Michelle Cutler grew up in downtown Baltimore with a background in fine arts and rock & roll. She studied photography and painting at Parsons School of Design and The Maryland Institute College of Art where she founded two music & theatre groups, recorded an album, and toured with her band “Runway Model.” A slightly disillusioned American looking for diverse adventure, she promptly defected to Berlin where she became part of an art and film collective in Prenzlauerberg. During this time she hosted and directed a bi-monthly cabaret series, performed as a magician’s assistant in Switzerland, and successfully crossed the border into former Yugoslavia without a passport.

Three years and six countries later, Michelle returned to New York to complete her undergraduate studies at Hunter College/CUNY in photography and film and went directly into the Graduate Film Program at NYU/Tisch School for the Arts where she was awarded The Walter Manley and David Golden Scholarships. She was an IFP/New York Project Involve Honoree and directed six short films and four original plays that have premiered and played in various festivals. She then spent 5 years in LA working for ICM’s below-the-line department and in commercial production at Furlined.

In 2008, she co-wrote an action/drama feature set in Brazil with the DGA-award winning director Nicolai Fuglsig. In 2009, her original script “Needle” about a young woman who aspires to win a DJ battle to escape her troubled home was accepted into the IFP (Independent Feature Project) Emerging Narrative section during Independent FIlm Week. Alicia Keys and Miramax/Disney optioned the script for development. Miramax folded right before green light. In 2010, she adapted a true story into a feature script for producers Rocklin/Faust based at Alcon Entertainment (The Blind Side). At the same time, Michelle returned to Europe, via Australia, and took up residence in Andalucia, Spain where she began writing a true crime script called “Canción Rural (Farm Song)” set in her local village of Alhama de Granada.

She freelances internationally as a commercial treatment writer for top directors, ran her first marathon in Rome this past March, travels regularly, and co-owns an ultra-marathon events company that produces two major international ultra races in the area and is developing a third in Iceland for 2014.