Carly Usdin (born 1982) is an American director, writer, and producer. Usdin is best known for directing the 2016 film ''

Suicide Kale ''Suicide Kale'' is a 2016 American dark comedy film, directed by Carly Usdin and written by Brittani Nichols.

'' and co-creating the comic book series ''Heavy Vinyl'' with Nina Vakueva. In 2019, they received the Jury Prize for Best Director for the short film ''Misdirection'' at the Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival.

Early life and education

Usdin was raised in

Monmouth County, New Jersey Monmouth County () is a county located on the coast of central New Jersey. The county is part of the New York metropolitan area and is situated along the northern half of the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population ...

. They are Jewish. Usdin began to identify as a lesbian at age 16 and came out at age 20. they attended the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

and received their bachelor's degree in film.

Career

Film

Usdin's feature film directorial debut, ''

Suicide Kale ''Suicide Kale'' is a 2016 American dark comedy film, directed by Carly Usdin and written by Brittani Nichols.

'', was released in 2016. Written by and starring

Brittani Nichols Brittani Nichols (born June 20, 1988) is an American producer, actress, comedian, and writer. In 2016, Nichols wrote, produced, and starred in the film ''Suicide Kale,'' which won the Audience Award for Best U.S. Dramatic Feature at 2016 Outfest. ...

, it also starred

Jasika Nicole Jasika Nicole Pruitt (born April 10, 1980), is an American actress and illustrator from Birmingham, Alabama. She is known for her role as Agent Astrid Farnsworth on the Fox series '' Fringe''. She has guest-starred in ''Scandal'' as Kim Munoz. Sh ...

, Brianna Baker, and Lindsay Hicks. Usdin received the Audience Award for Best First Dramatic Feature at 2016

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

. In 2017, they were the showrunner and director for a digital web series called ''Threads'', which was distributed through Verizon's

Go90 go90 was an American Internet television service and mobile app owned and operated by Verizon Communications. The service was positioned as a mobile-oriented "social entertainment platform" targeted primarily towards millennials, featuring a mi ...

platform. The show was an anthology series that dramatized stories "inspired by real events." It was hosted by

Milana Vayntrub Milana Aleksandrovna Vayntrub ( , Russian: ; born March 8, 1987) is an American actress, comedian, and activist. Born in the Soviet Union to Jewish parents, she began her career as a child actress shortly after immigrating to the United States. ...

and ran for 20 episodes. They were accepted into AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women's class of 2019 cohort, through which they wrote, produced, and directed the short film ''Misdirection'' starring

Vico Ortiz Vico Ortiz (born October 10, 1991) is a Puerto Rican actor, drag king and activist. They are best known for their role as Jim in the HBO Max television series '' Our Flag Means Death''. Early life and education Vico Ortiz was born on October ...

. The film tells the story of Cam, a college freshman struggling with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and a crush on their straight college roommate, who becomes interested in

close-up magic Close-up magic (also known as table magic or micromagic) is magic performed in an intimate setting usually no more than 3 meters (10 feet) from one's audience and is usually performed while sitting at a table. Sleight-of-hand, also known as pres ...

. Usdin drew on their personal experience with OCD to portray the protagonist's symptoms of counting. It was accepted as a 2019 Official Short Film Selection at the

Bentonville Film Festival The Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) is an American film festival held annually in Bentonville, Arkansas that focuses on diversity. Foundation Bentonville Film Festival was founded by actress Geena Davis and ARC Entertainment executive Trevor ...

. In 2021 Usdin partnered with

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...

's media company Hello Sunshine to produce a film sponsored by Bailey's and the social media site

Bumble Bumble is an online dating application. Profiles of potential matches are displayed to users, who can "swipe left" to reject a candidate or "swipe right" to indicate interest. In heterosexual matches, only female users can make the first conta ...

. The short film, ''First Date'', starred Shalita Grant and

Shannon Woodward Shannon Woodward (born December 17, 1984) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Sabrina Collins on the FOX sitcom ''Raising Hope'' (2010–2014), Elsie Hughes on the HBO science-fiction thriller series '' Westworld'' (2016� ...

Comic books

Usdin co-created and wrote the comic book series ''Hi-Fi Fight Club'' in August 2017, published by

Boom! Studios Boom! Studios (styled BOOM! Studios) is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. History Origins In the early 2000s, Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby had been working in Ho ...

and illustrated by Nina Vakueva. The series centers on a queer teenage girl who begins working at a record store where the employees have a clandestine, all-female vigilante fight club. In November 2017, it was announced that the series' name had been changed to ''Heavy Vinyl''.

Thrillist Thrillist is an online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in New York City, United States. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands '' The Dodo'', NowThis Ne ...

named it one of the 25 best comic books of 2018;

SyfyWire Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

selected Usdin as one of the 30 best writers for comics in September 2017 for her work on ''Heavy Vinyl''. The series was nominated for a 2018 Prism Award. A follow-up called ''Heavy Vinyl:Y-2KO'' was released in March 2020. The first issue of Usdin's second comic book series, ''The Avant-Guards'', was released in January 2019. The series had 12 issues in total. Written by Usdin and illustrated by Noah Hayes, it tells the story of a transfer student at an all-girls performing arts college who joins the school's fledgling basketball team.

Personal life

In 2012, Usdin married photographer and producer Robin Roemer. Usdin is

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typicall ...

and uses they/them pronouns.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Usdin, Carly 1982 births American comics writers American film producers Filmmakers from New Jersey Jewish American writers American lesbian writers Lesbian-related comics LGBT comics creators LGBT film directors Living people Non-binary writers LGBT film producers LGBT people from New Jersey 21st-century American Jews American women screenwriters 21st-century American screenwriters LGBT screenwriters 21st-century LGBT people 21st-century American women