Carly Usdin is an award-winning LA-based narrative and commercial filmmaker. In 2023 they directed and executive produced ten 30-minute episodes of the sports comedy series “The Syd + TP Show” with Ryan Reynolds’ company Maximum Effort. Carly previously directed and executive produced the horror/comedy anthology series “Threads,” directed sketches for TruTV’s “Late Night Snack with Rachel Dratch,” and directed and wrote the short film “First Date” with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. Their first feature, “Suicide Kale,” won Audience Awards at Outfest (Best First Feature) and NewFest (Best Narrative Feature), and their short film “Misdirection” played over 60 festivals worldwide, winning Best Director at the LA Diversity Film Festival and Best Comedy Short at NewFilmmakers LA. Carly has spent years making short-form narrative and branded content for clients like Funny or Die, CollegeHumor, Entertainment Weekly, World of Wonder, Paramount and YouTube. Most notably, they directed the third season of Awkwafina’s digital series "Tawk," and their campaigns for "RuPaul’s Drag Race" have won a One Show Pencil and multiple Promax BDA Awards. Carly is also the creator and writer of two comic book series for BOOM! Studios: "Heavy Vinyl" (nominated for a 2018 Prism award) and "The Avant-Guards" (nominated for a 2020 GLAAD Award). Carly is a 2023 WIF directing fellow and an alum of Universal’s Directors Initiative and AFI’s prestigious Directing Workshop for Women.