Biography

Joe Gietl is a writer, director, musician, and producer from Upstate New York. He has directed several short films that have played on the festival circuit, written numerous screenplays, and produced both narrative and commercial work. Some of the important landmarks in his career include The Fledgling, a proof of concept vampire epic that debuted at Sitges film fest in 2023 and also played at prestigious genre festivals such as Filmquest and Flickers Rhode Island. Joe worked closely with esteemed showrunners Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer (Smallville, Mysterious Benedict Society) to polish the pilot and is in the process of shopping it around. Other highlights include his brand new short film Tasteless starring Bonnie Discepolo (James Gunn’s Superman), and his directorial feature film documentary debut A Shadow That Broke the Light (2025). More upcoming projects include a Sundance winning adaptation, a loosely connected horror comedy film series, The Dead Trilogy, and two brand new television pilots, Karma Police and Grief. As a musician, he released his first album, From the Abyss in 2024. He quickly followed it up with his second album, Cry for Health (2025).