Jamal has written and directed for Black Starz, HBO, Fox TV, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., and A&E. His produced screenplays include Ali: An American Hero (Fox), New York Undercover (Fox), Knights of the South Bronx (A&E), and The Many Trials of Tammy B. (Nickelodeon). He wrote and directed Drive By: A Love Story, Da Zone, and the docudrama Hughes Dreams Harlem for Starz. He produced the film Chapter & Verse starring New Heritage Theatre Group’s Artist-in-Residence Daniel Beaty. Jamal is currently co-executive producing and writing a dramatic musical for BET; and adapting his memoir, Panther Baby (Algonquin Books), into a feature screenplay, which he will direct.

He is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University School of the Arts in the Film Department; and former chair of Columbia University’s Graduate Film Division. He serves as the artistic director of the New Heritage Theatre Group in Harlem and executive director of New Heritage Films, a not-for-profit organization that provides training and opportunities for minority filmmakers. Joseph is a three-time winner of the National Black Programming Consortium’s Prize Pieces Award, a two-time winner of the Black Filmmaker Hall of Fame Award, a winner of the International Film and Video Association Award, and a recipient of the New York Fine Arts Fellowship.