Jason Kohl was born in Lansing, Michigan to an Austrian father and American mother. He did his undergraduate work at Kalamazoo College, where he studied creative writing and documentary filmmaking, including a semester abroad in Germany.
Upon graduation he received a Fulbright Scholarship to return to Germany, where he continued to study filmmaking. Afterwards he moved to Berlin, where he worked on a variety of commercial (T-Mobile, Heinz, Miracle Whip), documentary and feature films including “When We Leave,” Germany’s 2011 Oscar submission.
While in Berlin Jason also participated in a year-long screenwriting seminar under the instruction of an Oscar-nominated German producer. His first feature screenplay was a finalist for the 2010 Sundance Screenwriters Lab.
In the fall of 2009 Jason moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA’s MFA Directing Program, where he has received the Panavision New Filmmakers Grant, the Hollywood Foreign Press Award and most recently the Jack Nicholson Distinguished Director Award.
Jason also serves as a Producer of Marketing and Distribution on various projects, including the French Webdocumentary Detroit Je T’aime and the feature film Acting Like Adults. In addition to this blog, you can read more of his writing at Short of the Week.
Jason currently lives in Los Angeles.
