LOGLINE
A door-to-door saleswoman caught up in the tornado of her boss’s cultish personality unleashes a storm of violence when she realizes that she and her customers have been duped — not only by him and his doctrine of “Flip the Switch!” but by the whole system of Disaster Capitalism.
FILMMAKER
GRETL CLAGGETT is a creator, writer and director committed to telling female-forward, diverse, cinematic stories that entertain and catalyze transformation in individual lives and shared cultures.
Gretl’s first film HAPPY HOUR — narrated by Julianne Moore — is based on true events and a poem from her book, Monsoon Solo: Voices Once Submerged. The film screened as an official selection at 18 festivals, winning awards and garnering praise from Oscar-winning Writer/Director Robert Benton: “Happy Hour is a lush, elegiac film about an extremely difficult subject and Ms. Claggett handles it masterfully.”
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Gretl’s second film/proof-of-concept TV pilot, STORMCHASER, is a female-forward, nuanced satire that allegorizes this era in “Merica”: Global Warming, Disaster Capitalism, Bullying, #MeToo, Morality, a Shrinking Middle Class and Country Divided. STORMCHASER was selected to screen at roughly 65 festivals worldwide — winning AMC Network’s Inaugural “Best Female Creator” Award at Stareable Fest 2020, “Best Writer and Director” Awards at the 2021 New York Women in Film & Television Festival and “Outstanding Writing” at the 2021 Catalyst Content Festival (ITVFest). Other awards include multiple wins for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Film, Best Pilot, Best Cinematography, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Original Score/Soundtrack, and Best VFX.
Gretl cut and restructured the story to make a shorter, 15-minute film, FLIP THE SWITCH, which was selected as a finalist in the international 2020 Stage 32 Short Film Program Contest, and also screened at multiple festivals around the world, winning awards.
Another passion of Gretl’s is pioneering the use of innovative technologies to shape inspiring brand stories — from writing and directing Sony’s first 4K 360° cinematic music video to creative directing high-profile events, such as Entertainment Weekly’s inaugural festival, PopFest, in Downtown LA, and IBM’s Partner World in Las Vegas and San Francisco. Diverse brands Gretl has worked with include Canon, McDonald’s, Merck, Pfizer, SHRM, and SC Johnson, to name a few.
One of her specialties is merging live performance with state-of-the-art multimedia. “Cognitive in Motion,” IBM Amplify’s opening experience — which she conceptualized, wrote, directed and produced, incorporating ‘pop & lock’ dancers, Notch (real-time generated art) and IBM cognitive data visualizations — won two top Telly Awards.
In 2020-2021, Gretl directed 3 episodes of an indie short-form comedic series, CHRONICLES OF A BLEEP YEAR OLD, and produced BOY, ALONE IN WOODS, a horror short/proof-of-concept for a feature she’s co-developing. Currently, she’s writing/developing a memoir manuscript, plus film/TV projects, including a ‘90s nostalgic black comedy and a female-forward, metaphysical thriller. Check out projects in development at Culture Catalyst.
STARRING
