The Sunny Dancer trio talk viral fame, going from TikTok to the big screen, and why delusion is the secret to getting anywhere, in a casual conversation with Flanelle.
A few years ago, Brooke Blewitt and Jess Qualter were just two girls, trained dancers and graduates of Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom, filming a 25-second dance routine in their kitchen for a laugh. That video, set to Louis Theroux’s viral “Jiggle Jiggle,” racked up 60 million views in under two weeks and was performed by Jimmy Fallon and Shakira on The Tonight Show… and “Brooke and Jess” haven’t slowed down since. Now signed with UTA and boasting a combined global following of around 7 million, the pair have danced alongside Meghan Trainor at Madison Square Garden, Lisa the infamous Thai rapper from BLACKPINK, collaborated with everyone from Dwayne Johnson to Katy Perry, and watched Jess make her West End debut in Burlesque the Musical. What started as an accident has become a career built on the training they had all along.
That same instinct for making your own work is what connects them to George Jaques. The South London director, actor, writer and producer founded his own production company, Athenaeum Productions, at 16, and went on to premiere his debut feature, Black Dog, at the BFI London Film Festival. His follow-up, Sunny Dancer, a 2026 comedy starring Bella Ramsey, James Norton, Neil Patrick Harris and Jessica Gunning, which follows 17-year-old Ivy as her parents send her to spend the summer at what she calls “chemo camp”, marked Brooke and Jess’s first film cameo. The film premiered as the opening night selection of Generation 14plus at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Crystal Bear, and has now landed in UK cinemas.
For this sit-down, Flanelle brought George, Brooke and Jess together to talk through it all, from the early days in the library while their friends went clubbing, the surreal jump from a viral TikTok to Wembley, and what it’s like building a career across influencing, dancing and acting all at once.
George: How crazy was it that we actually met before this film, which I think is going to blow everyone’s mind. I did a lead role for “A Town Called Malice” back in the day, and you guys were the launch event, so…
Brooke: That was so long ago. When was that? 2023, so yeah, we were working with Sky,, and we did some promo work around “A Town Called Malice,” and that’s the start of our lore.
George: If we go right back to the beginning, because obviously you’re both trained dancers and actors, and then the influencing and TikTok side came second, how did it kick off?
Jess: Yeah, it kicked off, it was all an accident, basically. Me and Brooke went to college together, trained together, went there at 16 and 17. College ended early because of Covid. We also became friends because we were the ones who couldn’t go out to the club, we were underage. So all our peers would go out to the club, and like five of us, 16-year-olds, had to sit in the library.
Brooke: That’s how we became friends.
Jess: And then after lockdown us and our friends moved back to London, started auditioning. Brooke didn’t even have TikTok then!
Brooke: I was a hater. I was like, “I’m not getting this.”
Jess: She was trying to go against the grain. I told her it was so fun! So I dragged her into this TikTok trend, “Jiggle Jiggle,” and we posted it, and by morning it was viral. We literally were just like, “Oh wait, do we try to do this properly?” And from there we posted at 8:30 every night.
Brooke: The delusion in our heads, “All right, one video did well, let’s post 8:30 every night for the next year.” We just believed in it.
George: And how old were you guys when that happened?
Brooke & Jess: We were both 21
George: I started my company when I was 16, and it feels like we all did it quite young in the grand scheme of things. Where was the jump from one video going viral overnight, to it being an 8:30 every day thing? Was that literally just Jess saying, “Brooke, get out of the library, we’re not going clubbing, we’re posting at 8:30”?
Jess: I think it was literally the next day, “Brooke, download TikTok, girl.”
Brooke: I believe the next morning I was like, “I believe in TikTok.” (laughs) I think the first time it felt like it could be a job was when Jimmy Fallon contacted Jess’s personal account asking if she could sign a waiver so they could use the video on their show.
Jess: Brooke was asleep because it came through at like 3am, since it was American time. I was like, oh my god, do I sign it without Brooke’s consent?
George: In that gap between Jimmy Fallon and it feeling like a real career moment, during the 8:30 posting era, was it about using the exposure to boost your acting and dancing careers, or did you just think, “This could be a thing,” or was it more about helping with castings and everything else you were doing?
Brooke: I remember at that time, right after we first posted, there weren’t many auditions around, we’d just come out of Covid, so it was maybe one a month if we were lucky, and we’d usually be at the same audition calls. We both worked at The House, the gym near George, and we both taught dance at different schools. So we had a lot going on, but when you first move to London it’s like you’re doing so many things without knowing how you’re going to get where you want to with no auditions. So we were just trying whatever we could.
