Biographie
In April 1999, Desirée Jellerette, a producer and production manager from New York City had decided to make her move to the city of Angels. After working with some of the hottest independent movie mogul Directors in the East, Spike Lee, Jason Alexander, Night Shayamalan, Ernest Dickerson, Leslie Harris, Julian Schabel, Desirée believed she can launch her career in Hollywood with a bang. Along with her passion for feature films, Desirée has been cultivating the world of music video production. Her love of music has led her to produce and production manage several music videos for such artists as E40, Ice Cube, Mobb Deep, Inspectah Deck, Master P, Shaq, Projecto Uno, BadAzz and has even just recently worked with the Lakers' Championship Team 2001 for a Shaquille O'Neil music video, It Takes Two. She finds the fusion of these two mediums of sight and sound fascinating and exhilarating.
After completing a Business and Marketing degree from Cornell University, Desirée plunged into the financial markets for a successful five years at Citibank's Executive Banking Center, receiving promotions, accolades and her stockbrokers license, but this did not feel right for her. It was all too easy and not creative enough. Desirée had an opportunity to work on an independent feature film, Def by Temptation (1990) while looking for new horizons. Never thinking that filmmaking would be an option - before the movie was completed - it was as clear that producing would be a perfect fit for Desirée. Working on her third project, and being introduced to the Spike Lee way of making films on Mo' Better Blues (1990), she was hooked, and became Spike Lee's right hand (wo)man for the next five years for 40 Acres and A Mule Filmworks.
While learning first hand on Spike's coat tails, Desirée delved head first in learning whatever she could about making films. Desirée has directed and produced a short film and an animation of her own at Cornell University's Graduate Film Studies Program, and was accepted and attended courses at Columbia University's Graduate School of Film: Producing taught by acclaimed studio Producer, Michael Hausman; Marketing, Distribution & Exhibition and Film Finance with Fineline's head, Ira Duetschman; and New York University's Tisch Film School's: Budgeting and Scriptwriting.
In support of her educational efforts, Desirée thought it would be beneficial to attend some of the Film Festivals and Markets to see first hand what people were saying in the industry. She attended many prestigious festivals including the Cannes Film Festival on several occasions, Lincoln Center's New York Film Festival and Los Angeles Film Festival, as well, hustled to get on the team of New York's biggest independent Film Market and Festival, the IFP (Independent Feature Project). Desirée even ventured to Utah to attend Robert Redford's Sundance Producers Program, which she feels was one of the most fruitful and personally enhancing experiences due mostly to the interaction with the people that run Hollywood.
Throughout Desirée's career, she has made several television appearances on nationally syndicated shows: The Geraldo Rivera Show, The Rolonda Watts Show, In Style and Good Morning America for the promotion of her sister's book and her notoriety of being Spike Lee's assistant. Most recently she appeared on the cover of Flair Magazine, a weekly magazine issued by the Gleaner, the top periodical in Jamaica, West Indies for her work with the Area Youth Foundation on AIDS Awareness Films in Kingston, Jamaica.
In addition to all her film accomplishments, she has recently been involved in the Television world with the Saturday Night Live Players in a few film shorts for the weekly show, and had a short stint as one of the Producers at BET's number one rated show, ComicView for a season.
Some of the notable films she has been a part of are: Malcolm X (1992), Basquiat (1996), Jungle Fever (1991), _Sex & the Other Man (1996)_, Crooklyn (1994) and most recently, the Jean Doumanian (Woody Allen's Producer) and Jason Alexander (of Seinfeld) project, Just Looking (1999).
