Jonathan Hess is a Los Angeles-based video editor, photographer, comedy writer and performer who probably should have just written “creative multi-hyphenate” and left it at that.

Since moving to LA in 2016, Jonathan has worked on a multitude of shows and films like Jimmy Kimmel Live, Grace and Frankie, Reboot, Earth to Ned, Obliterated, The Out-Laws, and A Little Late with Lilly Singh. He shoots primarily concert and editorial portrait photography, and has photographed shows at the historic Viper Room, Dynasty Typewriter, the Lyric Hyperion, and other venues all over Los Angeles. He credits his talents as an editor and live show photographer to his own experiences on stage playing the drums, and performing stand up and improv, as well as to his aptitudes for color, rhythm, and structural visualization (framing. That one's about framing).

His writing centers authentic Jewish stories and experiences, told through the eyes of brutally witty, lovable but acerbic protagonists with hearts of gold. They deal with unrequited love, the absurdities of family, the lengths we go to in order to leave a legacy for our loved ones, and finding confidence in one's identity - all while never losing sight of the silly. Pretty impressive, no? Almost as impressive as that run-on sentence! His half-hour comedy pilot, Bastards, is the winner of JHRTS’s Screenwriting Competition. His writing has also placed at high levels in such festivals and competitions as the Austin Film Festival, the Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards, and the Screencraft TV Pilot Script Competition. He first got into comedy out of spite, but that definitely doesn’t show up anywhere in his work.

Jonathan graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Film and TV Production, and was one of eight NYU students selected in 2013 to train in multi-camera television directing at the BBC Academy in London. 

In his spare time, Jonathan loves to travel, play the drums, ski, bike 50 miles in one go, bake delicious breads for friends and family, and complain about his legs being sore for some reason. Jonathan is also an avid mixologist, and makes the best gin martini you’ll ever drink. Please don’t ask him for a “vodka martini”. That’s called a “kangaroo” and he will correct you.