Canada
Shirley writes narratives and scripts that explore human relationships and cross-cultural experiences. Her stories are often fueled by unresolved emotions and relentless struggles at the intersection of Chinese culture and Western education. Shirley is fluent in three languages: English, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.
Shirley is born in Guangzhou, China but her family immigrated to Canada when she was 4. Shirley spent her childhood in Montreal and Vancouver, then finished high school at an American international school in China. Everything changed when she went against parents’ wishes by turning down business school offers to pursue a Drama and English degree at the University of Toronto. The theatre experience taught her how to be creative and live outside the box. After graduation, she moved to China and worked in events management and advertising from Hong Kong, Beijing to Shanghai. In 2016, she figured working as a Mad Man is different from writing on Mad Men. So she moved to Hollywood to study screenwriting and directing at UCLA and never turned back. Her work has been placed in Austin Film Festival, Script Pipeline, among others.
Shirley is a graduate of Canadian Film Centre's Bell Media Prime TV Program inaugural comedy cohort. She worked as a story editor in the development room by executive producer Ins Choi (Kim’s Convenience). Shirley was a 2022 BIPOC TV & Film Episodic Writers’ Lab Fellow with her drama series HOUSE OF FORTUNE, a participant of the 2022 Reelworld Institute Emerging 20 Screenwriting program with her feature script ORCHID DREAM, and a Finalist at the 2021 ATX Festival Pitch Competition. Her comedy pilot PEEPING TAM was shortlisted for the 2022 Sundance Episodic Lab. She was a Semi-Finalist for the Disney Writing Program
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Drama from the University of Toronto and Professional Certificates in Screenwriting and Directing from UCLA.
Toronto, August 31, 2022 - The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and Bell Media are pleased to announce the six writers invited to join the first-ever comedy cohort of the Bell Media Prime Time TV Program, an immersive real-world story room experience for Canadian TV writers delivered under the mentorship of an experienced television executive producer.
Reelworld Emerging 20 (E20) Program has been redesigned. The program has been tailored to support writers and will be streamed into two specific areas: Series and Film. Ten Candidates will be chosen for each stream. The Candidates will be taken through an intense 3-month program to create or polish their idea into a script draft.
Eight Indigenous, Black and racialized writers will participate in the 2022 Episodic Writers’ Lab.
Complete List of Finalists
A short story about a girl's identity evolves in relationship to her given names.