Years active 2002—present | Name Jo Ho | |
Occupation Screenwriter, director | ||
The Chase Ryder series book trailer by Jo Ho with voiceover from Heather Masters
Jo Ho is an English screenwriter and director of Chinese descent, best known for creating the BBC series Spirit Warriors. 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.
Contents
- The Chase Ryder series book trailer by Jo Ho with voiceover from Heather Masters
- What Doesnt Kill You audiobook trailer written by Jo Ho narrated by Allyson Voller
- Early life
- Career
- Awards
- References
What Doesn't Kill You audiobook trailer written by Jo Ho, narrated by Allyson Voller
Early life
Ho was born in Dagenham in London, and studied Mixed Media Arts at the University of Westminster.
Career
Ho taught herself screenwriting by studying The West Wing and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 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. 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.
In 2008, Ho was a judge on the BBC Bites Scheme, created to find and encourage British born Chinese writers.
After three years in development, Spirit Warriors began filming in 2009. 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. Ho herself won the Women in Film and Television's "New Talent Award" and was nominated for the Cultural Diversity Network Award for "Best Breakthrough Production Talent".
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 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.
Ho is a member of BAFTA.
The Independent noted her among "five to watch" in the context of ethnic minority writers for British television and film.