Meet Misty Talley, The First Female Director Of A Syfy Original Movie

By Heather L. Hughes

July: the month when fireworks, backyard barbecues, pool parties, and sharks reign supreme in America. Jaws was arguably the first movie to capitalize on a common human fear of the lethal ocean inhabitants, and 41 years later the fear and fascination are still going strong. In 2013, Syfy had a monster hit with Sharknado, an unapologetically low-budget and over-the-top TV movie that involved Los Angeles, hurricanes, helpless humans, and, yes, airborne sharks. The following year saw Sharknado 2 and the advent of “Sharknado Week,” a seven-day buffet of shark-themed movies made under the Syfy original-movie umbrella.

Among last year’s “Sharknado Week” offerings was Zombie Shark, whose bare-bones plot (sharks + diabolical experiment = menacing zombie sharks) wasn’t anything unusual for the franchise. What made Zombie Shark notable was its director, Misty Talley, the first woman to helm a Syfy original movie. This year, Talley is back with the tongue-firmly-in-cheek Ozark Sharks (Ozarks + sharks, duh), airing July 28, and she remains the only female director of a Syfy original movie.