Jezz Vernon
stage 2 marketing consultant
stage 2 sales and distribution consultant
Jezz Vernon is a London based distribution, sales and production executive with over 15 years of experience within the film industry. He has been a member of the Film London board since 2015 and runs two production outfits – Port Royal London and Old Grog Films, as well as consulting on distribution and sales for the industry. He has also lectured at Bath Spa University, Met Film School and Norwich University of the Arts.
After graduating film school in 1998 he started working across editorial and marketing for a range of magazine publishers, including a tenure at the New Musical Express, before returning to the film world in 2002 as Marketing Director at the film company Revolver. He joined distributor Metrodome in 2005 and became Managing Director in 2012, launching a production slate the same year and expanding the group into international sales. Jezz was also the company’s supervising producer on their film and doc slate, latterly funded in conjunction with equity investment fund Moli Films. Metrodome’s releases under Jezz included The Secret in Their Eyes, I Am Love, Frances Ha, The Falling and Sunset Song. Throughout his career he has worked in close collaboration with film makers and actors including Terence Davies, Tillda Swinton, Noah Baumbach, Bruce Weber, Lukas Moodysson and Julie Christie.
Over the years Jezz and his distribution teams have won more than 25 awards for marketing, design, PR and release strategy and he has been a mentor, lecturer and regular panellist for Film London, Film Agency Wales, EIFF talent lab, BFI, Screen Ireland, Creative Scotland and Creative England amongst others. He was also selected as a member of the BFI UK film delegation to Beijing in 2016.
Jezz has produced, co-produced and exec produced a highly profitable slate of films ranging from documentaries to narrative features. He is also a script writer and experienced poster designer who’s designed and art directed hundreds of campaigns including multiple award winners. In 2015 his poster design for feature film The Falling was featured in A Good Look - The Guardian’s monthly review of global pop culture visuals.
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