JTZ
JESSA TIANA ZARUBICA
Director + Writer + Producer
Biography
Jessa Zarubica is Los Angeles based award winning writer, director, producer and showrunner specializing in comedic and action/ adventure stories centering around unconventional heroes set in colorful, whimsical worlds. This signature blend is a reflection of her commitment to crafting narratives that resonate with authenticity, exhilarating fun and lightheartedness.
Fuelled by a fervent commitment to reshaping the landscape of action and adventure narratives, Jessa is dedicated to ushering representative stories into the limelight. Her vision champions everyday, relatable heroes—often women—at the heart of these narratives, while also empowering more female filmmakers to steer the ship. It's this resolute vision that led to the inception of "Somethin' Extra Entertainment" in 2021, a venture through which she's currently shaping a thrilling lineup of female-centric action movies alongside former Disney executive Michael Sarner.
In the commercial, promo, and unscripted space, Jessa has directed, produced, and developed dozens of kid and young adult-targeted commercials and branded videos for clients such as Kellogg’s, Mattel, WWE, Simon and Schuster, Target, Colgate, MGA and Walmart.
Additionally, Jessa's portfolio also boasts a trail of acclaimed and award winning digital series like "Wags To Riches," "Faceplant," and "Booth Camp."
In the feature sphere, which is largely where Jessa has been concentrating since 2019 she just produced the thriller "Caged" starring Edi Gathigi which was released in 2021, her coming of age feature "A Perfect Line" was optioned to Big Bubble with Asher Angel (Shazam!) attached to star, and she sold her feature "Wolf-ish" to ABE (Deadline) which she is also attached to direct. Additionally, Jessa was hired to helm the upcoming feature, "Spitfire" with Malcom Mcdowell attached for GO Media in Atlanta, Ga.
Jessa's love affair with storytelling ignited at a young age when she sold her debut script at a mere 17 years old. This marked the genesis of a prolific journey, as she's since sold and optioned well over a dozen feature screenplays spanning various stages of development for both studios and independent production houses.
After Jessa's writing career took flight, Jessa began directing and producing film, TV shows, digital series, commercial, and unscripted content.
In the realm of TV and Digital series, she's helmed, produced, and steered the ship for captivating shows such as "Shay Mitchell: Chapters," a docu-series chronicling the life of Shay Mitchell (4 million YouTube subscribers / 28 Million Instagram followers), "Captain Sparklez Mishmash" on Hulu, "Challenge Squad," a thrilling scripted adventure series for kids, with a staggering 30 episodes on Hulu and Amazon, and the pilot episode of "Bounce with Ryan," a venture that paved the way for "Ryan's Mystery Playdate" on NickelodeonRyan garners over 1 billion monthly views, and the show was recently nominated for an Emmy.
Most recently, Jessa hired to scribe the feature "When I Die Take My Panties" based on the award winning novel. Additionally, Jessa was plucked by former SVP of Marketing at Sony Cathy Graber to adapt her new novel "Just Wrong" into a feature film and was brought on to write a new coming of age rugby comedy, "Balls Out" that she will write and will be produced by former Disney executive, Micheal Sarner.
Currently, Jessa is in post-production for a remotely filmed feature “"Six Feet Apart," a project she wrote, directed, and produced during the pandemic's early days—a feat acclaimed by the Hollywood Reporter. Additionally Jessa is also in pre-production on the action-thriller, "Gigi and the Phoenix" for We're There Films that she co-wrote with Cat Del Re and is attached to direct.
Jessa is excited to begin her festival run with her new action short film, Mother Trucker that she wrote, directed, and produced. Her short won a jury award, an outstanding achievement award for Best Action Short and Best director as well as the awards for Best Acting Duo and Best Cinematography at Indie Short Fest. And as of December 2023, it won outstanding achievement award for best Women Short and won Best Sound Design at Cal Film Fest. We're excited to continue the journey with this exciting project and are developing it into a feature film.
An advocate for change, Jessa is fervently committed to ushering in a new era of action films—one that spotlights diverse and relatable female heroes who echo the incredible women she admires in her own life, including her own mother. At the heart of her vision is "Mother Trucker," a film that seamlessly blends her three passions: the adrenaline rush of fast cars, the strength of fierce women, and the infectious joy of laugh-out-loud moments.
