Mel Jones is a multi-talented producer, director, and writer. Mel worked for Stephanie Allain’s Homegrown Pictures for 8 years and rose through the ranks becoming the President of Production. She produced a film each year of her tenure as President at Homegrown. Jones’ credits include Justin Simien’s Dear White People and Gerard McMurray’s Burning Sands. Subsequent films include Netflix Original Film Juanita starring Alfre Woodard and Blair Underwood and The Weekend starring Sasheer Zamata and Y’lan Noel which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. She also produced for Macro Really Love starring Kofi Siriboe which played SXSW and AFI to be released this year. Jones made her directorial debut at Sundance with Leimert Park, a MACRO/Homegrown digital series and is currently expanding into TV and Film directing and she directed a pilot for BET and Issa Rae’s company Color Creative. She is in development on a feature film entitled Us Again and is engaged in a number of writing projects. Past fellowships and professional memberships include, Film Independent Project Involve, Sundance Episodic Lab, IFP Cannes Producers Network and the PGA. She also sits on the American Film Institute Alumni Council.