About
Gena Ellis is a screenwriter, author, and Army veteran. Her writing spans film, stage, and page. From the award-winning ANGELA'S DECISION (filmed in Australia) to WAR COMES HOME (Third Rail Projects/Marshall University), to her hybrid book Angela's Decision: A Journey of Adaptation.
Gena is a current mentee in the Writers Guild Foundation's Veterans Writing Project, writing a feature set in Mississippi. She is a produced, optioned, and award-winning writer of original feature scripts and pilots.
Gena also writes adaptations for screen, including Rosa and the Black Tulip (from Dumas) and Out of Sight (her BBC-awarded radio drama adapted to feature and pilot).
Daughter of Appalachia where storytelling is as old as the hills, and city dweller where stories leap tall buildings with a single word. Her love of story began with Dad's tales at family gatherings, summer trips to the library with Mom and her sisters, and Friday nights at the movies.
Gena's twenty-plus Army moves gave her more stories to tell. Working on Chicago sets, and some of her daughter's films, deepened her understanding of writing for the screen.
Gena has an MLS in Screenwriting/Fiction from the University of Oklahoma. She is a Marshall University alum and a native West Virginian. Gena's lived in Germany, Georgia, Oklahoma and many places in between.
Tea, tiny house, and tater tot enthusiast.
Screenplays
Currently writing a feature length script in the Writers Guild Foundation Veterans Writing Project.
Learn about WGF VWP →A prison-keeper's daughter dares to grow the impossible and learn to read in 17th century Holland, as she falls in love with and saves a falsely-accused prisoner growing the black tulip in this romantic, witty period piece.
A wife navigating the empty nest and an ambitious husband abandons her privileged North Shore life for her roots in service to those out of sight like the homeless, and even herself, in this dramedy set during the Holidays.
An aspiring writer from the city rewrites the story of her life when an ad executive takes a wrong turn and poses as her fiancée at her family reunion down on the farm.
Book coming soon — inspired by family reunions
A city business woman is sent to the town of Christmas to buy them out, but instead finds her Christmas spirit and love with a childhood sweetheart, whose grandfather founded the town and makes miniature Christmas villages.
A wounded army veteran returns home and teams up with a millennial to find the veteran's missing niece but they find more than they bargained for while untangling a web where even well-meaning locals do what it takes to save their family in this coal country thriller.
Films
Writing Credits
ANGELA'S DECISION
SHE'S HALFWAY THERE
Writer, Director, Editor, Actor
Stuck At Home 48 Hour Film Challenge
FAY IN THE LIFE OF DAVE
Co-writer, Co-producer
Nashville 48 Hour Film Project • Danny Vinson, Tricia Cast • Dir. Craig Ciali
Production Credits
LOOKING THROUGH WATER (2025)
Location Scout (WV)
Michael Douglas, Cameron Douglas
Dir. Roberto Sneider
OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD
Location Manager
Writer/Director — Ursula Ellis
Hulu's Bite Size Halloween (2021)
CRICK IN THE HOLLER
Assistant Producer
Writer/Director — Ursula Ellis
ADIDAS/CHICAGO BULLS
Background Actor
The Return of Derrick Rose
Super Bowl Premiere 2013
Additional Credits
Background Actor
Film Photos
Writing
Contact
Connect with Gena.
That's a wrap!