Shontell Leah Ketchell is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander emerging screenwriter and producer from Cairns, Far North Queensland. In 2019 Shontell completed her Advanced Diploma in Screenwriting: Feature Film course at AFTRS.

Shontell was a part of the ABC sketch comedy series Black Comedy, season four writers’ workshop. Her first feature film screenplay, Adorkable, which Shontell wrote and is producing, secured development funding from Screen Queensland in 2019 and 2022, and more recently Screen Australia in 2023.

In 2021, she wrote and produced Naytive, a short documentary for the ABC, which won best documentary at the Cairns Understory Film Festival. She also, wrote, produced and featured in recently release short documentary Sistas in Mining, for SBS/NITV. She also wrote an episode on NITV children’s show Barrumbi Kids.

More recently, Shontell had the opportunity to associate produce and co-write on a comedy series, Gold Diggers, a KOJO Studios production on ABC. At present, Shontell is writing and producing on SBS Food program, Taste of the Tropics, script consulting on season 2 of ABC production Troppo and working in script development with Fremantle Media and Lone Star Productions on Legend of Kusa Kup.

Shontell’s long-term goal as a screenwriter and producer is to contribute to the representation of her people and share Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories from their diverse perspectives.