Emily Friedman is a Writer, Director, & Creative Director based in Brooklyn, NY. She’s a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Film & TV Production and minors in Business of Entertainment and Art History.
She specializes in working with real people, product campaigns, and social media content including UGC and fashion. With a background in graphic design, her style consists of a clean and design-forward aesthetic still rooted in cinematic realism. Her work has been featured in image+nation Montreal, the Berlin Music Video Awards, NYWIFT’s Annual Creative Showcase, Film Shortage, and Beyond the Short.
Her narrative film Goldstar was one of five feature projects to be selected for Toronto’s 2024 Inside Out Finance Forum, and her script The Pictures was a quarterfinalist in Shore Script’s 2023 Hour-Long TV Pilot Competition. Her short film script Sugo, was a quarterfinalist in the 2025 Screencraft Film Fund and is currently a semifinalist in the 2025 Outstanding Screenplays Shorts Competition.
She’s currently directing Kings and Things, a short documentary highlighting the underrepresented world of drag kings and nonbinary burlesque performers. It received the 2024 DGNL Gives Back Pride production grant and is being executive produced by Murray Hill.
She’s also a Producer, Musician, and the founder of production and development company happytobehere.
She specializes in working with real people, product campaigns, and social media content including UGC and fashion. With a background in graphic design, her style consists of a clean and design-forward aesthetic still rooted in cinematic realism. Her work has been featured in image+nation Montreal, the Berlin Music Video Awards, NYWIFT’s Annual Creative Showcase, Film Shortage, and Beyond the Short.
Her narrative film Goldstar was one of five feature projects to be selected for Toronto’s 2024 Inside Out Finance Forum, and her script The Pictures was a quarterfinalist in Shore Script’s 2023 Hour-Long TV Pilot Competition. Her short film script Sugo, was a quarterfinalist in the 2025 Screencraft Film Fund and is currently a semifinalist in the 2025 Outstanding Screenplays Shorts Competition.
She’s currently directing Kings and Things, a short documentary highlighting the underrepresented world of drag kings and nonbinary burlesque performers. It received the 2024 DGNL Gives Back Pride production grant and is being executive produced by Murray Hill.
She’s also a Producer, Musician, and the founder of production and development company happytobehere.
PRESS
Screen Daily (”Goldstar”)
Bold Journey (Personal)
DGNL Gives Back (“Kings & Things”)
NYWIFT (“My Psychic Fairy Godmother”)
Beyond the Short (”Well Read”)
Beyond the Short (”Natalie’s Story”)
Promonews (”Well Read”)
Metro Weekly (”Pancakes”)
Screen Daily (”Goldstar”)
Bold Journey (Personal)
DGNL Gives Back (“Kings & Things”)
NYWIFT (“My Psychic Fairy Godmother”)
Beyond the Short (”Well Read”)
Beyond the Short (”Natalie’s Story”)
Promonews (”Well Read”)
Metro Weekly (”Pancakes”)