Jess: It was a hope for anything and everything. Either way, it felt like a great thing to do, and I don’t think we put much thought into it, the thought came later.
George: So it was just, “See where it takes us,” and then when it became more the primary focus of your careers, with Jimmy Fallon, paid partnerships, Sky bringing you into stuff, did you feel like you missed performance, or did that scratch get itched because it was baked into your videos, since the dance and training were at the heart of it?
Jess: For a while we were on a high, just riding the wave.
Brooke: We had a lot going on for about a year.
Jess: Yeah, and then we got the opportunity to open the pre-show and do the middle of the show at Wembley, we opened for Summertime Ball. That was the most nervous we’ve ever been, we had to do the toaster lifts and everything.
Brooke: I had to have hypnotherapy!
Jess: We were still 21. But as soon as we got off stage we were like, “Oh, this isn’t scratching the performing itch, it’s not the same, with the people and everything.”
Brooke: I remember that discussion; we were like, “Wow, this is exactly why we did all the training.” It was an adrenaline rush we hadn’t had that whole year. Everything we were doing we loved, but this was like, “Oh wow, this is sick.”
Jess: I feel like different things scratch different itches; online is so different to performing live, and both are different to being on screen, and then there’s the people behind the set. I guess we’re greedy and want to scratch them all.
George: That’s what’s so fun, going from zero to a hundred that first year, then Wembley, then thinking, “Where do I go next?”, and actually looking around and going, “I want to go back to dancing, or acting, or a musical, or screen work.” That’s probably a nice feeling to arrive at, wanting to do more than just make videos, revisiting all those years of training.
Brooke: Yeah, I remember a point where we thought we had to choose between social media and that, different people told us it was one or the other, and then at one point we were like, “No, we can do both.”
Jess: We had a real stress moment, like a breakdown, over how to choose, because we loved them all so much. Then someone said, “Girls, you can do what you want, you can do them all,” and we were like, “Oh yeah, why are we torturing ourselves?”
George: That’s pretty similar to me, when I started, I was always acting, writing, directing, and producing through the company, and everyone was like, “No, if you’re an actor you’re an actor, you can’t direct too.” I think that’s what’s exciting about our generation, we can do it all, and it’s starting to be accepted. For people a bit younger than us, looking at you guys doing influencing, dancing, Burlesque, Sunny Dancer, that’s exciting. I feel similar in my world. I always started by making my own work, same as you guys, and then people caught onto that, and now I get opportunities to direct or write for others, but it started with me in my room writing a play, and for you guys, in your room dancing to Louis Theroux, which is clearly much cooler.
Brooke: Was there a point where you thought, “I can do both”?
George: I started a little younger, at 16, when I set up my company. What I loved about that time was the fearlessness, there was no rulebook. I lost a mate to an overdose at that age and wanted to write a play about it. I’d never written before, no one in my family was in the industry, and I just thought, “I’m going to write a play.” Then I wanted to put it on in London, called all the theatres, no one answered, so I set up a production company. Looking back I think, “What is wrong with you, you freak”, but at the time it was just, “Of course I’m going to do that.” That was my version of your 8:30 posting.
Brooke: Delusion that turned into something massive.
Jess: I do think delusion is so important, when you’re younger you have less fear. Sometimes I have to put my brain back into that younger mindset.
George: And also, as you go on, there’s more pressure, you get agents, managers, six million TikTok viewers, film companies wanting to work with you, and then putting a play on in an abandoned railway arch again becomes the scariest thing. Going back to those old videos, like dancing at Summertime Ball, must feel scary now, without the team, without the safety net, there’s something raw and real about it. That’s what excited me when we met, post “A Town Called Malice”, we’d both started by making our own work, and people responded to it.
George: What was your first time on set like? This all came about because Aaron Kelly, who I work closely with, my guru, as Brooke calls him, and I were talking about the film, and the talent show scene. We had James Blunt in it, and none of the decisions on this film were made to go viral, we weren’t making a film for that. A lot of the questions I’ve had lately are like, “Oh, you had Scissor Sisters do loads of the music and now they’re huge”, but Scissor Sisters have always been huge, and we put the song in the film before they went to Glastonbury and blew up again. Olivia Dean gave us music before she was huge with her second album. Cmat wrote us an original before she exploded. And even with you guys, I don’t know if it was clever, I think I just got lucky, honestly. With you two it came from a discussion, we knew we were doing a dance section in the film, I already knew about your work, and Aaron flagged it, saying Brooke and Jess would be great, and I said I already knew who they were, I was into it. He felt strongly that crossing those two worlds, bringing music, fashion and film closer together, was where the industry is heading, because people care more about what you guys say about a film than traditional reviewers now. He felt we should cast people of that caliber to make the world feel rich, like a full tapestry. I was like, yeah, let’s do it. So we reached out to your team tentatively, wanting to take you from TikTok to the big screen. How did that land when the offer came in?
