Born To Play Productions
Benedicte Schoyen, owner
Benedicte is from Oslo where she grew up at The Norwegian Opera Ballet School and later graduated from The National College of Dance. (B.A)
She worked as a professional dancer on stage and in television in Norway before she moved to Los Angeles and opened up her own studio: Santa Monica Dance Studio. (1995-2020)
Benedicte kept her Norwegian connection while living in Los Angeles with numerous choreography jobs for Norwegian Broadcasting, among others 10 years for MGP JR/Eurovision kids. She also directed/choreographed stage shows in Sweden and shows for Colorline Cruise Ship (Norway-Germany)
She expanded her craft by getting into editing and photography and directed her first documentary film Roadtrip Niger in 2016, and The Old Spanish Trail in 2018.
In 2007 she produced The Music Box - A Dance Along Fairytale, a 40 minute film for young children. Based upon great feedback from parents and reviews on Amazon from DVD sales, she truly believes in her Dance Along Fairytale concept. Now in 2026 she is passionately working on an eight episode television series for 4-7 year olds. This is what she has to say about it :
I want to make something different for the kids. In a world of fast-paced children’s entertainment I think it’s important that this series will offer a gentle unhurried pace that respects the way children experience the world. Rather than relying on rapid editing and constant stimulation, this series gives children the time to observe, imagine, absorb, and actively participate with dance. I believe imagination flourishes when children are given time to discover, rather than simply consume. I love for this show to expose kids to high-quality music and dance/magic performances in an artistic setting with beautiful set design and costumes. It's an ambitious project for not many make live action for the youngest viewers.
More about me:
I live together with my husband Ned Clark and our dog Ophelia in Ojai, California. Ned has travelled with me, written music and done voice over for all my film projects.
He has a BA in music from Cal Arts University.
We love to travel and work together. This summer (2026) we had fun doing some country music/line dancing gigs in Norway. In 2020 Ned had a horrific accident falling off his mule, head first into the rocks in the Ventura river. It took a couple of years with 100% focus on his recovery and the timing could't have been better in a weird way since I just had to close down my dance studio.
Ned has recovered amazingly and we both feel that every new day is a blessing and a gift.
When we are not home in California we love to spend time and France and Norway where we are lucky to have our homes away from home.
