Susanna Styron’s directing credits span documentaries, narrative shorts, feature films, web series and episodic television. Her first narrative short, A DAY LIKE ANY OTHER, starring Richard Beymer and Ally Sheedy, won several awards on the festival circuit and was aired on A&E. Her debut feature film, SHADRACH, starring Harvey Keitel and Andie MacDowell, premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was referred to by New York Observer critic Armond White as “the year’s best first film by a director.” Sidney Lumet’s admiration of the film led to him inviting Susanna to shadow him for a season on his A&E series 100 CENTRE STREET -- essentially a master class in directing. She went on to write and direct for the show in the second season.
Having started as a documentary filmmaker, Susanna returned to documentaries with 9/12: FROM CHAOS TO COMMUNITY about the volunteer community at Ground Zero. Her television work led to an ongoing association with TV writer/showrunner Tom Fontana, with whom she has developed several TV series, one of which sold to WE Television, a division of AMC.
Susanna’s narrative directing work includes several episodes of the web series ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE, created by and starring Brooke Adams, and the narrative short HOUSE OF TEETH which she wrote and directed and which was called “Brilliant” by DGA member Diane English. Her feature documentary OUT OF MY HEAD premiered at MoMA’s Doc Fortnight and won Best International Documentary at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.
Susanna’s development projects include the limited series drama UNTITLED JESSICA MITFORD PROJECT with the Levinson/Fontana company, and the comedy series INVISIBLE with EP/showrunner Matt Lopez. She is currently in production on the documentary short MY FATHER’S NAME.