Long before Bree Stephens began sharing her love for film with audiences online, she was a little girl in Anchorage, Alaska, surrounded by stacks of movies. Her father worked at a pawn shop and often brought home movies to watch. Over time, their collection grew so large that columns of DVDs and VHS tapes filled the space where their fireplace once stood. Every night, Bree and her sister, Mia, got to choose one for movie night.
She vividly remembers one of those nights. While attempting to pull a movie from the bottom of a stack, Bree accidentally sent the entire collection falling down on top of her. After a brief moment of shock, everyone broke out laughing.
As for her love of horror, that began at Grandma June's house, where she and her siblings spent many weekends one summer. Grandma June, the grandmother of Bree's oldest sister, Cicely, and brother, Michael, had a massive collection of horror and thriller films ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to independent productions. It was there that Bree was introduced to horror films such as The Shining, Final Destination, I Know What You Did Last Summer, May, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. As she grew older, her oldest sister, Cicely, continued to influence her love for the genre.
Bree's love for storytelling eventually extended beyond watching movies and into creating content of her own, starting the day her father brought home a video camera. She began experimenting with making her own videos, and around 2012, started sharing them on YouTube. Over the years, she continued exploring her creativity, occasionally posting videos across different platforms.
Even before she understood the filmmaking process, Bree was finding ways to bring her imagination to life. For example, whenever she was at Best Buy, she would always go to the Apple section and use the desktop’s photo booth app to record herself acting out fictional scenarios. One of her favorites: imagining the store being overrun by zombies and recorded what would be her final message before they break inside.
In 2013, a year after after moving to Atlanta, Bree's mother made her first film called Rabidus, giving Bree a firsthand look at the filmmaking process (and her first IMDb credit). Watching her mother bring a story to life helped Bree realize that creating movies was something she could pursue herself; the question was: When?
Bree went on to attend Clayton State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing in 2020. She later continued her education at Full Sail University, earning a Master of Science in Digital Marketing in 2022.
Her education helped her develop a deeper understanding of marketing, digital communication, and the media industry; skills that would later play an important role in her career.
THE STORY BEHIND HER…
Although Bree had already spent years exploring her creativity, she had yet to find a solid space where she could share her love for film with a larger audience. That changed on January 16th, 2023, when she launched TheWatchedList on TikTok.
What started as film and television reviews presented through a combination of storytelling and guessing games eventually evolved into more frequent recommendations, deep dives, and spoiler breakdowns. Within two weeks of starting, Bree experienced massive audience growth, launching her platform into a new chapter.
Now her approach to film commentary goes beyond determining whether a movie is good or bad. Bree encourages audiences to examine stories through the eyes of the characters, consider how they would respond to similar circumstances, and explore why a film made them feel a certain way. Through her content, she aims to spark conversations that challenge perspectives and encourage a deeper appreciation for storytelling.
As her audience continued to grow, so did the opportunities. What began as a space to share her thoughts on movies eventually opened doors to collaborations with entertainment companies, including Netflix, Disney, and Prime Video. In 2026, Bree took another step in her career, participating as a panelist during SXSW and joining TikTok's group of 30 creators Redefining Fandom at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Beyond film and storytelling, Bree has a passion for fashion and travel, viewing both as opportunities for creative expression and new experiences that help shape her stories. Her interest in fashion extends to styling and personal aesthetics, while her love for travel reflects her curiosity about different places, cultures, and perspectives. As she continues to grow professionally, Bree hopes to explore opportunities that allow her to bring these interests together through creative collaborations.
Outside of short-form content, Bree is also the creator and host of House of Spoilers, a scripted podcast that originated as a series of in-depth TikTok videos, some exceeding 25 minutes in length (a true attention span test). What began as long-form spoiler breakdowns evolved into a podcast dedicated to exploring film narratives, characters, and the complexities of storytelling.
Also, as a writer, Bree has developed an extensive catalog of unreleased original stories spanning horror, thriller, science fiction, and other genres. Her creative process is driven by a fascination with possibility and one recurring question: What if?
Whether imagining the consequences of an ordinary situation or exploring the most unsettling outcome of a seemingly harmless decision, Bree finds inspiration in the unexpected. She has often described her imagination as naturally drawn toward worst-case scenarios… not necessarily situations she would ever want to experience, but ones she believes could make compelling stories.
For Bree, writing is ultimately about provoking thought, evoking emotion, and creating the kind of conversations that stick around long after a story ends.
From the stacks of movies in her childhood home to the stories she now shares with audiences, Bree's relationship with storytelling has remained constant. What began as a love for watching films has grown into something bigger; understanding them, discussing them, and creating stories of her own.
