Following her many years on the New York stages, Jennifer Warren traveled west, where was accepted into the Directing Workshop for Women at the American Film Institute, and directed the short film, "Point of Departure", which received the Cine Golden Eagle Award, Best Drama at Aspen Film Festival, and then opened the season for the Arts & Entertainment Channel on their World Premiere Short Film Series.

Two years later, she formed Tiger Rose Productions, and co-produced the short documentary, "You Don't Have to Die", which was produced for HBO Documentaries and won the Academy Award in 1989, as well as the Cable Ace Award.

About that same time, Jennifer began to develop a feature film, “The Beans of Egypt, Maine (1994)”, which she directed for American Playhouse and Live Entertainment. The film was selected as "Best Pick" of both the Seattle and Boston Film Festivals. It was invited into competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival and gathered wide critical acclaim and two Independent Film Spirit Award Nominations, upon its release in 1994. It appeared on PBS for the American Playhouse series, the following year.

Jennifer finished production on her second directorial feature, “Partners in Crime (2000)”, starring Rutger Hauer and Paulina Porizkova in 1998. "Partners" was distributed in America by Artisan Films during the 1999/2000 year and appeared on Direct T.V.

A member of the "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences" since 1979 and "Women in Film.” Jennifer Warren is a founding member and present Co-Chair of Alliance of Women Directors, an organization which actively supports equality in the workplace.

She has taught at Wesleyan University, Johns Hopkins University, UCLA Extension, University of Tel Aviv. Since 1995, Jennifer has been a Professor of Practice for the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts on both the graduate and undergraduate level, and spent 3 years as Chair of the Directing Track. As of May 2024, Jennifer has reached Professor Emeritus status.