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Kellan McDonough

Storyteller across screen, page, and brand. Based in Palo Alto.

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The short version

I'm a screenwriter and prose writer who treats storytelling as a single craft worn in different uniforms — fiction screenplays one day, documentary treatments the next, brand work in between, and a Substack essay on the side. My focus is comedy, but the comedy I'm most interested in is the kind that catches you off guard with feeling.

The longer version

I'm currently an MFA Creative Writing candidate at San Jose State University, with a focus on screenwriting. Before that, I earned a B.S. in Graphic Communication from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which is a useful, if unsexy, way of saying I learned how to make things visual.

My primary form is screenwriting, in TV and film. I'm also writing prose, exploring documentary and journalism, and doing the occasional corporate brand storytelling project on commission. The throughline is voice: comedy that comes out of specificity, melancholy that comes out of comedy.

I keep a public digital garden on this site — a working space for ideas in progress — and a longer-form essay newsletter on Substack called How Should I Put This.

Skills

Screenwriting • Prose • Documentary development • Corporate brand storytelling • Journalism • Editing • Technical and professional communication

Education & honors

Currently working on

A half-hour comedy pilot, a short film, and a weekly-ish Substack. See Work → for the current portfolio.


Say hello

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Email

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LinkedIn

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Substack

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