SHELBY BLAKE BARTELSTEIN is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles after living in New York City for the last decade. Originally from the North Shore of Chicago, her love for deep dish pizza, The Cubs, and John Hughes remains sincerely intact. 

Shelby is the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Shondaland Women’s Directing Mentorship, in partnership with SeriesFest, where she’ll shadow an established director on a Shondaland-produced series. Currently, Shelby has Film and TV projects set up with Disney, MGM, Escape Artists, Chernin Entertainment and more.

Shelby’s narrative short “Pretty People,” which she penned, directed + starred in, premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival, where she was also selected as one of the five Episodic “Emerging Creators” for Tribeca N.O.W. in partnership with HBO. The feature adaptation of Pretty People is set to film next year, marking Shelby’s feature directorial debut.

Shelby’s commercial work spans top brands, including Mazda, Olay, Neutrogena, Acuvue, Tinder, Dove, AXE, Budweiser, Lime-A-Ritas, Stella Artois, Crown Royal, 20th Century FOX, Comcast, Sanofi and more. Shelby created the viral hit “I Can’t Wait to Wash My Face: The Musical!” (Olay, P&G), which premiered on the 2018 MTV VMAs. From its success, Shelby took Olay to Broadway with the original musical “The Road to Glow!”— it starred comedy legend Ana Gasteyer (SNL, Mean Girls), alongside the hottest names on Broadway. 

Shelby is a proud member of the WGA.