Tamar Halpern

Tamar Halpern teaches screenwriting and directing at Dodge College. She has written and directed 12 features, including a slate of female-driven thrillers for A&E Network. Her TV series adaptation of the book Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus was purchased by HBO Max, and she was hired to adapt the novel Some of Tim’s Stories by S.E. Hinton (The Outsiders, Rumble Fish). California Girl, her novel about a teen girl growing up in 1980s Los Angeles and Berkeley, made its debut with the Swiss publisher Diogenes. Her second novel will be released in 2028.

Prior work includes writing and directing Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, which she adapted from The New York Times bestselling novel by Wendy Mass. The film starred Mira Sorvino, Joe Pantoliano and Michael Urie. Halpern’s Oscar-qualified feature documentary, Llyn Foulkes One Man Band (“Undeniably fascinating” Variety, “A joy to watch,” The Hollywood Reporter), sold to Netflix and is now on Amazon.

She wrote and directed the award-winning Shelf Life (“A whip-smart film that taps into a fresh source for American comedy,” Variety), which sold to Netflix and now lives on Amazon. Her comedy short Death, Taxes and Apple Juice was invited to more than 40 festivals and won 16 awards.

Her feature script, Ezzy Fish, was on the first Black List, went on to be an Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting semi-finalist, an IFP/NY Top Ten Finalist, a Sundance and Slamdance finalist, and was selected for the Film Independent Director Lab. She’s taught filmmaking to Syrian refugees in Amman, Jordan, for American Film Showcase, and is the first person ever authorized to write in Roald Dahl’s voice.

She directs for Look What She Did, a non-profit that spotlights women forgotten by history. Additionally, she’s written and directed commercials for clients such as YSL, Amazon and DeBeers. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in Joyland Magazine, HuffPost, and elsewhere, and she won a Best Fiction Award for The House Where the Grifters Squat from Sundress Publications. Over her career, she’s been awarded five funded artist residencies at Hedgebrook, a non-profit writing retreat for women.

Halpern holds an MFA from USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she won the Jack Oakie Comedy Scriptwriting Award and the Paramount Screenwriting Fellowship. Her first industry job was as a PA on an Ice Cube music video, where a producer told her to “Please get Mr. Cube some ice.”