Hayley Tibbenham
Writer | Performer | Filmmaker
About
Hayley Tibbenham writes bold, twisty dramas about the things she loves most – sweeping romance, messy families, and deeply resilient women. The daughter of two Detroit engineers, Hayley rebelled by attending music school with plans to become an opera singer. In between memorizing Mozart, she began to explore her voice on the page and wrote her first short, later selected for the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner. Since then, her work has earned the Humanitas Prize for College Drama and was named a Top 50 semifinalist for the Nicholl Fellowship. Most recently, Hayley was staffed on 101 Studios' DUTTON RANCH, the highly-anticipated YELLOWSTONE spinoff centered on Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler. She is a proud alumna of the University of Michigan and the American Film Institute Screenwriting Program.
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
COUNTERPOINT
One Hour Drama – Pilot
When a struggling opera house hires a volatile diva to be their marquee star, a rebellious up-and-coming singer must compete with her idol-turned-enemy while concealing a damaging secret that could ruin them both.
Currently in development
Austin Film Festival Script Competition Second Rounder
Launchpad Pilot Competition Top 50
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
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
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
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.
Get in Touch
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