upcoming short
Erin's debut film as a writer/director/star premieres online in January 2022!
**Winner Best Narrative Hollyshorts Film Festival**
**Winner Best Narrative Short Tallgrass Film Festival**
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
"Rye’s humor and relatability make her a standout, from her dancing in a tampon costume to her culminating monologue where she releases her anger onto the production team. This film, thanks to the ending, will make you laugh while forcing you to think differently the next time you see something on television. "
-The Emory Wheel
"Everyone is so lucky to get to watch this film. I cried joy tears watching it because it's such a beautiful, funny, and exceptionally genius concept and the way that they executed it is amazing. It's a wondrous extravaganza of a commercially viable idea and the female gaze. I knew something as wonderful as this film would come along, but I didn't think it would happen until I was, like, 85. Also if you don't have a period and never will have one in your life, it makes you feel like you want one."
-Marianna Palka
Director, Writer, Actor
other work as a filmmaker
Okay, but like...
who is this bitch???
Really dude???
I contain multitudes!
Ahhh, that's right, y'all don't know me yet. Let me walk you through it!
Erin, 28
capable, optimistic, mischievous, a bit of a flirt
Erin brought her Broadway smile with her to LA to pursue her dream of saying meaningful words on stage and screen instead of languishing in rural Pennsylvania as a piece of tap-dancing scenery. However, when she got here, she found that her porcelain skin, copper hair, and innocent face forced her into another tedious trap: playing only nurses and victims! After auditioning for nurse who sleeps with doctor, sweet nurse murdered by serial killer and a variety of dumb sorority girls, she quit* acting, dropped all her reps, and started writing her own stories of complicated messy women. Now she's back with a bit more wisdom, blonde hair, new headshots, and a recommitment to bringing her authentic, intelligent self to every audition.
*during this "break" Erin booked a national commercial, starred in a short film, and was called in directly by Risa Bramon Garcia, Jami Rudofsky and Tiffany Little-Canfield in LA plus Binder and Roundabout/Carnahan Casting in NYC.
Rye, late 20s-early 30s
rational, decisive, warm until you cross her, possibly a witch
Rye is a millennial SJW just trying to survive the dumpster fire that continues to be 2021. She lives in Silver Lake with her rescued pitbull and is trying to build a podcasting empire from her second bedroom/office/witch's den. She has Hillary and Warren stickers on her window just to remind herself that we can't have nice things. She's probably smarter than you...or maybe it's just that the ADHD makes her brain move a mile a minute.
She might be your sarcastic older sister, overeducated but underemployed assistant/receptionist, cynical comedy writer or hip-but-woo-woo tarot bitch
Erin Courtney (yes, you have to say both names)
tough exterior, sharp wit, grew up with too many brothers
A daughter of the South (accent and all), Erin Courtney has survived in a world where she's never quite fit in by being tough and always striking first. She knows that if someone gets under her skin they'll be able to tear her apart, so she holds everyone at arm's length. She'll tell you all her secrets (because it takes away their power), but she'll never show you how she actually feels. She'll kick your ass at pool and drink you under the table. Not your typical southern belle.
Yes, this is a vintage Willie Nelson shirt that her Dad bought her mom on a date in Galveston, TX in 1983
Erin Courtney if she had married her alcoholic military boyfriend and had a couple kids too young.
This Erin Courtney lives in a dilapidated trailer in the country and also cares for her mentally ill brother. Distrusting of strangers and women who call asking for her husband, Erin Courtney is secretly pining for her high school sweetheart who is also married and lives in town with her perfect husband and beautiful children in a pinterest-worthy craftsman home. She's perpetually exhausted and doesn't see a way out for herself or her kids. She might just have an "accident" one night and burn down the trailer with her husband inside.
But she'll never tell.
Rye Guy (yes, you can call me that)
techy, chill AF, an adorable mess
Rye Guy is aggressively Bisexual and Gender-curious. They believe they can do all things through Google and YouTube who strengthen them. After teaching themself to be an audio engineer, editor, graphic designer, mixologist, artisanal barista, and TikTok star (still working on that one) they are left wondering "what's next?" But they'll think about that after they get high and watch Dune...again.
