Jen Heck
Jen Heck is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and television producer whose work has been recognized at Sundance, the Whitney Biennial, and many international film festivals. Her credits include HGTV's "House Hunters International," MTV's "Teen Mom," and the award-winning feature documentary "The Promised Band." She directs and operates camera in challenging environments worldwide—from the Middle East to Mount Everest—telling stories from communities at society's edges. Her work has earned her recognition as a Film Independent Documentary Fellow and membership in the Producers Guild of America, Film Fatales, and New York Women in Film & Television.
She holds degrees from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and Columbia University and is completing Harvard Kennedy School's Public Leadership Credential. The same skills that let her see overlooked stories now drive her approach to public service—connecting with constituents others miss and making political change as compelling as her films.
Chair of the Sutton Democratic Town Committee and 2025-26 state convention delegate, she is a 2026 candidate for State Representative in the Worcester 18th District.
Background, Education, and Career
Heck grew up in Massachusetts and Singapore. She holds degrees from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Columbia University School of the Arts. In 2001, she co-founded Brooklyn-based Charged Productions with filmmakers including Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio. In 2004, she produced fine artist Eve Sussman's 89 Seconds at Alcazar, which premiered at the Whitney Biennial and was acquired by MoMA. In 2006, she co-wrote Hold Up with Madeleine Olnek, which premiered at Sundance, won the Audience Award at Newfest, and was subsequently included in Sundance's 2022 "best of" short film retrospective. She has shadow directed on Showtime's Dexter with Steve Shill and TNT's Leverage with Rod Hardy.She participated in two Mount Everest expeditions, creating From the Lowest to the Highest—a film tracing a journey from the Dead Sea to Everest as a fundraising campaign for the King Hussein Cancer Center in Jordan. Locally, she is a member of the Sutton Cultural Committee and a featured artist at the Small Stones Festival of the Arts.
Heck collaborated with Van Jones and members of musician Prince's family to create a short film about Prince's secret philanthropic work entitled "Prince: A Secret Legacy of Philanthropy," featuring President Barack Obama, Janelle Monáe, Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, and others. The piece is being developed into a feature film. She has since collaborated with Minneapolis filmmakers, artists, and organizations including the Minnesota Humanities Center and the Equal Justice Initiative on projects including the film Reconstruction Destructed, released on Juneteenth 2025, and other films exploring historic and contemporary activism in Minnesota.