DIRECTOR, WRITER

Jessica is a two-time Olivier award winning film maker, writer and director. She trained at Central School of Speech and Drama and Exeter University. Her latest feature, Merv (Amazon), came to screens in 2025 and starred Zooey Deschanel and Charlie Cox. She has also written the book for Paddington: The Musical, running at the Savoy Theatre, which won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 2026.

She was listed in Variety Magazine’s Top Ten Brits to Watch in 2019 for her forthcoming work in film and inducted into BAFTA.

As a playwright, her first play Blue Stockings (Shakespeare’s Globe) won her an Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright nomination and is now on the GCSE drama syllabus. Her second, Nell Gwynn, transferred from the Globe to the West End starring Gemma Arterton, and won the Olivier for Best New Comedy. She is currently writing the screenplay for Working Title.

Film

In 2012 she won a place on BAFTA’s JJ Screenwriting Bursary Scheme, on which she wrote Summerland (writer/director). Produced by BFI and Embankment (£4.5m budget) this was her directorial debut and was released by Lionsgate UK in 2020.

Other Film projects include:

Merv (Amazon, MGM, Lightworks) – Feature Film – as Director – released December 2025.

Horrible Histories: The Movie (writer) for Altitude/Citrus TV; released July 2019

Nell Gwynn (writer) for Working Title (in development)

TV

Ten Percent (Director Eps 3 & 4) for Amazon/Bron/Headline

Short Films

Leading Lady Parts (writer/director) for Rebel Park/BBC/You Tube (2018) – a short film to support Times Up which went viral with 25 million views in the first month.

The Complete Walk (Shakespeare Shorts for Shakespeare’s Globe (Director), 2016:

Much Ado About Nothing (Sicily)

The Tempest (Bermuda)

Twelfth Night (UK)

Theatre

Plays include Paddington (Musical Bookwriter, Sonia Friedman Productions – winner of Olivier Award and WhatsOnStage award for Best New Musical). All’s Will That Ends Will (Bremen Shakespeare Company); Thomas Tallis (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); The Playhouse Apprentice (for Dulwich College at Shakespeare’s Globe); adaptations of Sense & Sensibility; Far From the Madding Crowd (Watermill); The Secret Garden; Stig of the Dump (Grosvenor Park/Storyhouse); The Jungle Book (UK Tour); The Mission (Arts Ed).

Jessica is an Associate Artist with NGO Youth Bridge Global, author of a best-selling series of drama games books and she is also involved in Times Up UK, actively campaigning for greater equality and diversity across theatre and film.