Kelly Marcel is the creator and co-writer of Terra Nova. She is a British writer, actress and television producer.

Marcel is responsible for the original script development, and shopping the idea to networks. Marcel has also developed Westbridge for Showtime.

Marcel revealed that Terra Nova was originally titled Gondwanaland Highway, written to please her father who was fond of sci-fi, and initially picked up by Carnival Films. She changed her mind about signing with Carnival after American producer Aaron Kaplan persuaded her to stay her hand. She then went to Los Angeles to meet with co-writer Craig Silverstein to pitch the series and finally signed with Fox. She was sent home to England to write the two-hour pilot episode. Her script was read by Steven Spielberg, who was interested in producing it.