Ellen Shanley (@ElleShanley) is a screenwriter based in Brisbane, Australia. She contributed ‘additional dialogue’ to the upcoming feature film RUBY’S CHOICE, which stars prominent actress Jane Seymour. Currently, she has a pre-school animated series pilot in production with an Australian producer. In 2019, Ellen completed the Professional Program in Writing for Television (Drama) at UCLA and won the program’s competition for best TV Drama Pilot.

Ellen is a currently a Finalist for Screen Queensland's Greg Coote Writers’ Room Scholarship, which is a highly-selective program for screenwriters from Queensland that places its winner in a writers’ room for six to eight weeks. She is also participating in a playwriting Incubator program with Playlab Theatre Brisbane and is one of the winners of the inaugural Queensland Writers Centre Scriptable Mentoring Program.

In competitions, Ellen has seen great success, advancing to the Quarter-finals of ScreenCraft’s Screenwriting Fellowship, PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, and Final Draft’s Big Break Competition as well as the Semi-finals of the Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Additionally, she proceeded to the 2nd Round of Austin Film Festival, made the top 6% in NBC’s Writers on the Verge, and placed in Launch Pad’s Top 100 Finalists. She was also Longlisted for the Australian Writers’ Guild John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction Writing.

Outside of writing, Ellen has worked as a high school English and Drama teacher. She holds dual Bachelors of Journalism and Arts (Drama and English), a Graduate Certificate in Creative Industries (Creative Writing), and a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education.