Jo Southwell

Jo is an award-winning Irish director across Film and TV, based in England. Having directed numerous and critically acclaimed short films, through Directors UK she undertook shadow directing mentorships on the hit shows Killing Eve for the BBC (under Jon East), and Trigger Point for ITV (under Jennie Darnell) - on which she performed 2nd unit directing services. Most recently Jo completed two blocks (6 episodes in total) on the long running BBC Series Doctors - the first block of which was performed under very strict covid protocols. She is now in post-production on her latest short film Echo, which features experimental scenes shot underwater with Production Partner Pinewood Studios. As a very collaborative director, she has also developed a production slate of her own (under the banner Aston Productions, through which she has also produced much of her previous short form work) which includes a co-production agreement with StoryFirst for an 8 part TV series. Her original concept Old has been optioned by Troy TV and her feature film Loyalty won the Jets initiative for best UK territory film - it is now being put through the BFI process with interest from various sales and distribution agents.

Jo is part of the 2022 / 3 cohort of Female Founders run by Creative UK, as well as a voting member of BAFTA. As a natural collaborator, Jo has several interesting co-productions in development. Her passion for human led, emotionally driven stories lay the foundations of her work - story is key.

"I grew up watching Star Wars, reading mythology, loving film and wanting to live in the worlds created on screen. As a director I am not afraid to inspire, motivate or challenge. My passion for visual storytelling is paramount. There is nothing more exciting than uncovering what makes the characters tick and creating the palette on which to tell the story on."