Jess Bray is focused on bringing back the UK romantic comedy. “I am obsessed with writing about relationships. I want to watch two people talk to each other and fall in love.”

In fact, she might soon be giving Richard Curtis a run for his money — one of the two features she has inching towards production is even with Working Title, and is about a couple who take a break to save their relationship. The second, with Mews Films, is a “playful take on My Best Friend’s Wedding”.

Bray’s Channel 4 pilot Break Clause filmed recently and is about a young couple — played by 2023 Star of Tomorrow Samuel Bottomley and Mexican comedian Lara Ricote — who move into a flat, but split up on the first night and must live out their break clause. “It’s like a younger version of [Channel 4 sitcom] Catastrophe,” she says.

While at university, Bray penned a “farcical play about swinging”, which went to Edinburgh, and had such a good time doing it, she realised she wanted to write. Bray moved to London, performed stand­up and worked at Fremantle Media for three years. She took a comedy writing course at the National Film and Television School, then quit her day job to write, tutoring Spanish and working as a barista to pay the bills.

Bray has been part of writers’ rooms for Netflix and Sky, was one of seven people selected for Chris Chibnall’s Next Generation Showrunner Programme, and one of 12 writers picked by BBC Studios TalentWorks for its The Writer Spotlight scheme.

She has penned episodes of upcoming Roughcut/BBC Two comedy drama We Might Regret This and Stephen Merchant’s Big Talk/BBC series The Outlaws, is working with an Oscar-winning actress on a comedy series, and has another pilot about to go out, about a girl who fakes her own death to seek attention. In addition, Bray has written and directed several shorts.

“I never want to stay still,” she says. “I feel very lucky and am aware I need to have lots of irons in lots of fires, so I’m not resting on my laurels. I do have shows that aren’t just about breakups.”

Contact: Ligeia Marsh, Curtis Brown

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