About

MEG SWERTLOW is Los Angeles-born and raised screenwriter/director on a mission to tell female-driven genre stories. In the past three years, Meg has directed eight short films, seven of which she wrote. Her horror short, The Voiceless, is part of the feature-length anthology, Give Me an A, a response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, starring Gina Torres, Alyssa Milano and Virginia Madsen. The project, completed in less than 10 weeks after the ruling, has been picked up for distribution (announcement forthcoming). In November 2022, she participated in the Ryan Murphy Half Initiative Director program, shadowing an episode of Lone Star: 911. Meg just wrapped post-production on the proof of concept for No Overnight Parking, which stars and was produced by Alyssa Milano and French Stewart. In March 2023, No Overnight Parking was selected for the K Period Media/Blumhouse Inaugural Screamwriting Fellowship. Meg’s short films have played in over 40 international genre film festivals, including Fantastic Fest, Scream Fest, Fright Fest UK, FilmQuest, Final Girls Berlin and Overlook Film Festival.

Meg studied advanced screenwriting at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and her work has won over 30 screenwriting accolades, including Emerging Screenwriters’ Shoot Your Short Grand Prize and ISA’s Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch. Her YA pilot, Witch, Please!, won Best Short Script at FilmQuest ‘22 and was ranked the “#1 hour-long family pilot of all time” on Coverfly. She’s a Hedgebrook Screenwriting Fellow, Middlebury Screenwriting Fellow and Women in Film Mentee.

Before transitioning to film, Meg had a 10-year career as an entertainment journalist, writing for Entertainment Tonight and E! News. She studied improv at Groundlings, UCB and iO West and performed hundreds of improv shows around Los Angeles. She also trained in acting through the Sharon Chatten Studio, the Ivana Chubbock Studio and the London Dramatic Academy through the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. The California girl is a proud graduate of Hamilton College in Upstate New York.