Jo Ho

Jo Ho
Born Dagenham, London, England
Occupation Screenwriter, director
Years active 2002—present
Website
www.johoscribe.com

Jo Ho is an English screenwriter and director of Chinese descent, best known for creating the BBC series Spirit Warriors.[1] She has been credited as the first Chinese person in the UK to have successfully created an original television drama series. Spirit Warriors is also the UK's first TV drama series to star a predominantly East Asian cast.[2]

Early life

Ho was born in Dagenham in London, and studied Mixed Media Arts at the University of Westminster.[3]

Career

Ho taught herself screenwriting by studying The West Wing and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.[4] She went on to work as a production manager on several projects, before writing and directing her first short film Isolation 9 in 2006. The film won the Audience Festival award at the Buffalo-san Short Film Festival.[5] Her next short film Monkey Nut Tales, shot just two months later, was funded by the UK Film Council and Film London as part of the 2006 Digital Shorts Pulse Scheme.[6]

In 2008, Ho was a judge on the BBC Bites Scheme, created to find and encourage British born Chinese writers.[7]

After three years in development, Spirit Warriors began filming in 2009.[8] The series aired in 2010, on BBC HD, BBC Two, and CBBC, and was nominated for "Best Children's Programme" at the 2011 Broadcast Awards.[9] Ho herself won the Women in Film and Television's "New Talent Award"[10] and was nominated for the Cultural Diversity Network Award for "Best Breakthrough Production Talent".[11]

Known for her high concept work, following Spirit Warriors, Ho has worked as a storyline consultant on a supernatural BBC drama series Bishaash and has been engaged to write three feature films: an action film, a teen supernatural romance and a dark fairytale. She is currently in development on several original feature films[12] and two TV series: a big budget medieval series for acclaimed producers Morgan O'Sullivan and James Flynn (producers of The Borgias, The Tudors and Vikings) and a US supernatural TV show for Rick Porras (producer of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) and ex William Morris agent turned producer, Gary Pearl.[13]

Ho is a member of BAFTA.[14]

The Independent noted her among "five to watch" in the context of ethnic minority writers for British television and film.[15]

Awards

Filmography

Writing

Production Notes Broadcaster
Spirit Warriors
  • "A Warrior is Born" (2010), creator, writer
  • "The Spirit Thief" (2010), creator
  • "The Monkey King" (2010), creator
  • "Your Worst Nightmare" (2010), creator
  • "The Snake Spirit" (2010), creator
  • "Fortune Favours the Brave" (2010), creator
  • "Young at Heart" (2010), creator
  • "The Cave of Ghosts" (2010), creator
  • "Wishes" (2010), creator, writer
  • "Blood of a Warrior" (2010), creator, writer
 BBC
Bishaash
  • "Janmo Janmantor: Part 1" (2011), storyline consultant
  • "Janmo Janmantor: Part 2" (2011), storyline consultant
  • "In/Compatible: Part 1" (2010), storyline consultant
  • "In/Compatible: Part 2" (2010), storyline consultant
  • "Twilight: Part 1" (2010), storyline consultant
  • "Twilight: Part 2" (2010), storyline consultant
 BBC Worldwide

Directing

Production Notes Production Company
Isolation 9 Short Film Contingency Films
Monkey Nut Tales Short Film Lark Films

References

  1. ↑ Spirit Warriors at the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ "Eastern Promises". Film London. Archived from the original on 2011-05-12. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
  3. ↑ "Introducing the fabulous Miss Jo Ho". Dimsum. 19 January 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
  4. ↑ Jamil Hussein (2011-11-14). "Interview with Jo Ho, creator of BBC drama series, 'Spirit Warriors'". The TV Collective. Archived from the original on 2012-07-11.
  5. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898093/trivia
  6. ↑ Monkey Nut Tales at the Internet Movie Database
  7. ↑ Jo Ho at VisibleChinese.com
  8. ↑ "Interview with Jo Ho". Dimsum. 14 January 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
  9. ↑ Broadcast Awards 2011: shortlist announced, 30 November 2010
  10. ↑ Sky 3D Women in Film & TV Awards 2010 at the Wayback Machine (archived 13 February 2011). Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  11. ↑ A Diverse Nation – The CDN Diversity Awards 2010. Cultural Diversity Network. Accessed: 2011-04-14. Archived 14 April 2011 at WebCite
  12. ↑ "Interview with Jo Ho". Words of Colour Productions. 2012-07-04. Archived from the original on 2012-07-11.
  13. ↑ "About" section at Jo Ho's website.
  14. ↑ Current members of BAFTA (August 2009) at bafta.org
  15. ↑ Alison King, "Five to Watch" following Bonnie Greer: 'TV needs to wake up to minorities or end up in a museum'. The Independent, 20 June 2012.
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