“I am drawn to stories about how people, who don’t fit into mainstream culture, take elements of that culture and make it their own. I am driven to create films that entertain audiences while engaging them to think about their own relationship to concentrations of power and the commodification of culture. Being a minority voice within a hegemonic system, I am driven to represent strong characters within society. I strive to give the under-voiced a platform for their stories to be heard.”
- Jett Garrison
ABOUT
Jett Garrison is an award-winning writer/director whose work has screened in over 100 film festivals worldwide. As a Transgender storyteller, Jett explores themes of queerness, chosen family, and marginalized communities.
Jett's directing credits include an episode of Norman Lear's CLEAN SLATE. He's also known for directing the digital series THESE THEMS, winning the Best Director Award from Chicago's PRIDE FILMS Festival. Jett also won an EMMY for his short film CHECKOUT and was nominated for an OSCAR for his short film JO FM.
As a writer, Jett works on Amazon Prime’s THE BOYS spin-off series GEN V. He also staffed on The CW Network’s reboot of THE 4400. Jett sold a pilot to UCP and his feature script QUICK QUICK SLOW was selected to the GLAAD List (a partnership with The Black List) and was a finalist in Outfest’s Screenwriting lab.
Before becoming a storyteller, Jett was kicked out of the United States Air Force for being Queer. He returned to his hometown of Austin, Texas where he found success as a commercial radio DJ and began his filmmaking career after directing a feature documentary (about a radio subculture) that premiered at SXSW. After catching the filmmaking bug, Jett moved to Los Angeles and was selected for Film Independent’s Project:Involve directing program where his work was sponsored by NBC/Universal and featured in Vanity Fair. Jett was also a directing fellow in SONY’s inaugural Diverse Directors Program and Ryan Murphy’s HALF Initiative Directing Program.
Staying true to his radio origins, Jett also voices the role of handyman ‘Ned’ in Jamie Lee Curtis’ Audible series LETTERS FROM CAMP.
As a community activist and mentor, Jett teaches acting through ActNow, LA’s only LGBTQIA+ acting class. He also mentors emerging queer filmmakers through Outfest's OutSet filmmaker program as well as up-and-coming storytellers from his alma mater The University of Texas.
Jett holds an M.A. in Media Studies with a focus in gender/sexuality and an M.F.A. in Film Directing from the University of Texas at Austin. He’s also a proud Writer’s Guild Of America West member.