Joy Lusco facts for kids

Joy Lusco, also known as Joy Kecken and Joy Lusco Kecken, is an American film and television director and writer. She often works with her husband, Scott Kecken. They worked on the HBO drama series The Wire for four of the show's five seasons.

About Joy Lusco

Joy Lusco moved to the Baltimore area with her family when she was a teenager. In 1995, while studying at Towson University, she met Scott Kecken, who would later become her husband.

After finishing college, Joy got an internship with the TV show Homicide: Life on the Street, which was filmed in Baltimore. An internship is like a temporary job where you learn by working. She later became a freelance writer for the show. This means she wrote scripts for them without being a full-time employee. In 1998, she wrote the "teleplay" (the script for a TV episode) for two episodes: "Fallen Heroes: Part 2" and "Kellerman, P.I.: Part 1."

Making Documentaries and Short Films

In 1997, Joy and Scott Kecken started working on a documentary film. A documentary is a non-fiction film that tells a true story. Their film was about Baltimore's "arabbers," who are people who sell fresh produce from horse-drawn carts. They also started their own company called The Film Foundry.

In 1998, Joy and Scott released a short film called Louisville. It starred Andre Braugher, an actor from Homicide. This short film was shown at 35 different film festivals! It won several awards, including "Best Short" at the New York Independent International Film Festival.

Working on TV Shows

In 2001, Joy was part of the writing team for The Division, a TV show about a team of all-female detectives. That same year, she helped organize the "Women In Film and Video festival," which showcased different voices in filmmaking. Joy and Scott got married in 2002. She also worked with a Girl Scout troop to create a video called Teen Voices, which was about self-expression.

In 2002, Joy Lusco joined the writing team for the first season of The Wire. She had worked with the show's creator, David Simon, on Homicide before. Joy wrote the teleplay for the episode "The Hunt". She also helped write the story and teleplay for "Hard Cases". She returned for the show's third season in 2004, where she co-wrote the story and teleplay for the episode "Back Burners".

Other Projects and Family Life

In 2003, Joy joined the advisory board for the Maryland Film Festival. She also worked as a story consultant for the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin', which was about the rapper 50 Cent. A story consultant helps make sure the movie's story makes sense and is well-told. Also in 2003, she was a story producer for a reality TV series called Random 1.

In 2004, Joy and Scott had a son named Tawabi Kecken. Their family settled in southern Pennsylvania. They kept working on their documentary We Are Arabbers, which was shown for the first time on September 9, 2004. Joy said that working on this project helped her understand how her grandparents had to work very hard in their lives. That same year, she also released another short film called Woman Hollering Creek. It was based on a short story by Sandra Cisneros and starred Larry Gilliard Jr. from The Wire. This film was shown at the Maryland Film Festival.

In 2006, Joy Lusco joined the writing team for the NBC series Standoff. She wrote the episode "Partners in Crime". She has also co-written a feature film called Maker of Saints, which is planned to star the singer Erykah Badu.

Joy Lusco's Filmography

• Motherland: Fort Salem (2020)
  • Episode 1.05 "Bellweather Season" (2020) Writer
  • Episode 1.08 "Citydrop" (2020) Writer
• Cloak & Dagger (2019)
  • Episode 2.04 "Rabbit Hold" (2019) Writer
  • Episode 2.07 "Two Player" (2019) Writer
• Tales (2017)
  • Episode 1.07 "You Got Me" (2017) Writer
• Standoff (2006)
  • Episode 1.04 "Partners in Crime" (2006) Writer
• We Are Arabbers (2004) Co-Producer and Co-Director
• Woman Hollering Creek (2004) Writer, Co-Producer and Co-Director
• The Wire (2002)
  • Episode 1.11 "The Hunt" (2002) Teleplay
  • Episode 2.04 "Hard Cases" (2003) Story and Teleplay
  • Episode 3.07 "Back Burners" (2004) Story and Teleplay
• The Division (2001) Writer
• Homicide: Life on the Street (1993)
  • Episode 6.23 "Fallen Heroes: Part 2" (1998) Teleplay
  • Episode 7.08 "Kellerman, P.I.: Part 1" (1998) Teleplay
• Louisville (1998) Writer, Co-Producer and Co-Director