Ms. Rye, 30-40s
powerful, analytical, sees right through you
She might be the head of a studio, a high-powered attorney, a lesbian gallery curator or the first female NFL owner not to inherit the team from a husband or family member. Her pencil skirts are perfectly tailored and her stilettos are painful as ever, but she believes pain is power. If a sweet goofy man baked her cookies and gave them to her in a pink box every morning, she'd love it, but would never give him the satisfaction of letting him know.
The Erin Rye of today is growing into her,
one boss move at a time.
the rest of the acting things
DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE
Recent self-tape for the role of a drug-addicted mother who returns to the church in her moment of need.
single-cam comedy
Recent self-tape of a role that hits almost TOO close to home! A dry, sarcastic writer who gets in trouble for things she said online. Just don't send my podcast to Disney, Jr. and we'll be fine, k?
And she sings!
And she sings!
Wolves (cover)
Charmante- Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
The Beauty Is- The Light in the Piazza
Flowers- Hadestown
Writing Projects
Full scripts Available on request
Witch Hunt
Single-cam comedy, half-hour, 33 pgs
When they accidentally kill the worst president ever, four millennial witches must learn to control their powers before all hell (literally) breaks loose. As edgy, boundary-pushing, and female-friendship-positive as Broad City, but with more witches and lesbian stuff.
Kiss the Brides
Rom-com, Short, 16 pgs
When Annie and Blair meet unexpectedly at a wedding, sparks fly. These opposites attract like magnets, but can they reconcile their different plans for the future?
Lady Parts
Comedy, Short, 10 min.
A not-yet-famous actor finally gets her big break only to realize the glass ceiling can also be a camera lens. She experiences a series of funny-because-they’re-true setbacks and putdowns as she barrels toward her breaking point and has to decide what's more important: her dignity or her career.
*email for link and password to completed short film*
in development
Untitled Donner Party
Historical Thriller, Feature Film
When a group of pioneers chooses a perilous uncharted shortcut to California, Tamsen Donner fights to keep her family alive against the forces of nature and the even more powerful forces of American greed.
Brief Synopsis: The shocking and infamous tale of the Donner Party has captivated the American imagination for generations, for who better personifies American ideals than the intrepid pioneer in search of a better life? When Tamsen Donner and her family set out for California in 1846, they leave behind a comfortable life and a prosperous future for the allure of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny. But a deadly choice to take a shortcut set out for them by a bombastic charlatan exposes the depravity of American greed and an unending hunger for more. The party descends into darkness as they chart a dangerous course through a hostile landscape, are mired in sludge crossing the Great Salt Desert, and turn against each other as they weaken and starve. Tamsen soldiers on, helpless to change their course...until an early snowfall traps them in the mountains and Tamsen finds the inner strength to wage one last battle for survival.
#DOGMOM
Single-cam comedy, half-hour
When a broke millennial podcaster embarks on a journey toward parenthood, she battles relationship issues, crippling student loan debt, and infertility forcing her to decide whether to chase the grown-up life of her childhood dreams or be content with being the world’s best #dogmom.
PLUS!
Once a week I sit down and shoot the shit with fellow comedy writer,
Aliee Chan to discuss what we hate and what we hate to say that we love. These freewheeling conversations cover everything from politics to pop culture to systemic racism to mental health to our respective cervixes.
Wow is somebody still reading???
hot damn! You earned yourself some
fun facts!
Erin is a paid speaker and a life and career coach for creatives who loves helping other folks find fullfillment and get their shit done!
Erin was invited to speak about Rebuilding Balance at ShePodcasts Live 2021 conference in Scottsdale, AZ!
An avid reader, Erin's goal of reading 100 books in 2021 is right on track! And none are by white men!
#decolonizeyourshelf
Erin has been a member of indie music group The Silver Lake Chorus since 2013 and has both released original music and backed up Ben Lee, Daniel Johnston, Until the Ribbon Breaks, Moby, Damien Rice, StarRo and Sondre Lerche
Obsessed with Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Erin would love to someday develop a project based on a Fantasy series by a female author. She also dreams of playing an elf.
