Writer and Producer of WATER DANCER | USA

Ryan was born and raised in Oklahoma. As a young man he traveled the world, building orphanages, writing, and shooting photographs along the way. He worked in the South's brutal oilfields, where he earned a few scars and first hand knowledge of a colorful vernacular that consists of words that shall not be repeated in this space. His scripts have earned honors in the world's top competitions including the Austin Film Festival.

After graduating from Pepperdine with an MFA in Screenwriting, Ryan attended Judith Weston's Acting for Directors Workshop (fellow alums include Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Andrew Stanton), further cultivating his passion for the creative process, specifically his love for collaborating with actors. With many projects in various stages of development, Ryan also writes, directs, and produces music videos. One such being Planet Swan’s BY THE DAWN, a 16mm film shot by Nkosi Roma in the Mojave Desert about Mary Magdalene’s dark night of the soul following Jesus’ crucifixion, which made its world premiere at deadCenter Film Festival in 2023.

Ryan’s dedication to original storytelling has fueled over 500,000 words written resulting in 15 feature screenplays, three novels, three teleplays, and a children’s book dedicated to his 8 year old son, Elijah. Founder and CEO of Denver based creative agency Ocean Exile, Ryan leads a core of young filmmakers in the production of music videos, business promos, and event recaps. This vast production experience has been essential to his aspirations of bridging the gap from client work to his own original cinematic projects. His ambition is to build Ocean Exile into a film studio that focuses on producing original TV and feature content in addition to offering opportunities to emerging filmmakers who otherwise wouldn’t have access to professional mentors and camera equipment.

With a heap of projects in various stages of development, Ryan’s primary focus is to bring his original screenplay WATER DANCER to animated life. He strives to make films imbued with the moral exploration of Kurosawa, the spiritual veracity of Bergman, and the razor sharp wit of Wilder.