![\"Jess](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1460788_jessokane_untitled0218sot2025_creditpetersearlescreeninternational_620496.jpg\")
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It was a joy for Jess O\u2019Kane that her feature script for comedy thriller Bad Apples had a speedy route to production after the stasis of the pandemic. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis one had a real energy about it,\u201d says O\u2019Kane of the Pulse Films title, which stars Saoirse Ronan and shot in the UK in spring 2024. It was among the first acquisitions for Paramount\u2019s revived Republic Pictures label and premiered as a Special Presentation at this year\u2019s Toronto International Film Festival.<\/p>\n
No resting on laurels for O\u2019Kane though: she is working with Searchlight Pictures on Coffin Dodgers, a comedy about a group of boomers \u2013 \u201cMarks & Spencer made flesh,\u201d says the writer \u2013 who take over their wealthy friend\u2019s country estate for a commune when he dies.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Kane cut short a 2017 move to Berlin to study screenwriting at the NFTS, where she met producer Nathan Craig. He brought her on to write Dylan Holmes Williams\u2019 short The Devil\u2019s Harmony, about a bullied girl who fights her enemies through a deadly singing club. It won the Sundance 2020 short film jury prize and was nominated for a short film Bifa; O\u2019Kane is underway on a feature version for Williams to direct for Range Media International (Longlegs), which she hopes will film next year.<\/p>\n
Having directed shorts Girl At Party and Hey Sexy, O\u2019Kane is collaborating with Daisy Ridley on The Comedown, a murder mystery series about a group of friends at an Airbnb; and is reuniting with Pulse on a novel adaptation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy intention has always been to work across TV and film,\u201d says the writer, who is based in Hastings on England\u2019s south coast. \u201cI like the freedom of [being brought] a good idea and adding some flavour on top of it.\u201d<\/p>\n