Melanie Notinger

Shaped by a childhood gender-bending in theatres of suburban Dallas, Melanie (she/they) found freedom challenging the gender binary early. Their last short film, Dress Code (writer/dir./supporting), was recently featured on NoBudge, Vimeo Staff Channel: LGBTQIA+ Voices, and NBC Palm Springs who described it as "a smart and affecting look at gender identity." It played at festivals internationally including NewFest and Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival (2021 Audience Award).

Melanie used to do stand-up in Austin for audiences of 10 people max, defining her voice after coming out as queer in the South. Working as a bar host at the time, daydreaming at the host stand paid off when she got the idea to write, direct, and star as a severely anxious comedian in her debut short, Choke Artist (Lighthouse International Film Festival, Second Rounder AFF Screenplay Competition). Upon moving to New York, she co-wrote and played 7 erratic roles in Brooklyn No-Names Off-Broadway - awarded Best Script at the 2018 SheNYC Festival.

Melanie is an alum of Joan Scheckel's Filmmaking Series (Action Lab). They have a B.F.A. in Acting from Texas State University, where they also studied playwriting and had their first full-length play, Burning and Dodging, produced. Melanie lives in LA and is currently revising a feature psychodrama about actors discovering their boundaries in devastating ways.

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