How Did Jessica Hische Letter a Wes Anderson Film?

Jessica Hische lettered a Wes Anderson film by blending a classic script with something more hand-hewn. A calligrapher had been on the project already, and she thinks that person could not bend those skills into his extremely specific vision, so he clean-slated the lettering. She never saw the earlier work. His art direction named the timeframe of the story and included stills of titles from a Claude Chabrol film.

The letters stay handmade because she does not snap to a grid or automate copies. They are imperfect on purpose, so a person shows in them. Someone on the art team recommended her to a producer. A small test led to her and Wes Anderson emailing each other.

The job arrived before she had dropped the idea that clients are trying to ruin the work. He was extremely particular. She redrew a lowercase r for the eighth time at 3 a.m. while she was in Sydney, and she trusted his vision enough to treat the redraw as a sign she had not nailed it yet. Afterward, feedback she disagreed with became something to understand, because she wanted the client happy. She thinks there are a hundred ways to solve a problem, and the one that works for the people in the room is the one to keep.