My name is Tyler Young, and I am a journalist-turned-filmmaker from Greenville, SC. My mom is an avid reader and came across the name Tyler in a novel during her second trimester. My dad just went with it. They both figured it’d be pretty neat if their Black daughter were mistaken for a white man every day of her life.

Now that you know my name story, welcome!

After 15 years in the media industry, I have learned that the most ambitious creative visions are only as strong as the operational frameworks supporting them. To quote a dear friend of mine, “If the head doesn’t work, the rest of the body won’t function.” The hallmark of my career is a series of pivots to new heights and challenges, driven by my belief in evolving with shifting cultures and a deep desire to grow with creative collaborators.

I earned my B.A. in Mass Communication from Winthrop University. In 2023, I began my journey as a film director. My first short film, Dying Laughing, won the 2024 Black Harvest Film Festival Audience Award and the 2025 People’s Choice Award at Reedy Reels Film Festival. We screened at the Academy Award-qualifying Urbanworld Film Festival and closed the year as a 2025 BHERC All-Star, honored by the Black Hollywood Resource Center. 

I began my TV career as a morning news producer in Charlotte, NC. One morning I stood in the dressing room and said, “God, I’m tired of crying and praying about this job. Is it time for me to leave?”. He replied, “I have something greater for you.” I went on-air for my social media segment, walked over to my desk, and typed up a 3-sentence resignation letter. I haven’t looked back.

Greater is here.

For four years, I served as a Budgets and Production Scoping Manager at Vox Media, where I worked at the critical intersection of pre-sales and production alongside our creative strategy team. I developed project scopes and cost breakdowns for award-winning branded videos, social campaigns, and audio segments.

In 2023, I produced Gaps, a coming-of-age NAACP Image Award-nominated short film presented by Queen Latifah’s Queen Collective program in partnership with Tribeca Studios and Procter & Gamble.

I began my film journey in 2020 as an Associate Producer and researcher on the Emmy-nominated (Outstanding Historical Documentary), Peabody-nominated, and Telly award-winning documentary film, Downing of a Flag (PBS).

My credits include:

• Masters of the Game (Senior Producer + Director, TheGrio)
• Running While Black (Story Producer, VICE)
• Disrupt & Dismantle with Soledad O’Brien (Associate Producer, BET)
•  Phat Tuesdays (Associate Producer, Prime Video)

Fun Fact: I got my start in unscripted television as a production assistant on one of the highest-rated episodes of Hoarders.

As a writer, I am a Project Involve writing alum at Film Independent. I wrote the short film, Saving All My Love, based on my relationship with my mom and sister. My first screenplay, Body Count, advanced into the 2022 quarterfinals of the Academy Nicholl Fellowship. This comedy feature detailing the challenges of moving back home at age 30 was among 359 scripts accepted from 5,526 submissions. I’m also a former TV series fellow at Gotham Film & Media Institute.

I spend my free time scanning newspaper archives, binging Taylor Sheridan shows, and waiting to blow my retirement on an NSYNC reunion show.  I aspire to tell very human stories with unintentionally funny protagonists working through later-in-life growing pains. Comedy is healing, and it’s the vehicle that drives my imagination.

Proverbs 3:5-6 is my guiding light.