Tonya Hurley

New York City filmmaker Tonya Hurley is an accomplished and critically acclaimed writer/director who's credits span film, television, live performance and interactive media. Her career is marked by a unique ability to blend her commercial and underground sensibilities into accessible, but edgy projects. Tonya Hurley She has written and directed five acclaimed animated and live-action docu-shorts that have been screened for enthusiastic audiences around the world. They include Kiss My Brain, The Biblical Real World, Solo-Me-O, which was broadcast on PBS in their documentary series, 'Reel New York' and earned the movie pick of the week in the New York Daily News and was called 'hilarious' in Time Out New York;' Rockefeller Foundation nominee and Tribeca Film Festival selection Baptism Of Solitude: A Tribute To Paul Bowles, which aired on the CBS jumbo-tron in Times Square and is currently airing on the Independent Film Channel; and Best Friend, which premiered at the 2002 Edinburgh Film Festival. All include musical scores by Depeche Mode, Yaz and Erasure founder Vince Clarke.

Beyond her work as an indie filmmaker, Hurley is also the co-creator and co-producer of a top-rated ABC Family series So Little Time, featuring teen superstars Mary-Kate And Ashley Olsen. She is also co-producer and a co-writer of In Action!, a hit animated series airing Saturday mornings on ABC and Toon Disney. She has also written and directed five television commercials for Playstation 2 and Gamboy Advance as well as six commercials for Warner Home Video. Tonya is the primary provider of original content for the mary-kateandashley.com website, one of the most highly trafficked destinations for kids and teens on America Online. In addition, she is the creator and co-executive producer of mary-kateandashley brand video games, which are the number one video games for girls.

Tonya's most recent creation is Ghostgirl, an unpopular high school student who is just dying to be popular. ghostgirl is currently in development with a major film studio. The characters were rendered by Van Partible, the creator of Johnny Bravo. Hurley designed a website to launch the character with VPI.NET. It went live in Summer 2002 and can be accessed at www.ghostgirl.com.

Tonya's first project as a professional filmmaker was the 35mm, animated short, "Kiss My Brain." She first performed the script as a spoken-word piece at the St. Mark's Church Poetry Project in NYC's East Village. After receiving a generous response from the audience, she sketched and storyboarded the short, in which she retained Betelgeuse Productions--producers of VH1's Pop Up Video and the award winning Inside the Actor's Studio--to animate her creation.

Kiss My Brain premiered in the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in front of the acclaimed indie feature BongWater at the Harmony Gold Theater and was introduced by the festival director as "Something we've never seen before. A brilliant short about brain chemicals that is both quirky and amazing." The short has also received attention in the press, being written up in dozens of outlets including; The Los Angeles Times, Billboard Magazine, Time Out New York, MTV News, ABC Radio networks, The Press, Cosmopolitan and Rolling Stone Online.

Her work has been screened at such festivals and broadcast outlets as PBS, The Tribeca Film Fesival, The Ediburgh Film Festival, The Los Angeles International Shorts Festival, Independent Film Project (IFC), Woodstock Film Festival, Nickelodeon Film Festival, The Anthology Film Archives, New York International Shorts Festival, Budapest, Summer Shorts Festival, Florida Film Festival and Canadian International Film Festival, where she won second prize. "Kiss My Brain" was chosen animated short of the year at the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe in New York City.

PORTFOLIO United Nations/ Poetry Festival DVD - 'Baptism of Solitude: A Tribute to Paul Bowles' included on a compliation DVD along with Abbas Kiarostami, Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa, Joyce Carol Oates, and Martin Espada. Available in Rattapallax Magazine through the United Nations in NYC during the Poetry Festival and distributed in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Argentina. Executive produced by Bob Holman, who won several Emmys for his poetry films and produced "The United States of Poetry" for PBS. Past compilations featured artists and poets such as Lou Reed, Saul Williams, Rick Moody, Ernesto Cardenal, Sharon Olds, Marilyn Hacker.

Amazon.com - Baptism of Solitude – A Tribute to Paul Bowles will be screening online at amazon.com in the Tribeca Screening Room.

CBS jumbo-tron - Baptism of Solitude: A Tribute to Paul Bowles will run on the CBS jumbo-tron throughout the month of May in Times Square in New York City. click for photo

An exclusive Screening of "Baptism of Solitude-A Tribute to Paul Bowles" at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City May 9th - 11th 2002

IFC - Independent Film Channel will broadcast Baptism of Solitude: A Tribute to Paul Bowles starting this August.

Kiss My Brain – wrote, directed and produced this animated short which premeired at the LA Independent Film Festival and won second place at the Canadian International Film Festival. The film has gone on to film festivals around the world. Animated by Betelgeuse Productions, music by Vince Clarke.

Script consulting – Consulted on several scripts for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's direct to videos on Warner Home Video.

Solo-Me-O – wrote, directed and produced this docu-short which aired on Channel Thirteen twice and was screened as part of the I.F.P.'s Woman behind the camera and above the line series sponsored by the Sundance Channel.

Edited by Ryan McFaul, music by Vince Clarke and Sean McFaul. It made it's television premiere on PBS's series Reel New York, where it ran several times.

Warner Home Video – wrote, directed and produced six commercials.

Dualstar Productions - Creative consultant on the Mary-kate and Ashley brand. Responsible for over-all tone of the brand, creating content as well as involved in creating, developing and writing product for all mediums.

Mattel – consulted on commercials.

Fox Kids - Developing an animated series with Van Partible, the creator of Johnny Bravo.

Playstation (Acclaim) – wrote, directed and produced several commercials.

Gameboy (Acclaim) – wrote, directed and produced an animated commercial.

ABC – writing and co-producing cartoon for Disney's One Saturday Morning to air this fall.

Mattel - creating two board games for the Mary-Kate and Ashley brand.

Biblical Real World – wrote, directed and produced this animated short about Jesus and his ‘roomies’ which is now showing on CinemaNow.com. Animated by O’Plenty Animation Studios, voices by A.D. Miles, music by Vince Clarke and Sean McFaul.

Baptism of Solitude: A Tribute to Paul Bowles – A Tribute to Paul Bowles - directed and Executive Produced this short which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival 2002. Animated by O'Plenty Animation Studios, written and narrated by Paul Bowles.

Disney/ABC – Wrote the episode 'Rave Reviews,' for Mary-Kate and Ashley's inAction series.

Acclaim Entertainment - Created and Co-Executive produced games for Gameboy, Game Cube and Playstation. They are the #1 selling games for girls.

Fox Family – Co-produced fashion show which aired several times on Fox Family.

Sundance –Wrote a feature script which made the semi-finals of the Sundance Institute’s Writers Lab.

Rockefeller Foundation Award – Official nominee for the year 2001 for work in film.

Best FriEND – Wrote and directed this docu-short about the first and only pet funeral home.

ABC Family – Created and co-produced the sitcom 'So Little Time', starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. It is currently airing world-wide.

KISS MY BRAIN – KISS MY BRAIN playing at the Institute for Contemporary Art in London