Caroline Ryder is a screenwriter and #1 New York Times bestselling memoir ghostwriter based in Los Angeles. A USC MFA graduate in screenwriting and member of the WGA, she specializes in adaptable, platform-aware storytelling—true crime with emotional depth, pop culture with surprising substance, narratives that translate easily from page to screen.
As a screenwriter, she writes weird gothic noir—dreamy, atmospheric dramas exploring all-consuming romance, obsessive friendships, and the edges of madness—darkly satirical work inspired by films like Rebecca, Black Swan, and The Favourite.
She also specializes in book-to-screen adaptations, including a screenplay about painter Mark Rothko developed with his daughter Kate Rothko (adapted from Lee Seldes' biography), and she is currently adapting her #1 New York Times bestseller The House of My Mother for screen in consultation with the subject, Shari Franke.
Her screenplays have placed at Sundance, the Nicholl Fellowships, and the Austin Film Festival. Her original work includes a vampire trilogy, a period drama about Irish pirate queen Grace O'Malley (co-written with Bananarama's Siobhan Fahey), an adaptation of George Gissing's The Odd Women, and a pilot about Jane Dee, the little-known wife of Queen Elizabeth I's mystic advisor, Dr. John Dee.
Her ghostwritten memoirs—including Dirty Rocker Boys (Rolling Stone's 50 Greatest Rock Memoirs), Give Them Lala (National Bestseller), The House of My Mother, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and Spencer Pratt's forthcoming The Guy You Loved to Hate (Gallery, January 2026)—are character-driven stories that capture the vulnerability, pain, and triumph that define human experience.
Known for putting subjects at ease while uncovering the emotional core of their stories, she translates raw, lived experiences into voice-driven narratives that resonate with a broad audience. Thanks to her training in screenwriting, she always thinks cinematically when writing books—crafting visual, scene and dialogue-driven stories built for the screen.
Before shifting into ghostwriting and screenwriting, Caroline spent over a decade as a trusted celebrity interviewer, conducting more than two dozen high-profile cover interviews for Dazed, Cosmopolitan, BULLETT, Paper, LA Weekly, Variety, and New York Magazine. As an editor at Shepard Fairey's Swindle, she interviewed cultural outliers from Bobby Seale to Larry Clark. She gave Odd Future their first print interview in 2010 and conducted the first solo interview with Die Antwoord's Yolandi Visser in 2015—a track record of spotting cultural shifts early and earning the trust of guarded subjects.
Born to Brazilian and Irish parents and raised in London, she is currently at work on her debut novel, with short fiction published in Dream Boy Book Club, Maudlin House, and The Chestnut Review.
Life is already performance art—she's just here to write the subtitles.
Contact
Serious Inquiries:
Anthony Mattero, CAA
anthony.mattero@caa.com
Friendly Correspondence:
carolineMryder@gmail.com