Juan Avella is a DGA and WGA Venezuelan writer-director based in LA with a passion for thrillers and genre stories with social undertones.

Juan has directed on THE BLACKLIST for NBC/SPTV, starring James Spader, and for Hulu on 20th Digital's anthology series "Bite Size Halloween." Juan has also written and developed for Amazon Studios, Propagate Content, HiddenLight Productions, MGM’s Gato Grande, among others. Juan’s award-winning short films HIJO POR HIJO (2017) and HER BODY (2018) were acquired by HBO Max for distribution after successful festival runs. He also holds a Screenwriting MFA from the AFI Conservatory, where he won the Fadiman Award for excellence in screenwriting for his crime thriller feature BOLICHICOS. Such script was the recipient of the 2019 TFI Sloan Film Fund grant from the Tribeca Film Institute and was included in The Black List’s 2019 inaugural LatinX List.

Juan is repped by The Gersh Agency and Heroes and Villains Entertainment.