Director's Bio

Jen McGowan is a director based in Los Angeles. Her most recent feature film, the survival thriller, RUST CREEK, was released in theaters by IFC Midnight, hailed as “the feminist thriller Hollywood needs right now” by Harpers Bazaar. When it dropped on Netflix it premiered at #3 of all film & tv in the US and stayed in the top ten for over a week.

 

McGowan's first feature, the dramedy KELLY & CAL (Juliette Lewis & Cybill Shepherd) premiered at SXSW where she won the Gamechanger Award. The film was released theatrically by IFC Films to rave reviews. She got her start with award-winning short films, CONFESSIONS OF A LATE BLOOMER and TOUCH, which played at over a hundred festivals worldwide winning the majority.

 

In television she has directed Star Trek: Discovery for Secret Hideout/CBS, Twilight Zone for Monkeypaw/CBS and The Purge for Blumhouse/USA. With her partner Eliza Lee she co-created the series, Angelica, about the last remaining abortion clinic in a small Midwest town and Replica, the true story of a pair of unassuming high school teachers who after their deaths were discovered to have been prolific art thieves.

 

Take the Lead Foundation identified McGowan one of 50 Women Who Will Change the World in Media & Entertainment and WeForShe selected her for the 2019 DirectHer program. A Film Independent Fellow, finalist for the Clint Eastwood Filmmakers Award, recipient of the AWD Breakout Award for Excellence in Directing she was named one of Vulture’s Women Directors Hollywood Should Be Hiring. 

 

Since 2017 she has trained as an amateur boxer with Golden Gloves champ Jill Morley and Gold Medal Olympian Wayne McCullough. In her free time she hangs with her husband, documentary Director & Producer, Phil Lott, and their dog, Ellie.