Jenna Ortega may still be in her early twenties, but her creative ambitions go far beyond acting — and they’ve been quietly taking shape for nearly a decade. In a recent conversation with V Magazine while promoting The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow, Ortega revealed that she’s preparing to direct a film based on a script she began developing when she was just starting out in the industry.
"I have a script that I’ve known that I was going to make for almost 10 years," she said. "It’s weird because it’s something that I thought of when I was younger… and it’s only now that I’m actually starting to take the steps to get it made, which is really interesting."
Ortega, who holds a producer credit on the upcoming second season of Wednesday, credits her growing experience behind the camera with helping her understand the full scope of storytelling. "There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes that I wasn’t aware of," she noted, adding that she now feels ready to "put the puzzle pieces together" in a way she couldn’t before.
Though she envisions herself in the lead role for this first film, Ortega made it clear her long-term intention is to direct without acting. "That’s probably the main thing that I want to do. I see that for myself," she said. "I don’t want to be in the things that I create in the future, but starting out… I may as well use [my name] as a stepping stone."
With a few other projects also quietly in development, Ortega seems intent on building a body of work that’s both creatively driven and deeply personal. If this long-nurtured script is any indication, her next chapter behind the camera could be just as compelling as the one in front of it.
