Jackie Decembly Penn
Jackie is a drama writer who has written on Turner & Hooch (Disney +) and 4400 (CW) where she was the story editor.
(Check out Jackie’s tip about Research).
Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, Jackie had to fend for herself at an early age and found comfort in books and TV. After graduating from The Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati, she spent several years as a Spanish teacher, before deciding to pursue a career as a TV writer.
And she got her first gig as a set PA on Grimm (NBC) after applying to… a Craigslist ad.
She worked in various support staff positions (office PA, line producer’s assistant, writers’ production assistant and writers’ assistant) on shows such as The Catch (ABC), For the People (ABC), The Fix (ABC), Siren (Freeform) and Ginny & Georgia (Netflix). She ran events for Script Anatomy for a while. And in 2020, Jackie was staffed on TURNER & HOOCH (Disney +) after a showrunner’s assistant found her sample on a networking website. She was most recently a story editor on the CW’s 4400. She was selected for Coverfly’s 2023 Next List and is currently a member of the Rideback Rise Circle cohort.
She is one of the leaders of the Awesome Assistants of Color Facebook Group and co-wrote an op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter about how to broach race in the writers’ room. When she isn’t writing, Jackie loves to travel with her husband, read YA/romance novels, watch TV and train for her next amateur pole dance competition
Jackie is repped by 42 Entertainment for Management and Paul Hastings for legal. You can find on her on Twitter @JackiePenn18
Testimonials
I found Jackie’s feedback to be encouraging, simple, and to the point. The questions she asked helped me develop my characters and their goals more clearly which is something that I struggle with as a new writer. She presented the material in a way that was easy to understand and patiently answered all my questions. I feel like I came away with a solid understanding of character building and pilot story structure which is already making me a better writer.