Yuval Shrem was born in Israel in 1976, to his mother – Israeli Actress – Addi Kaplan and his Father – Israeli musician – Eldad Shrem. Growing up in a family of professional artists at the top of the Israeli entertainment industry meant that a large portion of Yuval’s childhood was spent in theaters, concert halls, recording studios and television studios, seeing his parents at work.
In that sense, it was not very surprising that Yuval made a choice at an early age, to pursue a career in the entertainment industry as a professional creative artist. By the age of 4, Yuval already began to study music. By the age of 7 he began to study drama, and by the age of 8 he narrowed his career choice down to writing and directing film and television and composing, arranging and conducting music. Interestingly, Yuval had never changed his mind about that early career choice in any significant way.
Growing up, one of Yuval’s mother’s best friends was acclaimed American composer and conductor – Leonard Bernstein. As such, Yuval had been to all of the concerts Bernstein conducted in Israel since he was only 2 years old, and was also invited to most rehearsals and recordings. Needless to say, this was an enormously impactful experience and a very educational one as well.
The last time Yuval had met Bernstein was at his Bar Mitzvah celebration in Tel Aviv, just one year before Bernstein passed away.
Yuval Shrem studied at the School of Arts in Tel Aviv since it was first opened, first in the drama department (for 6 years) and then in the music department, and then after graduating from there, studied at the highly coveted music department at the Arts and Sciences High School in Jerusalem, while attending a screenwriting workshop at the Open University of Tel Aviv, and then at the film department at Alon High School in Ramat Hasharon (both in Israel).
As an Israeli citizen, he was required to serve in the military. Yuval served in the Israeli Air Force as a “Video Producer”, writing, directing, producing, shooting and editing videos for the Israeli Air Force.
During his military service, Yuval acquired a special permit to work, and began his career in the Israeli television industry as a television composer, composing music for television shows on the Israeli Channel 2 network.
following his service in the Air Force, Yuval studied at the film and television school of the Tel Aviv University. Challenged by one of his teachers, Yuval began the development of a television series which had strong political themes, and which was picked up for development by the major Israeli television production studio JCS. Unfortunately the show was not picked up by the networks. At the time it was considered a bit too daring for broadcast TV.
While his music career started to pick up, and included multiple simultaneous shows on major TV networks, his directing career was having a slow beginning because most Israeli producers have already known Yuval as a composer, and had a hard time considering him as a writer and director, that is until he independently produced, directed and co-wrote the pilot for the thriller SANE. The pilot included A-list actors and had garnered some interest, but ended up not selling, however, it did open some doors for Yuval and helped him prove himself as a writer and director worth hiring. Following the pilot, Yuval had landed several writing and directing jobs both in television and other media such as commercials and video games.
Still in Israel, Yuval had attended a long list of workshops and seminars including (partial list):
- Directing Actors workshop, presented by USC instructors as part of the International Student Film Festival (Tel-Aviv)
- Screenwriting workshop of “The New Fund for Cinema and Television”, directed by Edna Mazia.
- Director’s Workshops with: Jim Sheridan, Evan Psser and Jang Yeemoo.
- Screen Acting workshop, directed by Michal Bat-Adam.
- Screenwriting workshop directed by Dr. Tzipi Trope
In 2002, Yuval received a scholarship from the America Israel Cultural Foundation to go to the USC Summer film workshops. He attended 2 intensive workshops there: Film Directing, and The Independent Filmmaker’s Journey.
Since coming to the US, Yuval had attended a long list of additional workshops and seminars including (partial list):
- “Comedy Intensive” seminar by Steve Kaplan
- Animation screenwriting (Scriptwriters Network)
- Indie Film financing seminar produced by Dreamscape Studios
- “Beyond Structure” – a screen-writing seminar by David Freeman
- “Beyond Beyond Structure” – a follow-up seminar to “Beyond Structure”
After several Entertainment industry meetings in New York and Los Angeles, Yuval saw the potential in possibly working both in Israel and in the United States, and applied for a temporary work visa. That application was repeatedly misprocessed and Yuval’s career suffered greatly for well over a decade, limiting him to entirely independent non-paying projects for an exceedingly long time. Thankfully, his Green Card application as an artist of extraordinary abilities was recently approved, and while he awaits his official Green Card Status, he is finally able to work in the United States.
During the time he was in immigration limbo, Co-founding Fable Sounds and Fable Entertainment, companies that utilize Yuval Shrem’s intellectual property, along with royalties from Israeli broadcasts and album sales, had enabled him to survive financially and overcome the unexpected challenge.
