Isabelle is a BAFTA and RTS award-nominated director, with credits spanning some of the biggest shows on British television including BBC’s Shetland, Sky’s The Athena, Amazon Prime’s The Devil’s Hour, and the critically acclaimed BBC drama Vigil.
Her latest project, Hostage – a five-part Netflix thriller – marks her debut as lead director. Isabelle directed three of the episodes, including the opening, setting the tone for what has quickly become a global phenomenon. Within 48 hours of release, Hostage became the most-watched TV show in the world, and has been praised in outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Variety, and Metro.
Reflecting on her time at Regent’s, Isabelle recalls a pivotal moment in her journey during an interview with Directors Now:
‘It wasn’t until my final year at Regent’s University London when two fateful incidents finally made me realise what I knew deep down all along.
Firstly, I did a two-months long internship with two incredible producers, Kate Ogborn and Lisa Marie Russo, over the summer break between my 2nd and 3rd year. At the time they had a film production company together, called Fly Film, and I assisted them across the board for those two months. It was such an enlightening and inspiring experience watching these two brilliant producers running their business and putting their slate of projects together with such impeccable taste. But it also showed me what producing really looked like on a day-to-day basis and how much of it is really office based. So after these two months I knew for sure that producing wasn’t really what I wanted and it was time to stop coming up with excuses to not pursue what had excited me about filmmaking in the first place: directing!
And then my 3rd year at Regent’s began and it was time to make my final year short film.’
What began with that first short film project at Regent’s has grown into a remarkable directing career, inspiring the next generation of filmmakers to follow their passion and commit to their craft.