Hi, I’m Mel McGraw.

I’m an LA-based writer-director, sound artist, and educator whose storytelling is rooted in the hilarious chaos, complexity, and heartbreak of my conservative Mormon upbringing. The second oldest of 10 children and eldest daughter, I was raised in the D.C. area by my homemaker mother and Navy-CIA father. I dutifully attended Brigham Young University, married a returned missionary in the temple at 19, and then left the church and my marriage at 23 as I began coming to terms with being gay and forging a life beyond the expectations I’d grown up with.

These experiences continuously inspire my work. I craft female-driven coming-of-(all)-ages dramas and dramedies that explore identity, independence, artistic self-expression, and the tension between belonging and authenticity—especially within the complicated ecosystems we call family. I’m interested in what happens when who we’re becoming bumps up against who our families, communities, cultures, or even our younger selves expected us to be—and in finding the humor, humanity, and contradiction inside that struggle.

My coming-of-age short PITSTOP—about a 12-year-old girl accidentally left behind at a gas station on a family road trip—earned a Student Academy Award® and BAFTA/LA Best Student Film Award and screened at festivals worldwide. My feature screenplay NUMB FOR JESUS, inspired by PITSTOP, was selected for the Film Independent Screenwriters Lab and recognized by both the Nicholl Fellowship and Austin Film Festival. I hold an MFA in Film Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and currently teach cinematic sound and filmmaking at both USC and San Diego State University.

While I’m a writer-director at heart, sound has become inseparable from the way I think about filmmaking. I’m fascinated by how sound can shape performance, point of view, intimacy, tension, and emotional truth—often without an audience consciously realizing why they’re feeling what they’re feeling. That fascination is also at the heart of my teaching: I don’t teach sound to create better sound editors. I teach sound to create better storytellers. I want filmmakers to think sonically from the beginning—not so they all become specialists in sound (although some do!), but so they become more attentive collaborators, more empathetic artists, and more truthful storytellers.

While I’ve come a long way from the practical, feed-a-family-of-ten cuisine of my childhood (I’m now an avid cook and unabashed foodie), I still can’t resist the crunch of potato chips on a tuna casserole.

Contact me: melmcgrawfilm at gmail dot com