Brooke: I remember the moment.
Jess: Yeah, same.
Brooke: It was a big thing when we got that email. I think we had an interview, and then we got an email, and our agent asked how we felt about it, that felt really important to us.
Jess: The email had a rundown, gave us the vibe, what we needed to know, and we were instantly like, “Yes, this is what we want to do, this sounds amazing.”
Brooke: It was so exciting instantly, and then the more we found out before going on set, the more excited we got, going to Scotland to film, meeting Bella Ramsey, so many things added to it.
George: I wasn’t interested in just stunt-casting you, I went on a bit of a deep dive, learned about your training. Most of my actors audition for me for months, and you two didn’t, so I never want anyone on set who takes you out of it, it was important to put you properly in the world. Even the way I cut that moment into the film, you’re reacting to the dancers on stage, a little nod to your world within mine. There’s always nervousness casting someone you haven’t met, because you could turn out to be dicks, luckily you weren’t, so that was the biggest win, you’re two of the nicest people I’ve worked with. There’s also a fear that people can’t act, but I was really pleased at how quickly you both took to it, especially since it was your first time on a movie set. It moved fast that day, we shot James Blunt the day before, and the next day was a lot of new reactions, basically me dancing on stage trying to get reactions out of the audience, with four actors singing and screaming, a crew of about 100. What was it like going from an iPhone camera to cameras the size of a small fat dog?
Brooke: There were definitely more people on set than I expected, such a big crew. We’d done music videos before, built up to things like this, but this was the biggest set we’d worked on. It was fascinating to see it all, when you brought us into the tent to watch one of the scenes, seeing it on screen versus in real life was completely different. It was fascinating to us.
Jess: I don’t think we were too nervous, we were more excited, because this was something we’d wanted to do for so long. Stepping into that world, seeing how it all works, getting that experience gave us a buzz, we loved that day so much.
Brooke: We got that rush, I’m going to call it the magic rush.
Jess: We filmed a TikTok with Bella at the end of the day, and after that whole build-up, it inspired that TikTok.
George: What I’m proud of with this collaboration is that it wasn’t just you coming in for a day to be in a scene, it was a journey, curated by us and your team together: on-set, the BTS pieces, Bella’s dance, the hosted screening, and beyond. It’s felt like you’re part of the movie. I run sets where everyone is equal, whether you’re a runner or Bella Ramsey, I hope you felt taken seriously as actors.
Jess: Oh, 100%.
Brooke: I felt like we were welcomed into a family. The whole Sunny Dancer process, the lead-up, and the film’s not even out yet, it’s felt like we’ve been taken in, and it’s been amazing.
George: Was there anything on set, because moving from TikTok pace to a set that moves slowly, where I’m doing a four-minute scene for a whole day, three or four takes per shot, was there anything that made you think, “Oh my god, hurry up,” or did you just take it in? It’s hard to complain about that set, given the beautiful Scottish landscape, sunshine, ice creams, sausage rolls whenever you wanted, but was there anything that felt really different?
Jess: It’s obviously a slower pace than our influencing world, that’s just us two in Brooke’s living room, a really quick process. But we’ve also done things like panto, and Jess did the West End stuff, sitting through a tech day, which is kind of similar, long, but fascinating because you see every individual piece being put together. We were entertained, never bored.
Brooke: You can either feel like it’s going on around you and you’re not part of it, or be fascinated, like we were, this is a world we’re not used to, so you take it in. Like watching a music video shoot and how the behind-the-scenes people run it, we’re sponges, we want to absorb it and learn for next time.
George: And with a role that didn’t require a full emotional breakdown, relatively low pressure, I think, Jess, you did Burlesque, and dancing away from TikTok, acting is something you both want to explore more now, right, with an acting agent, wanting to audition more for film, TV, theatre? What’s exciting to me in the industry, even in my ten years, is how far we’ve moved from the RADA actor with three years of training, the Juilliard actor, now you see shows like Euphoria with actors from all different backgrounds, musicians like Gracie Abrams or Olivia Dean stepping into acting. Do you feel there’s real space for you in that world?
Brooke: 100%. We always say it makes so much sense to us, we both trained in acting and dance, and we want to put it all together. We’re just waiting for it, and we want to make it happen.
