sense of timing, character, and emotional nuance to her work. Her onscreen credits include Steven Soderbergh’s Command Z, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., NCIS, and Superbad, along with stand-up performances at The Comedy Store and the New York Comedy Festival. She is a member of the Alliance of Women Directors.
︎ The Coupon: Short ︎
︎ Directing Reel ︎
︎imeo