Heidi Nyburg is an award-winning writer and director from Santa Cruz. Before launching her filmmaking career, she worked as a product manager from Silicon Valley to Napa Valley for companies including Netflix and the Henry Wine Group. She draws on a wide range of life experiences, from boardrooms to blue-collar neighborhoods, from constantly being the new kid to raising two of her own, to create grounded, character-driven film and TV projects that explore connection, transformation, and what it means to be seen.

Her recent award-winning short film Five and a Half, which she wrote and directed, screened at Dances With Films and HollyShorts as a guest of the Alliance of Women Directors. A Humanitas New Voices Finalist, Black List Episodic Lab Finalist, and Black List–recommended writer, Heidi is featured on the 2025 Women’s List and is part of the Streep/Kidman 2024 Writers Lab cohort and the 2025 Portman-sponsored TWL Career Accelerator.

She lives in Santa Cruz with her husband, who loves bringing their kids to set. The kids, in turn, enjoy offering unfiltered notes and practicing their spelling by proofreading her scripts. Nothing humbles a writer faster than the brutally honest feedback of a fourth grader.