HELLO, I'M

Hayley Tibbenham

Writer | Performer | Filmmaker

Hayley Tibbenham

American Film Institute Conservatory

MFA in Screenwriting

Class of 2022

University of Michigan

BMA in Voice Performance

Minor in Creative Writing

Class of 2020

About

Hayley Tibbenham is a writer and performer fascinated with music, magic, and messed-up ladies.

Born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit as the daughter of two engineers, Hayley rebelled by attending music school with hopes of becoming an opera singer. However, she soon surrendered to her love of film after her first short – which she wrote, directed, and starred in – was invited to the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner. Since then, Hayley’s scripts have won the Humanitas Prize for College Drama and the Fadiman Award for Screenwriting, along with placing in the Top 50 Semifinalists of the Nicholl Fellowship.

Hayley now writes and sings in Los Angeles, but remains a proud ranch dressing-obsessed midwesterner. She is represented by Heroes and Villains Entertainment.

Screenplays

SONGS WITHOUT WORDS

Period Drama Romance – Feature

To escape marriage in 1820s Berlin, a defiant socialite fights to prove herself as a composer, threatening her family's reputation and her cunning younger brother's rise to musical fame. Based on Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn – composers of "The Wedding March."

Humanitas Carol Mendelsohn Award for College Drama Winner

Fadiman Screenwriting Award Winner

Nicholl Fellowship Top 50 Semi-Finalist

THE NEW ROMANTICS

One Hour Drama – Pilot

Inside a cutthroat opera company, a rebellious young singer battles to become classical music's next star against her fiercest critic – her birth mother, an aging diva who gave her up for adoption 25 years ago.

Currently in development

Austin Film Festival Script Competition Second Rounder

Launchpad Pilot Competition Top 50

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THEY SHOOT BILLIONAIRES, DON'T THEY?

Yellowstone/Succession Crossover Spec

When the Roys strike to buy the Yellowstone Ranch out from under the Dutton family, John must unite his warring children to show Logan that Montana is no place for WayStar.

The Stunt List Selection

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CRAZY FOR YOU

Dark Comedy Thriller – Feature

A lonely, obsessive fanfiction writer manipulates her celebrity crush into falling in love with her, but soon discovers the man of her wildest fantasies may actually be a real life nightmare.

Fimography

INHUMAN

Short Film – Writer, Director, Actor

A jaded, plus-sized teenage girl begins to fall for the high school golden boy, but his attempts to get to know her threaten to expose something much stranger behind her supposed shell of insecurity.

Independently financed and produced short. Now streaming on FilmDoo.

Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner

Detroit SheTown Film Festival Selection

Orlando Film Festival Selection

Hell's Half Mile Film Festival Selection

AVES

Short Film – Co-Writer

After a sudden encounter with a mysterious student, a tenured ornithologist and war veteran is forced to remember the realities of his past.

AFI thesis film. Available to view here.

Leeds International Film Festival Selection

CAA Moebius Showcase Selection

LA Shorts Film Festival Selection

Stage

THE ROMANTIC

One Woman Show – Writer, Performer

Fall of 1856. Over the last three months, pianist and composer Clara Schumann has buried her mega-famous (and syphilis-addled) husband, ended her affair with his charming protégé, and continued to raise her eight children by herself.

Tonight, the mythic "muse" to some of history's most famous composers returns to the stage with some thoughts and songs of her own...

An original play featuring art songs by Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms.