Jason Ensler

Jason Ensler
Jason Ensler
Born	July 21, 1970
Occupation	Film director, television director and television producer
Years active	2001–present

Jason Ensler is an American film director, television director, producer, and screenwriter.

Early life

Jason Ensler attended Brandeis University where he earned a BA in Politics and Theater.² He graduated USC School of Cinematic Arts with an MFA in Cinema/Television production.

Career

Ensler began his work in television as part of the creative team at NBC 2000, a division of NBC promo. He designed launch campaigns for The West Wing, Scrubs, Frasier, Third Watch, The Olympics, and The NBA. He produced and edited the Upfront presentation for NBC's 75th Anniversary, and wrote and directed The Zucker Follies, a musical mockumentary starring Megan Mullally, Sean Hayes, Martin Sheen, and many others.³

In 2002, Ensler directed Behind The Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company for NBC, which documents the true story of ambition, greed, and betrayal that rocked the set of the hit show Three's Company. He directed Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart starring Cybill Shepherd and Tim Matheson, which chronicled Martha Stewart's rise to fame, subsequent incarceration for insider trading, and eventual comeback. Both films were critically acclaimed when they aired in May 2003, and became the highest rated TV movies of the decade.⁵

He began his career in episodic television with episodes of Scrubs and The West Wing before directing the feature film Grilled for New Line Cinema.⁶ Written by William Tepper, and starring Ray Romano, Kevin James, Burt Reynolds, Juliette Lewis, SophiaVergara, Kim Coates, and Michael Rapaport, Ensler created a darkly comedic character study which showcases Kevin James and Ray Romano in unexpected performances. It received mixed reviews, but has since gained a loyal fan base with its release on VOD.⁷

Ensler was asked by Jonathan Groff and Conan O'Brien to direct and produce the pilot and series of Andy Barker, P.I. starring Andy Richter and Tony Hale. It was listed on Entertainment Weekly's top 10 shows of 2006. A more comprehensive oral history⁸ of the show was published by Uproxx in 2015. Ensler has since directed and executive produced the pilots for: The Eastmans, Franklin & Bash, Hart of Dixie, Cult, The Curse of The Fuentes Women (2015), and Transylvania (2016).

He most recently directed the pilot for The Passage and served as executive producer and series director on Season Two of Fox’s The Exorcist. He also directed the critically acclaimed exorcism episode in season one, “Through My Most Grievous Fault”¹⁴ in addition to both Season Finales.

He has also directed episodes of Lethal Weapon, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Goldbergs, Sirens, Hostages, Grace and Frankie, Red Band Society and The Newsroom.

Documentaries

Ensler is on the executive board of Shifting Baselines, a think tank and production entity founded and run by author and filmmaker Randy Olson, that seeks to find more effective ways of communicating science to the public. He produced, directed and edited IRIS, a documentary for Children's Hospital Los Angeles, about Retinoblastoma, a rare form of children’s eye cancer, which was effective in passing legislation in California for early detection. And he produced, directed, and edited Farewell, My Subaru, a short documentary about author Doug Fine and the hard-won benefits of his carbon neutral lifestyle in rural New Mexico.¹³

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Credit	Role
2006	Grilled	Director
2001	Kissing Jessica Stein	Additional Editor and Creative Consultant
2000	Alcatraz Avenue		TR Jones
1999	12 Stops on the Road to Nowhere	Editor
1998	The List	Producer	Roxy Emcee

Television

Year	Title	Credit	Notes/Episodes
2020	Love, Victor	Director	2 episodes Season 1, Episode 2 Season 1, Episode 10
2019	The Passage	Director	4 episodes Season 1, Episode 1 Season 1, Episode 2 Season 1, Episode 3 Season 1, Episode 9
2017	2 Broke Girls	Director	1 episode Season 6, Episode 12
2017	The Exorcist	Director Executive Producer	3 Episodes Season 2, Episode 201 Season 2, Episode 206 Season 2, Episode 210
2016	Lethal Weapon	Director	2 Episodes Season 1, Episode 104 Season 1, Episode 108
	Grace and Frankie	Director	1 Episode Season 2, Episode 9
	The Exorcist	Director	2 Episodes Season 1, Episode 105 Season 1, Episode 110
2014	Red Band Society	Director Executive Producer	3 episodes 1 season
2014	Sirens	Director	2 episodes
2013	Hostages		Season 1, Episode 2
	Brooklyn Nine-Nine		Season 1, Episode 5
	The Goldbergs		Season 1, Episode 4
	The Newsroom	Director	Season 2, Episode 8
	Cult	Director Executive Producer	Season 1, Episode 1 12 episodes
2011-2012	Franklin & Bash	Director Executive Producer	7 episodes 19 episodes
2011	Hart of Dixie	Director Executive Producer	Season 1, Episode 1 Season 1, Episode 2
2009	Gossip Girl	Director	Season 3, Episode 12
2009	The Eastmans	Director and Co-Executive Producer	TV Movie
2008-2009	Kath & Kim	Director and Co-Executive Producer	6 episodes
2008	Man of Your Dreams	Director	TV Movie
2008	Psych	Director	Season 2, Episode 12
2007-2008	Chuck		Season 1, Episode 3 Season 1, Episode 9 Season 2, Episode 1
2007	My Name Is Earl		Season 3, Episode 12
	Andy Barker, P.I.	Director and Producer	6 episodes
	The World According to Barnes	Director	TV Movie
2006	South Beach		2 episodes
2006	Help Me Help You		2 episodes
2005	The West Wing		Season 6, Episode 18
2004	Scrubs		Season 3, Episode 18
2004	Ed		Season 4, Episode 13
2003	Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart		TV Movie
2003	Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Three's Company'		TV Special

References

² http://www.mocavo.com/The-Justice-Brandeis-University-Aug-1991-May-1992-Volume-Roll-12-Volume-45-Number-1-Volume-45-Number-25/297790/100

and http://2degreesofalie.tumblr.com/post/36148487895/directorproducer-jason-ensler-shares-stories-of

³ http://www.firstpost.com/topic/person/eric-mccormack-nbc-mockumentary-2002-video-shNJIXU7G9Q-218-12.html

and http://gogoartqueen.tumblr.com/post/15462587273/pitypie-the-zucker-follies-an-nbc-promo-from

⁴ http://www.sitcomsonline.com/jacksbistro/nbcmovie.html

⁵ https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/12/arts/television-review-those-sweet-days-when-a-sitcom-had-clout.html

⁶ https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/movies/moviesspecial/the-class-of-200405.html?_r=0

and https://variety.com/2004/film/columns/eatery-immortalized-in-grilled-pic-1117908102/

⁷ http://www.cinemablend.com/dvds/Grilled-1663.html

⁸ http://uproxx.com/tv/2015/04/andy-barker-pi-oral-history/

¹⁰ https://cinema.usc.edu/alumni/hotsheet/2014april.cfm

¹¹ https://www.wsj.com/articles/tv-review-foxs-red-band-society-1410491741

¹² http://thisisjasonensler.com/blog/?p=444

¹³ http://scienceblogs.com/shiftingbaselines/2008/03/31/a-new-short-film-from-shifting/

¹⁴ https://www.tvfanatic.com/2016/10/the-exorcist-season-1-episode-5-review-through-my-most-grievous/

External links

Official website
Jason Ensler at IMDb

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