Jill Bennett: the web-series producer who brought her feature home

Born 14 August 1975, Fort Wayne — We Have to Stop Now, Second Shot, Under the Influencer

From Fort Wayne stages to the festival circuit: Jill Bennett was born in Fort Wayne on 14 August 1975 and grew up in the city — acting from the age of sixteen, winning a state speech title, and leaving for Bradley University on a theatre scholarship. Her acting carried her to Los Angeles and to a working screen career (Dante's Cove; In Her Line of Fire, 2006; And Then Came Lola, 2009), but her producing is the record here. She co-executive produced and starred in We Have to Stop Now (2009–2010), the two-season ensemble web comedy she made with Cathy DeBuono — a festival success shown at Frameline and Outfest and a winner of three Curve Magazine awards — and executive produced Second Shot, which won Picture of the Year at London's LFest in 2013; the two series together screened at more than forty festivals. Since 2008 she has also written and produced video for Democratic and progressive causes, most recently as creative director for the Volunteer Blue coalition. In 2024 she produced the feature Under the Influencer — and on 4 January 2025 she brought it home, screening it at Fort Wayne's Cinema Center and answering questions afterward, in the room she described as the only place her film would have shown when she was growing up here.

Sources:

1. The Bradley Scout (Bradley University), "Notable women of Bradley's history" — Bennett grew up in Fort Wayne, began acting at sixteen, won a state speech title, and attended Bradley on a theatre scholarship; co-executive produced and starred in her own series We Have to Stop Now in 2009.
2. Filmography and professional biography of Jill Bennett (Wikipedia-derived filmography; the professional biography carried by the film databases) — born 14 August 1975 in Fort Wayne; producer credits: executive producer, We Have to Stop Now (14 episodes, 2009–2010) and Second Shot; producer, Under the Influencer; "an award-winning producer, actor, and writer"; We Have to Stop Now winner of three Curve Magazine Awards; Second Shot Picture of the Year at LFest; both series at over forty festivals; the progressive-video work since 2008 and Volunteer Blue.
3. Cinema Center event record, 4 January 2025 (Cinema Center / the film's own posts) — the Fort Wayne screening of Under the Influencer with producer Jill Bennett in question-and-answer, Bennett speaking of Fort Wayne as where she was born and raised.