California-born and Arkansas-bred Lisa Cole is a writer-director-producer obsessed with the beauty and brutality of life. Her work amplifies underrepresented voices and exposes social injustices, and she’s often asked if she’s a journalist, as her approach to storytelling is to embed in the authentic world she’s writing about. Lisa has several feature screenplays in development with acclaimed producers including Laura Bickford (Selena Gomez attached to star), and Nathan Ross and Jean Marc-Vallee (with Shailene Woodley attached) until Jean-Marc passed away. A Student Academy Awards Regional Finalist, Academy Nicholl’s Quarter-Finalist, WIF mentee, and Page International Screenplay winner, Lisa’s award-winning short films include Shipwreck, which screened in 40+ festivals, including Official Selection 2021 Diversity in Cannes. Her most recent film, Bienvenidos a Los Angeles, was filmed at LAX Airport and premiered at the Academy-qualifying festival LAShorts in July 2022. Lisa’s background includes directing documentaries for The Gates Foundation, Sundance Institute, Viacom, BET, and A&E, including films highlighting women’s health and safety in the DRC and Kenya. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University School of Cinema & Television, Lisa serves on the Board of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. She’s a former Fellow with The Athena Writer’s Lab, Final Draft/Stowe Story Labs, and Cine Qua Non Lab. Lisa resides in Los Angeles with her husband, documentary filmmaker Mark Monroe, and their two children.

“Like so many people during this pandemic, my family and I have been navigating intense emotional terrain as individuals and as a transracial adoptive family unit. Working with my two children as actors, ‘Shipwreck’ was an outlet for some of these complicated emotions while also acknowledging the collective loss in our world. The goal was to create something impactful with a minuscule crew of two people during the summer lockdown in Los Angeles.”

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