Jessica Blank

Background

About Jessica Blank

I'm a writer, director, actor, and story consultant who trains leaders, candidates and organizations to harness the power of story. My background in theater, film, and television as both creator and performer, and my work at the intersection of the arts and social change for nearly two decades, have served as a laboratory to study how story can connect, inspire and motivate prosocial action. I conduct trainings in story literacy and strategy, do one-on-one coaching with creators, artists, leaders and progressive candidates, speak frequently on the neuroscience of story as a force for social good, and create story strategy customized to organizations' missions and needs. As an artist, I created the multi-award-winning play THE EXONERATED (with Erik Jensen) as well as its award-winning film adaptation starring Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover. We also wrote the plays AFTERMATH, based on interviews with Iraqi refugees in Jordan in 2008, HOW TO BE A ROCK CRITIC, and COAL COUNTRY, with music by Grammy-winning songwriter Steve Earle. Our first film ALMOST HOME premiered in 2018, and our second, HOW TO BE A ROCK CRITIC, is in development (more detail on current film and TV projects below). I'm active as a theater director Off-Broadway, and as a documentary and scripted feature film director. As a writer, I've written TV for Fox, Gaumont, Blown Deadline, Levinson/Fontana, 20th Century TV, Virgin Produced, and Radical Media, among others, and appeared as an actor in over 3 dozen films & TV shows. I'm a Visiting Professor at the Juilliard School and have worked closely on story projects with organizations including CCR, the ACLU, SPLC, the Innocence Project, Amnesty, the Center on Wrongful Convictions, Campaign for Civilians in Conflict, Witness to Innocence, Coal River Mountain Watch, and the IRC. I work as a consultant on story strategy for candidates, nonprofit organizations, and foundations; lead organizational trainings in story literacy; and coach leaders to use the power of story to radically uplevel their impact.