Jessica Petelle-Slagle began her career at Gracie Films as an Executive Assistant on the team overseeing the ancillary divisions of The Simpsons. For her time at Gracie she was awarded an Emmy certificate for her contributions to the Outstanding Animated Program, The Simpsons.
After several years in Los Angeles, Jessica returned to her home state of Indiana to produce Drexel Box’s first feature length film, joshua, during the summer of 2003. The film was distributed by Fangoria Magazine and Hart Sharp and has gained much praise throughout the worldwide horror community.
Following the production of Joshua, Jessica produced the feature length films, 11 Minutes Ago written and directed by Bob Gebert, Sunday written and directed by Travis Betz and Little Big Top, written and directed by Ward Roberts. Little Big Top was an official selection at the 2006 Heartland Film Festival and will have a limited theatrical release in 2008 through Maitland Primrose and Moving Pictures Magazine.
Although her passion is independent filmmaking, she partakes in the creation of commercials, music videos and web content, including a three part internet series for Volkswagen entitled, The Game, and Travis Betz’ The Receptionist for Comedy Central.
Jessica received degrees in Theatre and Telecommunications from Indiana University. In November of 2007 she was awarded the prestigious ‘Outstanding Young Alumni of the Year’ by the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University. Jessica was featured in Screen Magazine’s cover story “Under 30 Something” for her producing ventures as well as for her efforts on promoting independent filmmaking in the Midwest.
Currently residing in Los Angeles, Jessica maintains her Indiana roots as and active member and co-founder of the Indiana Media Industry Network and the Indiana University’s Hollywood Hoosiers. She is a member of LA based The Masses Artist Collective.