Bio

Kristen “KD” Dávila is a Mexican-American screenwriter, who began her illustrious career writing Harry Potter fanfiction as a child. She went on to attend Princeton University, where she learned Arabic, studied a lot of wars, and was accepted into Princeton’s Creative Writing Program. Upon graduating with a degree in Near Eastern Studies, she had to decide between joining the CIA or taking her chances at becoming a screenwriter. She chose to give Hollywood a shot, not realizing that the safer option probably would have been to join the CIA. She earned her MFA in Writing for Screen and Television from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. From there she went on to be a 2015-16 Universal Pictures Emerging Writers Fellow and winner of the 2015 Tony Cox Feature Screenplay Competition at the Nantucket Film Festival. She was also a 2016 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow.

She is the writer of Emergency, which won Best Narrative Short at SXSW 2018 as well as the Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival 2018. She is currently a television writer.

Honors & Awards

FESTIVAL

For Emergency, short film:

2018 WINNER SPECIAL JURY AWARD SUNDANCE
2018 WINNER BEST NARRATIVE SHORT SXSW
2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL
2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL
2018 WINNER BEST SHORT CHATTANOOGA FILM FESTIVAL
2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION DEFINE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION SAN DIEGO LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION BATES FILM FESTIVAL
2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION FLORIDA FILM FESTIVAL
2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION ANNAPOLIS FILM FESTIVAL
2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION ASPEN SHORTSFEST NARRATIVE SPECIAL MENTION
2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION OMAHA FILM FESTIVAL
2017 OFFICIAL SELECTION INTERFILM BERLIN
2017 WINNER NBC SHORTSCUTS – HARNESS SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD
2017 WINNER BEST NARRATIVE SHORT BEND FILM FESTIVAL
2017 OFFICIAL SELECTION HOLLYSHORTS
2017 OFFICIAL SELECTION URBANWORLD

FELLOWSHIPS

Film Independent Episodic Lab, 2017

Film Independent Project Involve Fellow, 2016

Universal Pictures Emerging Writers Fellow, 2015-16

Best Screenplay Award for Counterintelligence, Showtime’s Tony Cox Screenwriting Competition, Nantucket Film Festival, 2015

Resident Writer at the Screenwriters Colony, 2015

SCHOOL STUFF

Graduated from USC with Thesis Distinction for feature script Counterintelligence, 2013

Recipient of the Rock Hudson Scholarship at USC School of Cinematic Arts, 2011

One of ten students selected to write a creative senior thesis at Princeton University, 2010

Winner of the F.O. Kelsey Prize in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, 2010