Michelle Steffes is an award-winning writer-director whose feature directorial debut, For When You Get Lost, premiered at the 2023 Austin Film Festival and won the Audience Award for comedy features.

Michelle’s short films have played at film festivals around the world and have aired on Hulu, FXX, and Freeform. Her sci-fi black comedy The Interview, which won grand prize at the Academy-qualifying USA Film Festival, led to her invitation to join the short film branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She has directed children’s programming, including episodes of Blippi, Meekah, and T-Rex Ranch and commercial campaigns for VTech and LeapFrog.

Michelle is proud of have been a Directing Fellow in Women In Film’s career mentorship initiative, the Walt Disney television directing program, and AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women. She has also been a writing fellow in The Black List and WIF’s feature screenwriting residency program. 

She has previously served on the boards of Film School Africa, a non-profit dedicated to training young people in filmmaking, and the Alliance of Women Directors, committed to gender diversity behind the camera.

Michelle lives with her husband, comedy writer Joey Aucoin, and their two children in Los Angeles.