KAYLA MARIE AREND

EDUCATION:

MFA - NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 2020 Film & Television Writing + Directing, minor: Producing

BA - Montana State University, 2013 Film & Photography, minor: Entomology

Directors Program - New York Film Academy, 2008 Writing and Directing

ABOUT KAYLA

Kayla Arend is a film writer-director.

Kayla studied film, photography and entomology at Montana State University. After working for National Geographic and the BBC on many wildlife and natural history shoots, Kayla earned her MFA in Writing and Directing with a minor in Producing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her graduate thesis film, Leaving Yellowstone was executive produced by Spike Lee and won multiple awards including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Cinematography.

Kayla’s new short film, HOME, is about to premiere at film festivals this coming winter. Kayla is developing her debut feature film WRECKLESS. WRECKLESS was selected for the NYU Production Lab’s Feature Film Development Studio.

Kayla formerly served as an adjunct professor at NYU Tisch. She is currently taking a break from teaching to focus on her debut feature film.

Kayla owns the production company KBIRD but in addition to her own filmmaking, Kayla works as a professional film consultant - providing one-on-one guidance for script development, production strategy and creative storytelling.

Kayla Arend is on the board of the Jackson Hole International Film Festival as an honorary member.