Amy Jump

Amy Jump (born 1972) is a British screenwriter and editor, best known for films including ''Kill List'', ''A Field in England'', and ''High-Rise''. She and her husband, director Ben Wheatley, have been described as 'one of the most formidable creative partnerships in film'. Jump won a British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay for both ''Kill List'' and '' Sightseers''.

Life and work

Jump was born in Islington in 1972. She met her future husband and collaborator, director Ben Wheatley, while both were studying for their A-Levels. She encouraged Wheatley to study on the same foundation art course after graduation. The couple now live together in Brighton.

Jump fell pregnant at the same time Wheatley was laid off when the marketing company he worked for went under. This led to her and Wheatley's first collaboration, a series of short animations shared through their now-defunct website MrandMrsWheatley.com. This helped to launch their respective careers, as they moved through creating live-action shorts to creating commercial work. Since, the two have collaborated regularly on films. Jump wrote and co-edited the thrillers ''Kill List'', ''Sightseers'' and ''A Field In England,'' all directed by Wheatley. The couple "tag-team" on scripts, writing and rewriting each other's scenes and dialogue, without the need for discussion. Wheatley claims she revised all of the dialogue he wrote for ''Free Fire''. Jump was also executive producer on Peter Strickland’s ''The Duke of Burgundy''.

Jump does not give interviews or appear publicly to promote her films. Of working together, and of Jump's own approach to work and publicity, Wheatley has said:

I like the fact that we’re a couple making films, it makes it interesting... She’s completely outside of the industry, she doesn’t do interviews and doesn’t particularly like going up to London to events. She just wants to do the work, get in and get out. She’s not a cinephile, but she really cares about image and storytelling from her own unique perspective. But we’ve always had an agreement that I’ll be kind of like the face of it, I do all the press and that.

Unrealized projects

Owing to the period of financial uncertainty when Wheatley lost his job, during which they almost defaulted on their mortgage, he and Jump have multiple projects in development at any given time. As-yet unmade scripts of Jump's include a remake of ''The Wages of Fear'', adaptations of the Frank Miller and Geof Darrow comic book '' Hard Boiled'' and the video game '' Gauntlet'', an original sci-fi film called ''Freakshift'' and a romantic comedy inspired by '' What’s Up, Doc?''.

In April 2019, she was hired to write a script for a planned sequel to ''Tomb Raider'', with Wheatley later joining as director. The pair were replaced by writer-director Misha Green before the project was cancelled entirely.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jump, Amy
Living people
1972 births
British screenwriters
British women screenwriters
British film editors
British film producers
British women writers
People from Islington (district)