About Me

Emmy Award-winner, Susan Marya Baronoff, is a first generation American whose family moved to a farm town outside Flint, Michigan, for reasons that remain inexplicable.  They were the only Jews in town, until the other Jewish family moved in some years later, followed by an Italian family, later still.  That was about it, brunette-wise.  And so, in the rich tradition of outsiderhood, Susan became a lifelong student of human nature. In situ.

After leaving Northwestern University, and that school’s legendary drama department, Susan moved around the country and the globe, performing at venues from Lincoln Center in New York to The Venus Club in Beirut. She wrote for cinema studies staple, Filmfacts, and was a theatre critic and feature writer for such publications as The Washington Post. 

In DC, Susan directed a number of smash hit stage productions, and both directed and was a contributing writer to renowned political satire troupe, Gross National Product, prompting The Washington Post to call her “the funniest woman in Washington.”

She also produced and directed award-winning videos and films for Fortune 500 companies and such governmental entities as the IRS and the U.S. Army.  This time, Susan was allowed - required! - to study not only people, but organizations from deep within their own cultures. For instance, one long-term project saw her researching, writing, and directing the talent for a series of films exploring child abuse in military families. 

Shortly after that wrenching assignment, it was back to entertainment, moving to Los Angeles and landing in the prestigious Warner Bros. Television Writers Workshop, shortly after her arrival.

Subsequent extensive documentary work includes Starting Over, a unique series for NBC that observed women trying to change their lives, HBO’s Brave New Voices, which followed teams of young poets from local poetry slams to the grand nationals in Washington, DC, and as either showrunner or head of story for all of BET’s most highly-rated reality shows. Susan was instrumental in shaping Kelly’s Hollywood, (now on Amazon Prime), Brian Sullivan’s moving documentary about his sister, who was born with Down Syndrome. 

Recently, Susan has focused on writing, her work placing in such venues as Austin Film Festival, and Stowe Story Labs. 

Currently, she is in active development of the single camera comedy, Return to Murder (R2M).