Born in Guatemala, Ernest Marrero began his career as an avant-garde LGBTQ filmmaker in New York City where he studied experimental filmmaking at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. His film, "One Day Franz Brought Me to His House," is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. "Before the Rise of Premonition" premiered at the Whitney Biennial. He is on the faculty of the Film Directing Program at the California Institute of the Arts, where he has taught screenwriting since 2012. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, and has written feature screenplays for Lakeshore Entertainment, Icon Productions and SONY/Screen Gems, including (uncredited) the final produced version of "The Mothman Prophecies." He studied film and visual arts at the State University of New York, College at Purchase, and directing and screenwriting in the graduate film program at the University of California, Los Angeles.