Sylke studied theater, philosophy and law at the Free University of Berlin. After graduating from law school, she studied screenwriting and dramaturgy at the Konrad Wolf Potsdam-Babelsberg Film and Television University and graduated from the Munich Screenplay Workshop at the University of Television and Film Munich in 2000. She has been Assistant Director to Judith Malina at the Living Theater and worked as a film editor, production designer, writer and director in New York, Los Angeles and Paris. Since 2008 she has divided her time between Berlin, Los Angeles and Cologne as a writer, director and professor for screenwriting and dramaturgy.