Chillmark: Pilot "Jabberwocky"

Stephen Nolly is a bi-racial writer/director specializing in cross-genre and high-concept. When he was a kid, being "ethnically ambiguous" meant that he was assumed to be part of whatever local minority seemed fit. After enduring the countless “What are you?”’ and “Where are you from- really?“ interrogations, it wasn't long before he discovered that the written word doesn’t face the same prejudices, and he found himself to be a writer.

Because his mother wasn’t Jewish, he was not accepted as a Jew. Because his father wasn’t Japanese, he was not accepted as Japanese. Stephen occupied the cultural wasteland known as “Other”. As time went on, the “Other” box was replaced by the “Two or More Races” box, which made surveys more convenient, but Stephen still remained fascinated by the concept of cultural displacement and diaspora. If what we honor and value is passed down through our culture, what is the belief system of the “Other”?

Drawn to The Arts, Stephen earned a scholarship to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and upon graduation, became a resident at TriBeCa’s Flea Theater, earning a Drama Desk and an Obie Award.

A fellowship with NYU’s Writer’s Lab for a Webseries he wrote put him in the director’s chair, and he has been making films ever since. Stephen works as a freelance commercial director by trade, as well as Senior Writer for Magic Lantern Shooter, a site dedicated to modifying cameras for film production, and has also authored a book: Shooting RAW in Magic Lantern. Stephen is also the Creator and Lead Designer for Viscous Video, a Color Grading platform that emulates popular film stocks, and is a featured host on the Improve Photography Podcast with over a million followers.

Stephen’s script “What’s in the Box?” placed in the top 15% at the 2015 Austin Film Festival, and he is currently a reader for this year’s festival. His original TV Pilot “Chillmark” has currently advanced at the Sundance Episodic Lab. “Identification” a short he wrote and directed, recently screened at the Highland Park Independent Film Festival in Los Angeles, and he is about to go into production on “A Good Get”, the story of a rogue Rabbi sent to coerce Orthodox Jewish men into granting their wives a “Get” or religious divorce, even after a civil decree is issued. Things become complicated for the rabbi when he becomes trapped in an elevator over the Sabbath with one of these men, and he must choose between following the Holy Law to the letter, or doing what he believes is G-d’s will.