When Wanda Sykes delivers a killer line on the Emmy-winning HBO comedy series, ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’, Jazz Pitcairn doesn’t laugh out loud with the rest of the audience. She smiles with pride.
The 23-year-old former Cayman Prep student has already hit career heights that many artists dream of, as a staff writer on the hit show.
Initially hired as an assistant, her job was to take notes on the ‘writer’s room’ meetings. Unable to resist, she started throwing her own ideas into her typed notes.
“Usually you wouldn’t be allowed to do that,” she said.
But the show’s creator Robin Thede was receptive. Instead of getting reprimanded, she got promoted and returned as a staff writer for season four.
“Robin created a space that allowed us all to feel comfortable. She really believes in uplifting young writers,” said Pitcairn.
Growing up in Cayman, she says she dreamed of being a movie director. She watched ‘Monster-in-Law’ countless times and wanted to tell stories that made people feel good.
While she was heavily involved with the arts and drama scene as a teenager, she says there was little opportunity to pursue her passion until she earned a place at the prestigious New York University Film School, fulfilling a dream she had from the age of 12.
Pitcairn says her family was supportive of her ambitions.
But there were few examples in Cayman of anyone who had made it big in show business. The only person she could think of was Frank E. Flowers, the director of ‘Haven’.
“It wasn’t really something people did,” she said. “Frank was the only person we knew about who had made films.”
Pitcairn got the chance to work with Flowers as a production assistant on his short movie ‘Toxin’. He has since become a mentor and will produce her short film, ‘Ivan’, which will start shooting in Cayman this month.
Personal project
The film is loosely based on her family’s experiences during the 2004 hurricane. She was just 5 years old at the time, but has strong memories of sheltering in the roof space after flood waters breached their property on South Sound.
Grace Byers, another pioneer of the industry in Cayman, will star in the short.
Pitcairn said her experiences in Cayman and at NYU were pivotal to the opportunities that have opened up for her.
She interned at CBS and HBO among others and took any job she could in the entertainment industry while at school.
“I decided to say yes to every opportunity,” she said.
The approach paid off when she landed a director’s assistant role on the hit Apple TV show ‘Dickinson’.
Working 12-18 hour days for a solid block of three months gave her a taste of the challenges of the industry and also opened up the doors that landed her big breakthrough on ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’.
She is hoping the show will be renewed for another season but is working on her own projects in the meantime.
Ultimately, she hopes to make her own feature-length movies as well as TV shows.
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