Jo is British born Chinese, raised in Dagenham Essex. After studying art and gaining a degree in Multi Media, Jo realised her actual passion was for film and television. She gained various jobs in production for set experience, ranging from make-up artist to production manager until she felt brave enough to tackle writing.
Not able to afford film school, Jo put herself through her own ‘homestyle’ writing course by obsessively studying what she considered some of the best writing at the time, the TV series The West Wing. Shortly after, she wrote her first script, and gained her first original TV series commission from C4 for DIM SUM as well as an acclaimed producer, Ken Trodd, known for his work with the late Dennis Potter.
Jo was profiled in CREATION magazine in the August 2000 edition as a 'young, driven and fanatically hardworking woman'.
Last year, Jo wrote and directed two short films, ISOLATION 9 and MONKEY NUT TALES. ISOLATION 9 won the best film award at the Buffalo Black & Asian Short Film Festival and can currently been seen on BBC Film Network. MONKEY NUT TALES (funded by UK Film Council and Film London) has so far been screened at The London Film Festival, in Shanghai and Beijing. Live action/animation, it was based on her feature film script of the same title.
Jo was recently selected for PYGMALION, a European Development lab for a children's fantasy feature film based on Chinese ideals and mythology. She is also working on a supernatural feature called BLOODLINES. She is also in development with CBBC for her original live action/animation returnable TV series, a series which will hopefully be shot entirely in China.
In addition to her ‘Western’ projects, Jo hopes to get several Chinese based projects off the ground – ‘In the UK, the Chinese are the third largest minority group, yet we don’t have a presence, we don’t have a voice. This is something that I aim to address with both my work and my personal contribution to the film and television industry.’
Currently, Jo is a judge on the BBC’s Writersroom development scheme ‘BBC Bites’, a new scheme targeted at finding and developing five new British Chinese writers and their voices.
Outside of writing and directing, Jo works as a freelance reader and consultant for private clients, studios and production companies. She also teaches screenwriting workshops. If you would like to discuss these services please contact her at contingencyfilms@hotmail.com.
Jo is a member of BAFTA and repped by The Dench Arnold Agency.