Indie Filmmaker of the Day: Jabree Webber – ‘It Happened One Night’

We’re so happy to introduce the amazing quadruple threat Jabree Webber: an actor, writer, director, and voiceover artist. She’s coming fresh off screening her movie It Happened One Night at Cannes in the revered Global Women of Color in Film corner. Jabree Webber is a fearless artist with great drive, an overachiever who graduated high school at the age of 16. Webber is an honors graduate of the University of Southern California's School of Dramatic Arts and holds an M.F.A from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.

On screen you may have seen her as a recurring guest star in OWN’s/Tyler Perry Studios’s The Haves and the Have Nots, recurring character in college web series BSU (an Issa Rae Production). You might also have heard her voiceover work in Orange is the New Black or Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Webber has impressed us on stage in various works by playwrights such as Pearl Cleage, Tennessee Williams, Oni Faida Lampley, and Frederick Stroppel. Through her exposure to many types of storytelling, Jabree discovered her love for writing and directing.

Early Career and Education

Webber’s early path shows the same precision that marks her later credits. Graduating high school at sixteen already signaled the focus that carried her through honors work at USC’s School of Dramatic Arts and an MFA at the School of Cinematic Arts. Those years gave her a working fluency in both performance and production, the exact combination she later used to move between acting roles and directing her own material.

It Happened One Night and Festivals

As a writer and director, Webber’s film It Happened One Night was part of Cannes 2019. Her work was also featured at other film festivals, including Outfest Fusion, Pan African Film Festival, HollyShorts, Beyond Borders Diversity in Cannes, One Lens Film Festival, and more. The short later screened at the 2020 BHERC Sistas Short Film Festival and appeared in USC First Look with a narrative shaped by post-Roe v. Wade realities. Those additional stops kept the conversation around the film alive well beyond its initial festival run.

JuVee Productions and Mentorships

If that’s not enough, Jabree also works in development at JuVee Productions under the mentorship of Julius Tennon and Viola Davis. At USC her mentor is comedy legend Robert Townsend. That foundation in development later extended into an Associate Producer role at the NAACP Hollywood Bureau, where she contributed to short film initiatives centered on social justice themes. The move aligned directly with the goals she set out early in her career.

Recent Acting and Producing Credits

Webber’s on-camera and producing work has continued without pause. Recent acting credits include That’s Her, slated for 2026, and The Late Night Creep, due in 2025. As a producer she has credits on Fluid in 2020 and Say Your Grace in 2023, plus additional acting turns in Little Bobby Connors and voice work on Sincerely, Camille, both from 2020. These entries show a steady output across performance and behind-the-camera roles.

NAACP Hollywood Bureau and Industry Roles

The Associate Producer position at the NAACP Hollywood Bureau placed Webber inside institutional conversations about representation and programming. Her involvement in short film initiatives there focused on social justice material, giving her a direct line from development work at JuVee into larger industry structures. The role extended the mentorship model she first encountered with Tennon, Davis, and Townsend.

Ongoing Mentorship and Activism

Webber has stayed active in mentorship programs, including participation in Women in Film. That work sits alongside her NAACP short film contributions and keeps the emphasis on supporting emerging voices that she voiced from the start. The combination of formal industry positions and direct mentorship activity shows the social change goals she described early on moving into concrete daily practice.

It Happened One Night Festival Journey Beyond Cannes

After the Cannes debut, It Happened One Night continued to travel. The 2020 BHERC Sistas Short Film Festival screening and the USC First Look presentation gave the film new audiences and placed its themes in conversation with shifting legal and cultural contexts. Those later stops demonstrated how the short’s reach expanded through targeted festival programming rather than a single high-profile premiere.

Jabree aspires to combine her love for being behind and in front of the camera in the same way that her mentors have. Jabree aspires to utilize her talents in order to impact social change and enrich young people, while also transcending race, religion, and gender inequalities. We encourage you to watch this incredible emerging talent. Follow her on her website, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to keep up with her work.