Annette Haywood-Carter
Annette is a passionate storyteller with a strong creative voice and is a true visual storyteller. Her short, The Foot Shooting Party (Leonardo DiCaprio, Katzenberg/Touchstone) launched her directing career. Her 2023 feature, Daughter of the Bride (Marcia Gay Harden, MarVista) opened theatrically before a FOX Broadcast release. She’s credited with discovering Angelina Jolie on her feature debut, Foxfire. Spielberg hired her for her first TV episode, SeaQuest.
Annette has a remarkable track record for casting A-list actors (Julie Harris, Ron Silver, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sam Shepard), and -- with an early career in camera -- delivering beautifully crafted shows. She’s directed 4 movies, 2 TV episodes, a 30-min short and shadowed directors on The Rookie (Tara Miele) and Homeland (Alex Graves, Lesli Glatter). She's a produced screenwriter and script doctor, student of acting coach, Joan Darling, script supervisor on over 24 movies (A-list directors and producers), and was selected as a participant in the inaugural group of the DGA Womens Steering Committee's SQUAD. She loves teaching, recently mentoring a first-time director on a short film selected for Cannes’ 2026 American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, and teaching directing part-time at Cal State Long Beach.
Annette is the writer-director-producer on a transgender family film starring trans-actor Hari Nef, "Best Picture" Oscar winner Bruce Cohen consulting producer, and is writing a book slated for 2027 publication. Member of DGA and WGA since 1994. Former member of IATSE. Represented by attorney Jackie Eckhouse at Sloss, Eckhouse, Dasti, Haynes LawCo in New York.
