Jessica Schwartz is a freelance film and theatre director in Los Angeles. She grew up in Warren, NJ and during high school studied acting and theater at Somerset Academy’s Gifted and Talented Performing Arts Program. For her undergraduate degree she studied at University of the Arts in Philadelphia to get her BFA in Directing, Playwriting, and Production with a Directing Focus. She spent six years directing and assisting companies in Philly and in NYC.
In her professional life, she directed the world premier of Mad Blood & other beauties, a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Other theatrical directing credits are the world premier of Modern Playground (Philly Fringe), Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Suburbia, Pantie$ (world premier), and The Vagina Monologues. She graduated in September 2016 with her MFA in Film Production at Full Sail University. There, she wrote and directed the thesis film The Wanderers. It was voted as one of the best of the best at Full Sail and has been accepted into some film festivals. She received the course director awards for Directing Talent, Experimental Film, Post Production Sound, Business of Film, and received Full Sail's prestigious Advanced Achievement Award. Other short films she has directed are Solstice, On a Hot Day, Not So Bad, and Superhero Speed Dating. On set, has worked as a script supervisor and second assistant director. Her goal is to create an escape from reality for audiences and truly invest in the story being told on stage or in film. She strives to uniquely satisfy audiences and leave them wanting more.