About
“‘For all the Hollywood obsession with high-concept and special effects, sometimes there’s something enchanting about a simple story simply told, and a movie of small rather than grand gestures. Case in point: the pleasant and enchanting Brightest Star, a narratively slight but well acted and keenly observed romantic dramedy about a twentysomething guy’s romantic fumblings and occupational uncertainty. The feature film debut of Maggie Kiley, Brightest Star isn’t a movie of conventionally structured catharsis.’”
An accomplished pilot director, Maggie Kiley most recently served as director and executive producer on Grosse Pointe Garden Society for Universal/NBC. Other recent work includes I Will Find You, based on the novel by Harlan Coben for Netflix and Robert Hull starring Sam Worthington and Britt Lower, the FX series American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez for Ryan Murphy Productions/Color Force and the upcoming Peacock series Devil In Disguise John Wayne Gacy starring Michael Chernus and Gabriel Luna from frequent collaborator Patrick Macmanus. She is attached to direct Enigma, an action feature from screenwriter Kat Wood for Thunder Road Pictures and Awesome starring Bel Powley and Leslie Mann for producer Claude Dal Farra.
Maggie began her career as an actress, performing off Broadway, in television and in films for James Gray and Andrew Jarecki. She successfully made the transition to directing upon acceptance to the prestigious Directing Workshop for Women at the American Film Institute where she wrote and directed the award-winning short some boys don’t leave starring Jesse Eisenberg. Soon after, Maggie received the Panavision New Filmmaker Grant for her debut feature as writer/director, Brightest Star, starring Chris Lowell and Allison Janney.
Maggie stepped into directing television with meteoric speed and was signed to an exclusive multi-year development deal at Warner Brothers Discovery. Previously, she served as director and executive producer for the Netflix/WBTV series Keep Breathing (Global #1) as well as the Peacock/UCP critically acclaimed limited series Dr. Death, starring Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater, and pilot/multiple episodes of Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, the second installment in the anthology series (UCP). Other episodic credits include Brilliant Minds, pilot and finale episodes of CW’s Katy Keene; American Horror Story; SYFY’s George R.R. Martin series, Nightflyers; Pretty Little Liars for HBO Max; Riverdale; Marvel’s The Gifted; and Impulse (Lauren LeFranc).
Maggie is passionate in her advocacy for Arts Education and serves on the board of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) Foundation and mentors regularly via Film Independent, the DGA and Women in Film.
“‘Maggie Kiley, the writer-director of Dial a Prayer, is a sly puss. Her film begins as a seemingly snarky satire of all those God-for-a-dollar movements, with Cora the most virulent atheist there ever could be. But gradually, its deeper meaning sets in—i.e., the need of everyone for some kind of deep solace in their crazy lives, with bad-ass, former hard-partying girl Cora the most in need of all. The film becomes a rather touching portrait of a young woman’s human growth, laced with a salutary number of small yet piquant observations along the way.’”
“‘Kiley comes by these character studies earnestly, one of her most distinctive and endearing qualities as a filmmaker being the sincerity with which she explores the often flawed people at the center of her stories.’”
