Profile Details
- Country: Canada
- Province/State: Ontario
- City: Toronto
- How do you Identify?: She/Her
- Field of Work: Fiction/Scripted
- Union: Non-Union
- Interested In: TV Writing Room, Directing TV For Hire, Directing Film/Digital for Hire, Directing Music Videos/Commercials, Developing my own Film/TV/Digital Material, For-Hire Work, and Shadowing
- Recent Credits: GAY MEAN GIRLS (2019, 8x10 Digital Series) - Creator/Director, JESSIE AND CINDY (2019, Short by Alice Lui; Reel Asian Pitch Winner) - Story Editor
- Favourite Movies: The Matrix, Legally Blonde, Yi Yi, Election
- Favourite TV Shows: 30 Rock, The X-Files, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Vida
- Contact Information: hhheyishi@gmail.com
- Link: http://www.heyishizhang.com/
Bio
Heyishi Zhang is a Chinese Canadian filmmaker. She is the creator/director of Gay Mean Girls (2019), a digital series based on the viral short film (same title, 2015) with over 3.5 million views online. Gay Mean Girls premiered at TIFF Next Wave and was supported by the Bell Fund and Telefilm’s Talent to Watch Program. Her thesis film Joy (2015) premiered at Regent Park Film Festival, where she won the Emerging Director’s Pitch. Her work has been showcased on Global TV, Kulture’d. Elle Canada, Rookie Mag, Sophomore, and more. Heyishi studied film at Ryerson University, where she was the co-founder and president of the Ryerson Alliance of Women Filmmakers.
Intro
I’m in development and looking for funding for Gay Mean Girls: Season 2. For the first season, I ran a writer’s room that consisted only of queer women of colour. I look forward to continuing this tradition (incl. non-binary and trans voices), and telling difficult nuanced stories about queer Asian girlhood.
If you’re interested in writing or being a part of the crew, hit me up!
Reel/Clips
Gay Mean Girls YouTube Channel including extra content and trailers