Jessica W. Chen is a Taiwanese American TV writer, actress, and producer

About Jess

JESSICA W. CHEN is a New York City-based Taiwanese American television writer, actress, and sometime producer. Originally from Rockville, MD, Jess’s work combines elements of Western and Asian media and culture to explore themes of identity and love.

Jess’s original TV pilot for Drama High placed a Honorable Mention at the 2022 Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Additionally, her original TV pilot for The Legend of the Chow Chow Heroes won Quarter-Finalist at ISA’s 2022 Emerging Screenwriters Action & Adventure Screenplay Competition and Quarter-Finalist at ISA’s 2023 Emerging Screenwriters Genre Screenplay Competition, and made Coverfly’s THE RED LIST in the Action Television (One-hour) category for December 2022.

After graduating with a double major in English and Asian Studies from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Jess moved to Taipei, Taiwan to reconnect with her roots. While there, she discovered her love of filmmaking, and founded Lil Swimmers Productions (LSP), a Taipei-based film production collective that competed in the 2019 Taipei 48 Hour Film Project and created the web series Existential Crisis Club.

An advocate for diversity and inclusion in media, Jess founded Re-Casting the Movies, where she serves as a host for Re-Cast: The Podcast and produces virtual live staged readings in partnership with The Community Co-Op. So far, the two organizations have co-produced diversely cast productions of A Christmas Carol, Frankenstein, and Pride and Prejudice, the last of which she also directed.

Jess graduated with a Writing and Producing for Television MFA from LIU Brooklyn’s TV Writers Studio in May 2022. The Drama High proof of concept she wrote and shot for the program was selected by eleven film festivals and won three awards, including Best Series Pilot at the 2022 YouFilmFest in Washington D.C. and Best Ensemble Cast (Web Series) and Best Director (Web Series) at the 2021 FirstGlance Film Festival in Philadelphia. After Drama High was selected by the Imagine This Women’s International Film Festival, Jess was invited back to moderate filmmaker Q&A’s for two shorts programs.

Finally, while working as a video producer at Enstarz, Jess and her lovely coworkers co-created PLEASE HELP, an eight-episode mockumentary web series based on their shared workplace trauma. This series, which she directed, co-wrote, co-produced, and acted in, won Best Mockumentary at the Georgia Comedy Film Festival. While at the company, Jess produced and hosted the Enstarz YouTube channel’s fastest growing video, an interview with Travis Japan, a Johnny & Associates J-Pop boyband. The video gained 32K views within 24 hours.

Currently interviewing representation.

Available for staffing!

"Creativity takes courage."

— HENRI MATISSE