"The Future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed..." -- William Gibson

TARYN O'NEILL is a filmmaker and futurist at the intersection of entertainment, science & technology who is passionate about creating stories to unite audiences around visions of better futures.

With over two decades of experience in front of and behind the camera, and a passion for sci-tech, climate action and storytelling, she brings a unique perspective to the realm of filmmaking and the evolving landscape of Hollywood.

Taryn just directed the 'hopeful futures' short film "the Assignment" for ASU's Center for Science and the Imagination, producing and writing with her Scirens co-founder Tamara Krinsky. Prior to this, she directed Passionflix feature films 'Wicked' and 'Torn', based on NY Times best-selling author Jennifer L. Armentrout’s fantasy novels. Her first project as a writer / director, the award-winning sci-fi short 'LIVE', has received over 550K views and was exclusively distributed and optioned by Gunpowder and Sky for its Black Mirror-esque narrative and prescient take on the future of A.I. and social media.

Her screenplays have been semi-finalists & finalists with the Sloan Sundance Institute and the New York Television Festival. Taryn's first writing jobs were for Blackbox TV and Vuguru, the latter adapting an original idea from comic book legend Stan Lee into a sci-fi web series. She was early pioneer in the online space, co-producing a Streamy nominated sci-fi digital series during the nascent years of streaming platforms, becoming a well-known figure in the New Media landscape. She is actively involved with the transformative potential of emerging technologies, including generative A.I. and virtual filmmaking.

As a futurist and advocate for climate stories and STEM in entertainment, Taryn co-founded Scirens: 'Screen Sirens for Science', where she champions engaging and accurate representations of STEM fields in media as well as climate related storylines. Scirens also partnered with ASU's 'Center for Science and Imagination' for a live-streamed event celebrating positive climate futures fiction and the science and innovation underpinning it. Her Scirens work has taken her to numerous San Diego Comic-Con panels and to X-Prize, the Geena Davis org, and both Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye's TV shows.

Taryn was named an Avalon Story Fellow in 2021 with a focus on developing stories to 'build a bridge to a more beautiful future'. She was a contributor to the Good Energy Playbook - a playbook for screenwriting in the age of climate change - and recently collaborated on a future facing project about Hollywood for the Near Future Laboratory.

Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Taryn was a nationally ranked figure skater and graduated from Duke University with degrees in Economics, Drama and Film. Now living in Los Angeles, she shares her insights on the future of storytelling and sci-tech news on Twitter (@tarynoneill), while her creative fiction and deep-dive blog posts on Medium offer a more in-depth look at her explorations at the intersection of technology, science, climate, and narrative. She can be reached at contacttaryn@gmail.com.

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