Directors for the second season of Jessica Jones have yet to be announced, but the 13 of them have something in common – they will all be females. The big announcement of the all-female roster of directors was made by Melissa Rosenberg, the executive producer and showrunner of Jessica Jones.
The second season of Jessica Jones starring Krysten Ritter as a failed and drunk superhero, who becomes a private investigator, is expected to air on Netflix after the first season of The Defenders. Ritter is also featured in The Defenders.
On Friday, a group of heavy hitters including Rosenberg gathered at the “Transforming Hollywood 7: Diversifying Entertainment” conference, an event held at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Rosenberg explained that during a pre-production meeting about potential directors someone suggested that they hire only females. She found the idea brilliant, and Marvel rapidly agreed to it. Season one of Jessica Jones had nine directors, three of them were women – S. J. Clarkson, Rosemary Rodriguez, and Uta Briesewitz. She explained:
“When I interview a writer, I’m less interested in what you’ve been doing professionally than I am in where you’re from, what your parents do, what’s your life experience, what are you bringing to the table personally?” Rosenberg said. “I don’t want a bunch of people who look and sound [like me] and have the experiences I have.”
In a recent interview, Ritter said that she is thrilled to work with strong and intelligent women on the hit series. Ritter stated:
“I love working with women because I’ve always been a girl’s girl. I’ve always gravitated towards amazing, strong, powerful women because I want to pick their brain and have them around me.”
She added:
“I like to be vulnerable and be raw, and I just feel more comfortable in those conversations with women. I’m especially glad ‘Jessica’ has a female showrunner. She is not informed by gender. Moreover, Melissa has such integrity about the character and being a woman. It could have gone either way.”
Rosenberg stated that they are currently writing the episodes and they will start filming next year. Rosenberg is following in the footsteps of director Ava DuVernay, who has hired an all-female directing roster for her OWN television show, Queen Sugar.
