ARTIST TO WATCH: Jane Schoenbrun

Jane Schoenbrun is one of those emerging voices that you don’t want to miss out on familiarizing yourself with. They’re a textbook multi-hyphenate: producer, director, writer, and so much more. But there’s nothing about them or their work that’s textbook. 

It all started when Jane was a child, watching eerie shows like "Twin Peaks" and "The X-Files' and even "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" on their box television set. They were fascinated and inspired by the mysteries on the screen and their impermeability, going on to work at a local movie theater in adolescence. While attending and after graduating from Boston University’s film school, Schoenbrun immersed themself in the world of film, even serving as a production assistant on several short films directed by the Safdie brothers. 

In 2021, Jane started meeting critical acclaim when their directorial debut We’re All Going to the World's Fair premiered at the Sundance Film Festival that year. The film blends fantasy and reality in a low budget exploration of trans identity and online creepypasta culture that remains a cult hit among horror fans, especially those that enjoy queer titles. The film turned out to be a festival darling and was released in theaters the next year. Things remained mostly quiet after that... until this year. 

In May of 2024, Schoenbrun’s sophomore feature I Saw The TV Glow released in theaters, carrying similar undertones but with a more in-your-face trans allegory that both horrified and fascinated viewers across the country. Again blurring the lines between nostalgia-laced television fantasy and mundane reality, the film explores two teens and their opposing journeys following the cancellation of their favorite television show. The film currently boasts an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and has made millions of dollars at the box office. It was produced by Fruit Tree, Emma Stone’s production company, and distributed by famed indie company A24. The success and popularity of the film both at festivals and among wide releases inspired an extensive press tour, where fans are learning much more about both the personal and professional worlds of Jane Schoenbrun, much to their delight. 

Recently, Schoenbrun announced their new book “Public Access Afterworld with Hogarth Books, the publisher founded by literary legend Virginia Woolf that now resides under the Random House umbrella. The novel has no release date as of yet, but here’s a brief description of the upcoming project to which Schoenbrun says, “All of my work has been leading up to this.” 

Sounds insane, right? That’s Jane Schoenbrun for you. And that’s not all we know about this novel. On a recently released podcast hosted by A24, Schoenbrun revealed that this novel is years in the making, originally made up of almost 1,600 pages of “what was supposed to be the first two seasons of a three season television show.” The series was pitched to HBO but shot down, to which Schoenbrun responded by deciding on making it into a book and adding “novelist” to their list of impressive epithets. Not only this, but Schoenbrun also has a tattoo of what they labeled as the novel’s tagline, “Make It Real”, on their body. They also mentioned that the Public Access Afterworld universe could be made up of a series of three novels, so there could be much more to come. We’ll just have to wait and see. 

If you think that’s all that’s going on with Jane Schoenbrun, you’d be utterly incorrect. Along with several other unnamed projects floating around the Schoenbrun universe, in a recent New Yorkerprofile, Schoenbrun confirmed their next film, titled Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, which is said to be a psychosexual meta-slasher about obsession, discovery, and sex post-transition. And oh, another thing -- it’s said to have massive amounts of blood. 

In another recent interview, Schoenbrun said that they feel “so creatively stockpiled right now.” Clearly, that rings true. Everything that comes out of Schoenbrun’s brain is equally surreal and genius. This emerging voice in filmmaking and storytelling is breaking the fundamentalist established and maintained for many years before them and replacing them with colorful, horrifying portraits of the trans experience and of queer inanity. 

Among others, Schoenbrun recently described some of their ideas for new movies: a school shooter comedy, a workplace slasher entitled Pronouns with a nonbinary serial killer, and a stoner adventure film. We don’t know about you, but we’re sure excited for whatever comes next in the world of Jane Schoenbrun! Whatever it is, it’ll be monumental. Don’t miss it!