Jo Ho

Jo Ho is a British-Chinese screenwriter, director and author, best known for creating the BBC series Spirit Warriors.[1] She has been credited as the first East Asian person in the UK to have successfully created an original television drama series. Spirit Warriors is also the UK's first TV drama series to star a predominantly East Asian cast.[2]

Jo Ho
BornDagenham, London, England
OccupationScreenwriter, director
Years active2002—present
Website
www.johoscribe.com

Early life

Ho was born in Dagenham in London, and studied Mixed Media Arts at the University of Westminster.[3]

Career

Ho taught herself screenwriting by studying The West Wing and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.[4] She went on to work as a production manager on several projects, before writing and directing her first short film Isolation 9 in 2006. The film won the Audience Festival award at the Buffalo-san Short Film Festival.[5] Her next short film Monkey Nut Tales, shot just two months later, was funded by the UK Film Council and Film London as part of the 2006 Digital Shorts Pulse Scheme.[6]

In 2008, Ho was a judge on the BBC Bites Scheme, created to find and encourage British born Chinese writers.[7]

After three years in development, Spirit Warriors began filming in 2009.[8] The series aired in 2010, on BBC HD, BBC Two, and CBBC, and was nominated for "Best Children's Programme" at the 2011 Broadcast Awards.[9] Ho herself won the Women in Film and Television's "New Talent Award"[10] and was nominated for the Cultural Diversity Network Award for "Best Breakthrough Production Talent".[11]

Known for her high concept work, following Spirit Warriors, Ho has worked as a storyline consultant on a supernatural BBC drama series Bishaash and has been engaged to write three feature films: an action film, a teen supernatural romance and a dark fairytale. In 2012 she was working on scripts for on several original feature films[12] and several TV series including a big budget medieval series for acclaimed producers Morgan O'Sullivan and James Flynn (producers of The Borgias, The Tudors and Vikings).[13]

In addition to screenwriting, Ho is also an author. WANTED, Book 1 of The Chase Ryder Series is Ho's first novel. With over 150 five-star reviews, it has been a best-seller in over 15 Young Adult categories on Amazon and recently won the YA Sci-fi category for the Readers' Favorite International Book Awards (2018). Her second YA book series, TWISTED, an urban fantasy serial about four troubled girls who discover they now command some super dark powers was published in 2018.[14] 

Ho is a voting member of BAFTA and repped by The Dench Arnold Agency.[15]

The Independent noted her among "five to watch" in the context of ethnic minority writers for British television and film.[16]

Awards
  • Wanted, Book 1 of The Chase Ryder Series - winner of the Readers' Favorite[17] Young Adult Sci-Fi Book Award (2018)
  • Winner of the University of Westminster's 'Contribution to the Creative Industries' Award (2018)
  • Winner of the Women in Film and Television's 'New Talent' Award (2010)
  • Spirit Warriors nominated for 'Best Children's Programme' at the Broadcast Awards (2011)
  • Nominated for CDN's 'Best Breakthrough Production Talent' Award (2010)
  • Big Ben Award for 'Outstanding Achievement by a Chinese Woman in the UK Film and Television Industry' (2009)
  • Selected for the acclaimed "Film London PULSE" short film funding scheme to shoot "Monkey Nut Tales" (2006)
  • Winner 'Best Film' for her short film Isolation 9 at the Buffalo-san Short Film Festival (2007)

Books
Series Books Retailer
Twisted
  • "What Doesn't Kill You" (2018), author
  • "Beware The Signs" (2018), author
  • "See No Evil" (2018), author
  • "The Blood That Binds" (2018), author
  • "When Trouble Comes" (2018), author
  • "Bad Habits" (2018), author
  • "Left Behind" (2018), author
  • "Hell Hath No Fury" (2018), author
  • "In Her Skin" (2018), author
  • "First Date Jitters" (2018), author
  • "Grave Matters" (2018), author
 Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, Barnes & Noble, Audible, iTunes
The Chase Ryder Series
  • "Wanted" (2016), author
  • "Haunted" (2017), author
  • "Hunted" (2019), author
 Amazon, Audible, iTunes

Filmography

Writing
Production Notes Broadcaster
Spirit Warriors
  • "A Warrior is Born" (2010), creator, writer
  • "The Spirit Thief" (2010), creator
  • "The Monkey King" (2010), creator
  • "Your Worst Nightmare" (2010), creator
  • "The Snake Spirit" (2010), creator
  • "Fortune Favours the Brave" (2010), creator
  • "Young at Heart" (2010), creator
  • "The Cave of Ghosts" (2010), creator
  • "Wishes" (2010), creator, writer
  • "Blood of a Warrior" (2010), creator, writer
 BBC
Bishaash
  • "Janmo Janmantor: Part 1" (2011), storyline consultant
  • "Janmo Janmantor: Part 2" (2011), storyline consultant
  • "In/Compatible: Part 1" (2010), storyline consultant
  • "In/Compatible: Part 2" (2010), storyline consultant
  • "Twilight: Part 1" (2010), storyline consultant
  • "Twilight: Part 2" (2010), storyline consultant
 BBC Worldwide

Directing
Production Notes Production Company
Isolation 9 Short Film Contingency Films
Monkey Nut Tales Short Film Lark Films

References
  1. Spirit Warriors at IMDb
  2. "Eastern Promises". Film London. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  3. "Introducing the fabulous Miss Jo Ho". Dimsum. 19 January 2009. Archived from the original on 1 December 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  4. Jamil Hussein (14 November 2011). "Interview with Jo Ho, creator of BBC drama series, 'Spirit Warriors'". The TV Collective. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  5. "Isolation 9 (2006) - IMDb".
  6. Monkey Nut Tales at IMDb
  7. Jo Ho at VisibleChinese.com
  8. "Interview with Jo Ho". Dimsum. 14 January 2010. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  9. Broadcast Awards 2011: shortlist announced, 30 November 2010
  10. "Sky 3D Women in Film & TV Awards 2010". Archived from the original on 13 February 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  11. A Diverse Nation – The CDN Diversity Awards 2010. Cultural Diversity Network. Accessed: 2011-04-14. Archived 17 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  12. "Interview with Jo Ho". Words of Colour Productions. 4 July 2012. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.
  13. "About" section at Jo Ho's website.
  14. "About" section at Jo Ho's website.
  15. Current members of BAFTA (August 2009) at bafta.org
  16. Alison King, "Five to Watch" following Bonnie Greer: 'TV needs to wake up to minorities or end up in a museum'. The Independent, 20 June 2012.
  17. "Wanted". Readers' Favorite. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
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