Fable Sounds – one of the companies Shrem has co-founded, is an industry-leading company, developing high-end virtual instruments for the music industry. Shrem was both the lead inventor of its patented technology, and functioned as the music director of all of its projects. Ever since the release of their first virtual instrument back in 2007, virtual instruments by Fable Sounds have been used on a daily basis by top professionals in the United States and around the world on high-profile projects. such projects include among many others: the current Jersey Boys Broadway national tour, SNL, Conan, Despicable Me 2, High School Musical 3, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, Ape Escape, and live concerts of major artists such as Alicia Keys, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Bary Manilow, and The Commodores.
Fable Entertainment is Yuval’s content and production company.
- Yuval Shrem has been granted 2 US patents for his inventions used in virtual instruments by Fable Sounds.
- In 2009 Yuval became a member of the Actor’s Studio West, as a director in their Playwright/Director Unit.
- In 2013 Yuval directed the world premiere of the play BLUE KISS in Los Angeles, to rave reviews.
Awards and nominations:
- Winner of Best Original Script from Berlin Shorts Award, 2024, for the film INVISIBLE LINES
- Winner of Best Producer from Berlin Shorts Award, 2024, for the film INVISIBLE LINES
- Winner of Best Production Design from Berlin Shorts Award, 2024, for the film INVISIBLE LINES
- Winner of Best Cinematography – Short Narrative Film – from Marina del Rey Film Festival, 2024, for the film INVISIBLE LINES
- Winner of an Award of Merit for best short film at Best Shorts Competition for the film INVISIBLE LINES
- Winner of Best Director – Music Video from the 2022 Golden State Film Festival, for the music video of Eddie Navarro’s song: IT AIN’T ME
- Winner of Best Director – Music Video from the 2021 Culver City Film Festival for the music video of Eddie Navarro’s song IT AIN’T ME
- Winner of Best Director from the 2017 LA Shorts Awards for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of Best Produced Screenplay from the 2017 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of Best Indie Short at the 2017 New York Film Awards for his film THE BABIES
- Winner of Gold award for Best Narrative Short from International Independent Film Awards, 2018
- Winner of Gold award for Best Director from International Independent Film Awards, 2018
- Winner of Gold award for Cinematography from International Independent Film Awards, 2018
- Winner of Gold award for Best Editing from International Independent Film Awards, 2018
- Winner of Best Film from LA Shorts Awards, 2017, for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of Best Short – Sci-Fi at the 2018 Silicon Beach Film Festival for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of Best Sci-Fi Short at the 2018 Silver State Film Festival for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of the Platinum award in the Narrative Short competition of the 2018 Oregon International Film Awards
- Winner of Best Fantasy Sort at the 2019 Golden State Film Festival for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of the Spotlight Gold Award from Spotlight Short Film Awards, 2017, for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of 2017 Best Short Film (Sci-Fi / Fantasy) at the Southern Shorts Awards Film Festival
- Winner of an Award of Excellence in Directing from the Southern Shorts Awards, 2017, for his film THE BABIES
- Winner of an Award of Excellence in Editing from Southern Shorts Awards, 2017, for his film THE BABIES
- Winner of an Award of Merit (Film Short) from the 2018 IndieFEST Film Awards for his film THE BABIES
- Winner of Award of Recognition (Film Short) from Accolade Global Film Competition, 2018, for his film THE BABIES
- Winner of an Honorable Mention: Best Short Film at the 2018 Global Shorts for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of an Honorable Mention: Best Indie Film at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Awards for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of an Honorable Mention: Best Indie Film from Festigious International Film Festival, 2017, for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of an Honorable Mention: Cinematography from Top Shorts Film Festival, 2017, for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of an Award of Merit from Southern Shorts Awards, 2017, for his Cinematography of THE BABIES
- Winner of an Award of Merit from Southern Shorts Awards, 2017 for the Screenplay of THE BABIES
- Winner of an Award of Merit from Southern Shorts Awards, 2017, for the Sound-design of THE BABIES
- Winner of an Award of Merit from Southern Shorts Awards, 2017, for Producing THE BABIES
- Winner of an Award of Recognition from the Best Shorts Competition, 2016 for his film THE BABIES.
- Winner of Best Twist at the 2017 Top Indie Film Awards for his film THE BABIES
- Winner of Best Sci-Fi Short from Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival, 2017, for his film THE BABIES.
- Nominated for Best Director at the 2017 Top Indie Film Awards
- Nominated for Best Screenplay at the 2017 Top Indie Film Awards
- Nominated for Best Editing at the 2017 Top Indie Film Awards
- Nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2017 Top Indie Film Awards
- Yuval Shrem is a member of the Israeli Academy of Motion Pictures & Television,
- A member of ACUM (the Israeli royalties company for authors, composers, lyricists, poets, arrangers and music publishers),
- A member in IUPA (the Israeli Union of Performing Artists), and
- A Professional member of The Recording Academy (Grammys).