Rio Contrada
Rio Contrada is a writer, director, producer, and aspiring flower child from Northampton, Massachusetts. He was raised by journalists and quickly learned how many questions in a row are too many (it's four).
A queer Italian Jew and community organizer, his work explores intersectionality in a dramedic, surrealist tone. His writing has placed in premier competitions such as Austin Film Festival, Screencraft and the Black List’s Top Pilots List. His directorial feature debut Splinter, starring his former Grey’s Anatomy boss Debbie Allen, premiered at Dances with Films in June, garnering rave reviews and multiple distribution offers on the festival circuit. He produced the 2022 Boston crime drama How to Rob, which won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at New Hampshire Film Festival and IFFBoston.
He currently resides in West Hollywood where he can be found waxing poetic about New England autumns or rejecting party invitations to stay home and write.
Paradise City
Hour-Long Crime Dramedy
A high school weed dealer with four moms tries to make his bones in the misogynistic criminal underworld of his idyllic, feminist-leaning hometown.
The Tracks
Hour-Long Dramedy
An unhoused teenage pickpocket and a private school boy cross into each others' worlds in search of freedom, but risk alienating those closest to them.