Jessica Rae

Jessica grew up mixed-race in a minority, working-class neighborhood in Minneapolis. Expression through storytelling has always been Jessica’s preferred form of communication, whether it was directing neighborhood shows on her front lawn as a kid, or directing self-written mainstage productions in college because it created a necessary conversation. As she developed her storytelling skills, her understanding of film and television and the global impact it can have was realized. Her experiences straddling two worlds, while navigating issues of institutional racism and poverty, and facing the challenges of working as a woman in the film industry are imbued in her films that focus on issues of social justice, feminism, and class. Jessica has staffed on numerous feature films and television shows such as “Star Trek – Into Darkness”, “Alexander and the Terrible No Good Very Bad Day”, “American Horror Story”, “True Blood”, “Bosch”, and “Get Shorty” among others. She is also entering her twelfth year of working with the Los Angeles Dodgers DodgerVision Team, and this is her inaugural year as the Game Day Producer for the in-stadium content. On off days you can find her on any given day running the floor for Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, The Tennis Channel, and many other sporting/entertainment events in LA. She was also privileged to teach a course in Theatre Directing in Mexico City. She holds an MFA from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television and a BFA in Theater Directing from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. While working as the Content Producer for Cuéntame, Jessica directed and produced the highly successful LGBT Latino Youth series An Honest Conversation, which aired as a feature-length documentary on Hulu. Her short film, Soleil, aired on KCET and was honored with the DGA Latino Film Jury Prize Award. She is also the first recipient of the Bad Robot Diversity Fellowship, a program sponsored by J.J. Abram’s production company. Jessica’s first feature film, Raise Your Hand, is an inner-city high school drama set in the 90s, where two young women fight to find their voice in the face of tragedy. She is an Advisory Board Member of the Creating Creators Foundation as well as a board member of BEN, the UCLA Bruin Entertainment Network, and a member of the Director’s Guild of America. Finally, she may be small, but she is scrappy.