She is a scriptwriter, poet, essayist, and opera librettist, graduated in Philosophy from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) with an Honorable Mention. Afterwards, she studied scriptwriting with Syd Field and Gabriel García Márquez, and years later she became her assistant. During 20 years, she participated in the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab of Mexico, Spain and Brazil. She is the librettist of Daniel Catán’s opera Florencia en el Amazonas, the first Spanish opera commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera House and that has been staged worldwide in theaters such as Manaus’ Teatro de la Ópera de Manaus, the Kennedy Center, Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Los Angeles Opera House, and the Theater Und Orchester. She has presided workshops and advised scriptwriters around the world.

She was a member of Mexico’s Sundance Lab for 20 years, and was part of Huelva’s Co-Production Forum, Spain, for 10 years.

For more than 30 years she has taught courses at the CCC (Cinematographic Training Center), at the Televisa Writers Center, as well as Master Classes in Seattle, Los Angeles, Zaragoza (Spain), Bogotá, Medellín, Cali (Colombia), and at the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños (Cuba). She has pioneered the Bolivia Lab since 2011.

Marcela has been a jury member for various international awards such as Foprocine, Pro Imágenes (Colombia), IMCINE, and Japan’s NHK Award of the Sundance Institute (2001).