Isabel Drean

Isabel Dréan is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer who likes to explore human nature’s dualities of light and dark through psychologically intricate storytelling. Raised by a single mother and now mother to two children herself, the theme of motherhood is an important and recurring one in her stories, with Let Go taking an uncompromising look at the devastating realities of losing a child. Isabel is passionate about exploring female perspectives through thought-provoking narratives that cover various contemporary themes such as female revenge, #metoo, and women overcoming the impossible. Isabel’s expertise in handling darker themes has resulted in a prolific career as a writer and director of complex psychological horrors and thrillers. Her series Manigances, about a famous novelist who employs a dinner party to orchestrate his own death, became one of the most-viewed online series in Canada and was optioned by a major Hollywood studio. In response to the inescapable pandemic gloom, Isabel has felt compelled to tell lighter-hearted, uplifting stories under romcom, holiday, and coming-of-age umbrellas. For the latter, she developed unique narratives from her own personal experience, including her screenplay for Love Letter to Laos, in which an adventurous woman settles in Laos to open the first bookshop after the communist era. Originally from Montreal, but a global wanderer at heart, Isabel’s love of travel has taken her beyond Laos to all corners of the world, immersing her in wonderfully diverse cultures that continue to influence and inspire her storytelling. Her personal voice and unique vision make her a talent to watch.