Jessica Redish is an award-winning director, writer & choreographer and a recent graduate of USC School of Cinematic Arts’ MFA Film & Television Production Program. She has been referred to as a “rising star” by Medium.com because of her accomplishments with her award-winning short films and music videos. Her body of work ranges from contributing choreography to The Smashing Pumpkins' International Tour to her short films “The Last Croissant,” “AIRWAY” and “cat.” winning Best Director and Best Comedy awards. She also has worked as a comedy writer for Emmy & Golden Globe Winner Joey Soloway, as well as Michael Bay & Adam Goodman’s Invisible Narratives.
Her most recent success is her newest film, “Exit, Pursued by a Bear,” a short movie musical which she wrote, directed, choreographed, and co-wrote lyrics with composer Michael Mahler. The film received placement in the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts and Raindance Film Festivals as one of six winners in the 2022 Stage 32 Short Film Contest.
She recently completed post-production on her short film “cat.,” about a woman who signs up for a dating coaching service in search of her soulmate and ends up marrying a cat. The project is a 2022 Shore Scripts Short Film Fund Finalist, a 2023 ScreenCraft Film Fund Second Round Quarterfinalist, and a 2020 Women in Media CAMERAderie Semifinalist.
Jessica attributes her ability to work with actors and capture great performances because of her theatre work for which The Chicago Tribune named her production of “Merrily We Roll Along” as one of the top ten Sondheim productions in Chicago, putting her on a shortlist with Hal Prince. She is also the winner of the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Choreography for “Silence! The Musical!” a musical parody of “The Silence of the Lambs.”
Inspired by the work of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Alma Har’el, Bob Fosse as well as Tony Winner David Cromer and Tony Nominee Michael Greif, both of whom she has had the honor to work with Off-Broadway, Jessica strives for detail, honesty, compulsion and her work has been described as "hilariously twisted” by the Hollywood Digest. Her musical theatre background at Northwestern University has helped contribute to the movie musical director she is.
Jessica currently resides in Los Angeles where she tends to her “Golden Girls” Chia Pet.
PRESS & FEATURES
“…it’s choreographer Jessica Redish who supplies the show’s crucial aesthetic touches…joyous physicality” - The Washington Post