Polly Schattel
A filmmaker and novelist from Birmingham, AL, Polly Schattel’s first feature was the self-produced “Sinkhole” (2005), which won Best Feature at the Indie Memphis Film Festival, and was distributed internationally by Shoreline Entertainment. Her next film was “Alison,” (2010), which won Best Feature at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. After that came “Quiet River,” (2015) an Appalachian mystery about a woman who returns home to find her brother, who struggles with autism, being falsely accused of a serious environmental crime. It played festivals all over the world.
In the meantime, Polly worked in the commercial film industry as a director, editor and camera operator. Other film projects followed, but something was missing: her first love, genre fiction.
Polly’s debut novel was The Occultists (2020), a historical dark fantasy set in the spiritualist boom of the early 20th Century, published by JournalStone. Two years later she produced Shadowdays (2022), which Kirkus Reviews chose as one of the 100 Best Indie Books of the Year. The following year, Polly produced 8:59:29 (2023), a horror novella set in the film industry, which was long-listed for the Stoker Awards. Polly is presently in development on adapting the book for a prominent LA production company.
Her latest short film is “After the Fall,” (2025) based upon the iconic Jeffrey Thomas short story. Proudly and passionately transgender, Polly’s latest novel is Crater Girl (2026).