Stephanie Sellars

Stephanie Sellars is an American columnist, screenwriter, actress, singer, director, and producer. She wrote the Lust Life column for the New York Press from February 2006 to October 2007.[1]

Early life

She graduated from Gettysburg College with a BA in English and French (magna cum laude). She also attended St. Catherine's College (Oxford University) and the Institute for American Universities in Avignon, France.[2]

Career

After graduating from college in 1998, Sellars moved to New York where she worked as an art model and acted in off-off Broadway plays and short films. She also studied singing and explored various musical styles (jazz, musical theatre, folk, opera).

She wrote a one-act play, Twenty Minutes of Immortality, about the love affair between Man Ray and Lee Miller, which was produced in 2000.[3] Encouraged by suggestions from several audience members who had attended the performance, she collaborated with director Mitchell Bard and adapted her play as a short script. Twenty Minutes of Immortality was produced as a five-minute film in which Sellars starred, as she had in the play. The short film caught the attention of the Independent Film Channel (IFC), which licensed the film for three years and broadcast it several times, from 2003 through 2006.

Sellars developed a jazz-cabaret act called Naughty Baby (and the sequel Naughty…and Then Some...), which she produced and performed in New York City at Danny's Skylight Room and The Duplex. She has also sung in numerous other New York City cabaret and jazz venues, including the former Kav'eh'az, Dempsey's Pub, Cast Party at Birdland, Swing 46, Lenox Lounge, Cleopatra's Needle, Don't Tell Mama and others. She most recently studied voice with Liz Russo and Mark Murphy.

Sellars co-created, along with writer/director/actor Celia Bressack, a Dorothy Parker reading series called The Potable Dorothy Parker: A Literary Cocktail. Featuring Sellars as Mrs. Parker, the readings took place at downtown New York City clubs and restaurants, including Telephone Bar, Salmagundi Club, and the former Mo Pitkins. Sellars was featured in the reading series Sex Scenes (by erotica writers Polly Frost and Ray Sawhill), at the Cornelia Street Cafe and is also featured on the audio version.

Sellars wrote a regular column about sex and relationships from the perspective of a bisexual polyamorist for New York Press. She began writing the column in February 2006. Her final article appeared in October 2007.[4] As a freelance writer, several of Sellars's articles has appeared in publications such as Moviemaker and Go Magazine as well as New York Press.

Sellars worked with Polly Frost and director Matt Lambert on The Fold, a sci-fi sex comedy web series, in which she played a lesbian FBI agent and a Swedish babe. Recently she performed regularly in the erotic-themed variety show Forbidden Kiss: The Erotica Series at Stage Left Studio.

Sellars established her film production company, Immortality Productions, LLC in late 2006.

In 2007, Sellars completed her second short film, Julie and the Clown, which she wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. The film played several film festivals and won contradictory awards (Best Drama at the Indie Short Film Competition and the Audience Award at the Iron Mule Short Comedy Screening Series, formerly known as First Sundays Comedy Film Festival). The film was a submission to On the Lot and available on the official website where viewers cast votes for their favorites. Although it had thousands of viewings and consistent five-star ratings, it did not make it to the semi-finals.

In June 2008, Immortality Productions produced a comedic short film for the 48 Hour Film Project, in collaboration with Marc Dole of Hatchling Studios. The short, In the Cards, featured Sellars in the lead role.[5]

Currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film at Columbia University, her short film Free Birds, which she directed in collaboration with writer/producer Deb Shoval, won the Silver Palm Award in the student category of the Mexico International Film Festival. Walking the Dog, a short she produced in collaboration with director Luigi Campi and writer Toby Fell-Holden won Best Narrative Short at Cinekink Film Festival, NYC. She also wrote the comedic short Peasants, an official selection at Frameline34, San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival and Outfest.

Sellars recently spent a month at Yaddo, an artists' retreat in Saratoga Springs, New York.[6]

References
  1. "When One Box Closes," published October 3, 2007 Archived November 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Resume
  3. Personal website bio
  4. "When One Box Closes," published October 3, 2007 Archived November 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  5. In the Cards "teaser" on YouTube
  6. Sellars listed in Yaddo's "Filmmakers" page (click on link)
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