Carly Usdin is a queer, non-binary LA-based filmmaker. They recently directed both the first season of drag superstar Monét X Change's variety show Monét's Slumber Party, and the 10th season of nerdy game show Um, Actually, both currently streaming on Dropout. In 2023 they served as showrunner, co-writer and director of all 10 half-hour episodes of the sports comedy series The Syd + TP Show with TOGETHXR for 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 branded short film First Date with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. They’ve found festival success with their indie feature Suicide Kale (Audience Awards at Outfest and NewFest) and short film Misdirection (Best Comedy Short at NewFilmmakers LA).
Carly was one of the pioneers of directing digital native content -- including one of YouTube’s first-ever shows YouTube Nation and Awkwafina’s original digital series TAWK. As a commercial and branded content director, they’ve worked with clients like Google, Target, Hasbro, Unilever, Ally Financial, Bumble, Diageo and Absolut Vodka. Most notably, their campaigns for RuPaul’s Drag Race have won a One Show Pencil and multiple PromaxBDA 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 an alum of Universal’s Directors Initiative, AFI’s prestigious DWW+, Women in Film's Directing Fellowship, was a semi-finalist for the 2022 Commercial Directors Diversity Program and a member of the inaugural class of Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ artist-in-residence program, RESIDENCE. Before focusing on television and film, Carly worked at their local New Jersey library (much like Parker Posey in the classic film Party Girl). They now spend far too much time talking about their dog, drag queens, and women’s sports. Carly is currently in post on a women’s sports doc, prepping another season of Um, Actually for Dropout and developing several films and TV series.
Photo by Robin Roemer