MELISSA LAWRENZ

I was born in Stockholm, Sweden and grew up mostly in the Midwest with a short jaunt to Alberta, Canada in the late 70s. Attended the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, lived and worked in Sweden for a year, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA in 1994. I studied Theatre Arts with an emphasis in acting. This is where I got my first taste of filmmaking, which really forced me to re-evaluate the whole acting thing, because through film I felt like I was able to use my voice to speak to an audience directly.

After obtaining my BA, I worked in London, England for a bit so that I could spend time in my favorite city following my favorite band, Suede. Now broke, I returned to Green Bay, WI where I had attended high school to work at WFRV-TV. I worked at the CBS owned station for five years. I started as a PA and ended up working as a Director, Technical Director, and Editor.

I wanted to continue my desire to make films and went to film school and received my MFA in Film & Video Production at Columbia College Chicago in 2007. Two of my grad films, I Hope, Grandmother & Heather went on to score some film festivals and viewings on PBS in Wisconsin and Illinois.

I continue to pursue my passion for filmmaking in whatever way I can. This includes producing and editing. Currently, I freelance edit and work on shows like Gangland for the History Channel and on independent films in Chicago.

 

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