Originally from Bay Shore, New York, Joy Ganes was headed for an illustrious legal career. All of that changed in the winter of 2008 when she produced the award-winning HBO short film Premature. After Premature, Ganes began her first year in the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC. In the Stark program, she directed the short film Las Nannas de Beverly Hills as well as producing the shorts The JH Gunn Project and Second Cousins Once Removed, both of which were accepted into numerous film festivals. During her final year at USC, she also worked full time as an assistant to the Executive Vice President of Acquisitions at Fox Filmed Entertainment. After graduating from USC in May 2010, Ganes went on to work as an assistant to the director for the feature film Gun Hill Road, which made its debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and will have its theatrical release in Summer 2011. She is currently producing the feature, Marriage is for White People.