Biography
Writer/Director Jesse Cowell grew up on the upper west side of Manhattan. As a child, when he wasn't being read to by his novelist mother, Stephanie Cowell, or chasing fires and swat teams with his news photographer father, Jesse was obsessed with going to the movies any chance he could. When interviewed for a local newspaper, his mother was asked what her children wanted to be when they grew up. Jesse's brother wanted to be a race car driver. Jesse, five years old at the time, wanted to make movies.
Jesse followed his dream to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California's (USC) acclaimed Cinema School, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Cinema/Television Production, and along the way, Jesse's work won several Cine Eagle awards and a student Emmy.
At this time, Jesse formed his own banner, Jeskid Productions, and mounted his first feature film, the highly irreverent comedy "Shades of Gray" launched completely online in 2005. By releasing his film on the web, Jesse built up a very significant fan base and was awarded the Audience Choice award for Best Director's Site by Movies.com. This led to "Shades of Gray" jumping to the big-screen, where it was awarded Best Comedy Feature Film at the Microcinema Festival in Chicago that same year.
With the existing fan base 100 percent behind him, "Jeskid" then began shooting the mixed-media, Webby-award-winning series "Drawn by Pain". Since its release, it has been featured by IFC's lunch box, Media Week, iTunes, the MSG channel, Escapist Magazine, NY Comic Con, NY Post, two national radio shows and many front pages across the web. It has been seen millions of times, gained a cult following and was one of the first truly cross-platform projects launched on the web.
Following the success of "Drawn by Pain," Jesse wrote, directed, and produced two seasons of the action-comedy series "Status Kill," which has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, USA today, Ad Age and the Hollywood Reporter. It also has been viewed over 3 million times and has appeared on sites such as My Damn Channel, Gizmodo, and RedvsBlue.
With his extensive creative experience, Jesse then worked with My Damn Channel as their Director of Content from 2010-12 where he executive produced all of their original content slate. He worked closely with passionate filmmakers and artists on projects featuring Josh Gad, Patricia Heaton, William H. Macy, Seth Green, Fred Willard, Mary Lynn-Rajskub, Adam Carolla, Steve Rannazzisi and Judah Friedlander. His work as a creative executive has been featured on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE, Good Morning America, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, MSNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, Fox Business and many others. Most recently, Jesse has optioned one of his seven screenplays and is building his portfolio to continue his work in reaching people with original, high-energy projects via Film, Television, and the web.
