Justin Smith Uzomba was born to Nigerian immigrants and hails from Hackney in London.

Having spent a decade releasing music both independently and on a major record label under the moniker Mikill Pane – as well as collaborating and touring with such acts as Ed Sheeran, Giggs, Rizzle Kicks, the late Mac Miller, Paloma Faith, The Shoes and many more – Justin decided to make a foray into screenwriting in 2020, at the behest of friends and collaborators George the Poet and Romesh Ranganathan.

In 2021, Justin entered Soho House’s prestigious short film competition, Soho House Shorts, with an entry entitled F.I.T.D. Justin not only made the shortlist of the competition but also received very high praise from one of the judges – none other than Oscar-winning writer-director Barry Jenkins. The script also caught the eye of another US-based industry luminary, Andrew Deane, who entered into a literary management deal with Justin at the end of that year and facilitated the signing of Justin to his UK agent, Christina Pickworth at Imagine Talent. He was tapped to co-write Dropped, Channel 4’s YouTube comedy miniseries which follows two talented but hapless rappers struggling to revisit their glory days. The following year Justin directed his debut short film, F.I.T.D., starring Gary Beadle and Joe Wilkinson. In 2024 Justin won Campari-sponsored Soho House Short with his entry, Keeping Up a Parent, Sis, and capped off another exciting 12 months by having both of his shorts officially screened at Hollyshorts’ inaugural London festival.

We’ve been following Justin on Letterboxd, and it’s remarkable how extensive his film knowledge is! He’s logged over 1,000 films on the platform. A true cinephile!