More About Me.
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Alyson Shelton writes about women across mediums + genres. In the film To Hold The Night she tackles a psychological thriller through fractured realities and self-invention. In her comic Reburn she centers a superpowered and mutli-faceted heroine, and in Eve of Understanding, the award winning feature she wrote and directed, the narrative delves into childhood secrets and their ongoing repercussions. She hosts a weekly Instagram Live series inspired by George Ella Lyon’s poem, Where I’m From, where she’s welcomed over 160 writers and creatives. And her own Where I’m From poem provides the spine for her memoir in essays, currently in revision. Her writing has been published widely at outlets including The New York Times, Ms., The Rumpus and more. She is thrilled to be a contributor to the essay collections, Broken Free: Writers on Estrangement (Forthcoming Catapult 2026) and Comics Lit Vol. 1 , to host her podcast, Fine Cut for Femme On Collective and to be co-founding a Sibling Loss community and co-editing an anthology entitled, The Loss of a Lifetime: Advice from Grieving Siblings on Loss, Love and Hope. You can learn more about her through her website, www.alysonshelton.com and her Instagram @byalysonshelton
Long Bio: Alyson Shelton loves to create characters, especially powerful and complicated female ones. She began with acting and dancing at a young age but realized she liked pouring herself into creating characters from their initial stages. At Northwestern University, she earned a degree in Theatre and Creative Writing for the Media. After a couple of years in the "real world," she returned to academia, earning her Master of Fine Arts at University of Southern California in Cinematic Arts. For over a decade, Alyson dedicated herself to the world of Film and Television, working as a producer in non-fiction television and writing several screenplays including, Bright Side (Female Eye Film Festival workshop participant) and the award-winning film, Eve of Understanding, which she also directed. Alyson stepped back when she had her first child. Now, reconsidering that time, she realizes she was completely drained, exhausted from the trauma of her childhood combined with the toxicity of the business. She was convinced and believed she “had nothing left to say.” And was relieved that her fear of being “just a mom” was unfounded. She loved the anonymity and necessity of taking it a day at a time as a mother of two young children. When her younger child entered pre-school she started to realize she might have something to say. Just maybe. She began writing screenplays but this time with one key difference, she wrote them for herself. What she would like to read. To see. No attempts to please people who would never be her audience. Instead, she wrote for herself and her friends, the ones who told her they would be there when she decided to write again. She wrote two new screenplays, award-winning Tell Me Something True and Reburn, which she adapted into a comic book with artist Elise McCall and producer, Jessica Petelle. and successfully funded the first arc (Issues #1-#4) on Kickstarter. In the past few years, she has dipped her toe into essay writing. For years, mentors encouraged to write about her life but that felt equal parts ridiculous and terrifying. Eventually the appeal of being able to share her voice and words without needing a green light seduced her into getting past her own hang-ups. In her first published essay at Ms. “The Repercussions of Trauma as a Former Patient of Dr. George Tyndall” she wrote frankly and insightfully as a survivor of complex trauma. Other essays explore the humorous side of her chaotic childhood, those featured in Little Old Lady Comedy Blog and Bending Genres. She is at work on a memoir in essays that blends both styles and incorporates collaborations with some of her favorite artists. In late 2020, Alyson completed a psychological thriller screenplay, The Night We Met (now titled, To Hold The Night) and the script was selected for the Second Round of the 2021 Sundance Creative Producing Lab. In November 2021, inspired by the Where I'm From poem by George Ella Lyon (check out Alyson's interview with George Ella HERE) and associated prompts, Alyson shared her own Where I'm From poem on Instagram and encouraged others to share theirs with her via IG Live. She strongly believes that everyone of us has a unique and important story to tell and this Where I'm From series taps into that with the added bonus of skipping small talk for the real nitty-gritty. In October 2023, one of Alyson's long held dreams came true. She produced a film with two of her closest friends and collaborators, Jessica Petelle (director/producer) and Jen Prince (producer). The short film, To Hold The Night, shot in Bayfield, Ontario for one truly magical week. The film, which Alyson also wrote, began its festival run at the Toronto Short Festival in August 2024. Alyson loves writing and collaboration. These moments of creativity work hand in hand with her own trauma recovery to make life an ongoing adventure. ON that note, collaborations abound! She is thrilled to be a contributor to the essay collection, Comics Lit Vol. 1 , to host her podcast, Fine Cut for Femme On Collective and to be co-founding a Sibling Loss community with Molly Fowkes and Lynn Shattuck and co-editing an anthology with Lynn, entitled, The Loss of a Lifetime: Advice from Grieving Siblings on Loss, Love and Hope. She loves writing and creation and is open and excited about all forms of expression. Thank you for joining her. EDUCATION
Bachelor of Science in Theatre - Northwestern University Master of Fine Arts in Cinematic Arts- University of Southern California |