Growing up, Jessica O’Toole ’94 would write skits for her cousins to perform for the family during the holidays. Now, she works in Hollywood—penning stories viewed by millions of fans worldwide.
A screenwriter and producer for TV shows, O’Toole has worked in the entertainment industry for more than two decades. Most recently, she has served as the showrunner—the lead writer, who also oversees the production—for Netflix’s “XO, Kitty,” a streaming spinoff from the To All the Boys films. The romcom, which has been renewed for a third season, follows a young woman who moves to Seoul, South Korea, to attend school and reunite with her long-distance boyfriend, while discovering herself and navigating relationships.
Like “XO, Kitty,” many of O’Toole’s projects have explored the lives of teenagers and young adults—intermingling drama, romance, comedy, and adventure.
An English major in Arts & Sciences, O’Toole worked for women’s magazines in NYC after graduation before moving to L.A. to pursue her dreams of writing for film and TV. She was able to quit her day jobs after Universal bought her script about a college sorority. While the project wasn’t produced, she still describes the experience as “winning the lottery,” given her industry’s intense competition.
Jason Koski/Cornell University
Ishion Hutchinson, the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor in the Humanities, is making his prose debut this month with his first essay collection, “Fugitive Tilts,” published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
