bio: matthew ross
Matthew Ross is an award-winning director, screenwriter and journalist from New York City.
Matthew will make his feature-length directorial debut in 2013 with the psychological thriller Frank & Lola, a tale of love, obsession and revenge set in Brooklyn and Paris. Killer Films’ Christine Vachon, Parts & Labor’s Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy, and Preferred Content’s Kevin Iwashina are producing. Frank & Lola was selected as one of the 15 best scripts of the Slamdance Screenplay Competition.
His fiction short films Lola, Red Angel and Curtis and Clover have screened at dozens of festivals, including Slamdance, SXSW, Tribeca, Cinevegas, Woodstock, Sarasota, the Hamptons, Maryland, Boston, Williamstown and Fayetteville, among others.
Matthew also wrote and directed the viral short Inspired by Bret Easton Ellis, which was commissioned by Random House to promote the release of Ellis’s novel Imperial Bedrooms. World-renowned film critic Roger Ebert posted a link to the video on his Chicago Sun Times blog and on his Twitter account, where he described it as “one terrific video!”
Other filmmaking work include directing and producing more than 50 episodes of FIGHT! Life, an online documentary series about professional MMA fighters for FIGHT! magazine that have logged over 5 million YouTube views as of March, 2013. As the head of FIGHT!’s video content (as well as its West Coast editor), Matthew launched the company’s online video operations and oversaw the production of over 300 viral videos. Under his supervision, FIGHT!’s YouTube channel was ranked as high as #6 among all sports channels and #76 overall, which led to AOL Fanhouse hiring FIGHT! as their exclusive provider of MMA video content.
Additionally, Matthew has worked as story consultant for Larry David’s hit HBO Show Curb Your Enthusiasm, including contributing the plotline to “Palestinian Chicken,” winner of the 2011 DGA Award for Best Comedy Episode.
Matthew has also been hired to write and direct the thriller Sanctuary for Sundial Pictures. His work as a screenwriter-for-hire includes Sweet Obsession, an epic crime thriller about heroin dealers in 1980s New York City for Fixed Point Films, the thriller Unsound for Palmstar Entertainment and acclaimed director Brad Anderson, and the dark comedy Plays Well With Others, which was selected for the Hamptons Film Festival Screenwriters Conference.
Other directing projects include the first four episodes of the television show Deepak Chopra: Love in Action and behind-the-scenes documentaries for music videos featuring Kid Cudi and the Scissor Sisters.
As a journalist, Matthew has held staff editor/writer positions at Variety, Filmmaker Magazine, indieWIRE, FIGHT! Magazine, The Aesthete, IFCRant, The Daily Reel, and Creative Planet. As a freelancer, his articles about film, music, culture, and sports have appeared in many other print and online publications, including the Village Voice, ArchetypeMe, Nerve, and the Criterion Collection, among others. He has also worked as an on-camera host for the Independent Film Channel’s IFC in Theaters series, and appeared as a commentator for CNBC’s Independent Spirit Awards coverage and as a guest panelist on HDNet’s Inside MMA.
Matthew graduated Cum Laude with Honors from Harvard University with a degree in Visual and Environmental Studies. He is currently at work on his first novel, Down and Out on the D-List. He is represented by Magnolia Entertainment and splits his time between New York and Los Angeles.
Matthew at IMDb Pro (more projects listed)
Journalism Portfolio: CLICK HERE
