Directing

Daniela Saioni

Biography

Daniela Saioni is an award-winning comedy writer and script supervisor originally from Toronto, Canada. She has script supervised major motion pictures and TV series in 10 countries, and has served both A-list and first-time directors alike, with a specialization in comedy. She also trains script supervisors internationally through her Director Whisperer Training Program which has been running since 1995. Discovering her calling in comedy later in life, Daniela's stand-up has been described as 'smart and subversive' and was featured on CBC Radio One to over 1.4 million listeners. In 2016, she transitioned from stand-up to screenwriting, story consulting and punch-up, and joined the Writers' Guild of Canada. As a comedy screenwriter, her feature script Jiyan (story by filmmaker Mazdak Taebi) has earned nine laurels including Best Screenplay & Best Fresh Voice at the 2019 Female Eye Festival and Grand Prize Winner 2021 WE Screenplay Diverse Voices. At FEFF 2014 she took home Best Reserve Screenplay for a raucous female ensemble comedy script, The WBI, co-written with filmmaker Annie Bradley. That script was also named Harold Greenberg CFF's Top Ten in 2016. Her own short mockumentary First Person Plural: Copy Cat, a spoof of the work of one of her filmmaking idols Errol Morris, premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival and aired on CBC Newsworld and The Comedy Network. Daniela has been training comedy screenwriters since 2012 through her From Schtick to Script original sitcom writing program, her Make 'Em Laugh For 90 Minutes feature film program, and her Story Editors' Studio program for story consultants. Between her training programs and her private story consulting clients, she has shepherded the creation of over 100 scripts, and multiple alumni of her programs sold films and TV series even as first-time writers. She loves championing new and diverse voices in the industry and this makes her incredibly happy.