Annette Haywood-Carter

Annette Haywood-Carter began her directing career with The Foot ShootingParty, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The 30-minute film was financed bya fund Jeffrey Katzenberg / Touchstone Pictures created in a search for new talent. Premiere magazine featured Annette in an article, "Talent to Keep an Eye On," and the film screened to a standing-room-only audience at Sony Studios' Cary Grant Theater.

Prior to her directorial debut, Annette spent a decade working as a script supervisor winning the respect of Academy Award-winning producers,directors and actors. Steven Spielberg, Bruce Cohen, Bruce Beresford, Saul Zaentz and John Lithgow, among others, took a personal interest in her career and helped her transition into directing.

Spielberg saw The Foot Shooting Party and offered Annette an episode of NBC’s seaQuest 2034 to direct. Actor Roy Scheider asked her to return to direct another episode. Word spread and she was offered the film,Foxfire, where she demonstrated a keen eye for casting, plucking Angelina Jolie out of auditions for a minor role and offering her the lead. Many

credit Foxfire as the film that launched Jolie’s career, as it was the first of what would become known as her signature performance, and led to Jolie being cast in Gia and Girl Interrupted. Rysher Entertainment was eager for Annette to direct another film. She pitched an original story, Love is Strange, and was hired to write the screenplay. The company closed its movie division before the film was made, but sold Love is Strange to Lifetime TV with Annette attached to direct. Annette cast Ron Silver, Kate Nelligan and Julie Harris in the TV movie, and earned a rave review from The Hollywood Reporter.

In addition to directing, Annette worked as a writer-for-hire. Her credits include a TV miniseries for CBS, a book adaptation for Disney, original scripts based on studio concepts and script doctoring -- rewriting screenplays green-lit for production. Annette took a break from Hollywood to teach while her children were young. A key creator of therenowned Film & Television program at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), she developed curriculum, taught Directing, Screenwriting and Production, and served as Thesis Chair on MFA theses.

Annette returned to the industry as writer / director / producer of the movie, Savannah, starring Sam Shepard, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jim Caviezel and Bradley Whitford. She oversaw theatrical release in a dozen cities and VOD/DVD release in multiple domestic and foreign markets. In 2012 she relocated to New York andfounded, 22 WHITESTONE, a film & television development company. She spent a month in Berlin, Germany on the set of, Homeland, shadowing director, Alex Graves and producer, Lesli Glatter. From 2015 to 2019 she served as chair of Film & Digital Media at the prestigious Idyllwild Arts Academy, developing a program that NPR's All Things Considered hailed, "The Julliard of Young Filmmakers."

Annette currently lives in the Los Angeles area and continues to work as a writer and director. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, Women in Film and Film Fatales.