Jess: And it’s not just that it makes sense, we’ve been passionate about it our whole lives, so of course we want to try it.
George: A bit of a harder question, sometimes when I go back to acting after directing two feature films, I feel like other directors look at me like, “You directed, why would we have you on set?” Do you feel it’ll be hard with acting because of the influencing side, like when you did Burlesque, Jess, did you feel you had to prove yourself doubly, so people didn’t see it as stunt casting because you’re Jess and Brooke, or did that not cross your mind, and you just felt, “I’m here, they’ve given me this space”?
Jess: I think people are going to say whatever they want, but for me, and I imagine it’s the same for Brooke, I felt, “We’ve trained so hard, worked so hard our whole lives for this, we have this incredible opportunity, we’re so grateful, and we’re just going to give it our all.” We’re passionate about it, and we really work hard, that’s something we pride ourselves on.
George: You guys are always working, every time I text you it’s like the hustle doesn’t stop. I think I’m hardworking, then I see you two and think, wow, you’re the hardest-working people. So it doesn’t feel like it’s going to hinder the acting or dancing world, it just feels like the Brooke and Jess brand adds to it?
Brooke: We always talk about “Brooke and Jess” as “the girls”, third person, that’s our core thing we do together. But we’re also Brooke and Jess separately, training separately, so hopefully anything separate only helps us more, while we still want to be taken seriously as our own people.
George: When you’re doing your own separate stuff, do you look around like, “Where’s Jess, where’s Brooke, this is so weird,” or are you getting used to it, since you don’t live together anymore, that’s a new chapter, is it becoming normal, the brand over there, “the girls” in third person, and then you both separately?
Jess: It’s funny, we do talk about them like they’re “the girls”, like, “What’s Brooke and Jess posting tonight?” In Burlesque it was funny because Brooke wasn’t in the show with me, but she was there all the time.
Brooke: They adopted me!
Jess: Whenever we went out, Brooke would come along, and I’d talk about her constantly, and everyone would just accept it.
Brooke: “Brooke and Jess” is such a special thing to us, whatever Jess does separately, I’ll be 100% supportive, and of “the girls” too.
Jess: Yeah, and vice versa.
Brooke: That’s the most important thing, we’re always exploring new interests separately and as “the girls,” and we want everything to help each other.
George: It’s so nice that you get to keep revisiting Brooke and Jess as a duo too. There’ll probably be times where one of you is auditioning for something, mine or someone else’s, and it’ll be less common to do it together like you did with Sunny Dancer. I don’t know how many more times that will happen, next time it might be just Jess in something else, that must be a bit scary, but also nice you got to do the first one together.
Jess: It’s weird, because we always say “the girls” are our priority in everything we do.
George: I just want to be one of “the girls” too, I want to be in this gang.
Jess: It feels like that meme about Princess Diana, “there were three of us in this marriage.”
George: That’s how it feels, but with the three of us, I’m the silent partner, Brooke, Jess, and George.
Jess: “The girls” are the priority, but we’re also separate people who like different things and are good at different things, so we want the freedom to explore wherever, and we’ll support each other regardless.
Brooke: Since 2021 everything has changed, we live separately, we’ve done separate jobs, all these different things, so you constantly have to adapt and evolve. But because we have such a strong foundation in our friendship, “the girls” will always work.
George: We’re here to celebrate your first movie, hopefully many more, it was such a joy working with you both on set, but I feel like we’ve gotten closer since, away from set with 400 people staring at me stressed out, it’s nicer getting to know you as people outside of that. Let’s talk about the work we’ve done around the film’s release, planning those posts, that engagement, that journey. How was it watching the movie together for the first time with all your friends? I hate watching my own films, I watched it once at the Berlin Film Festival opening and then couldn’t watch it again. Was it mad watching your own face on screen, you said people were crying and laughing, how was that night?
Brooke: Watching the film really takes you on a journey, the first time was heightened, laughing, crying, laughing, crying, and watching it with other people, all your people, in the same room.
Jess: And on a big screen too, since we’d only seen it before on a phone or laptop.
George: Also, Geri Halliwell was there, shout out to Geri for popping up.
Brooke: That was cool. On the big screen, the emotions were even more heightened, and having our parents there, it really felt like a moment. I don’t think we’ll forget that night.
Jess: When our moment came on screen, everyone reacted like, “Oh my god, that just happened”, it was really one of those moments you know you’ll remember.
George: I’m so proud of it, it feels like Brooke and Jess have been such a part of this film and its success. I’m really grateful to have cast you, and to have gone on this journey together on the social side too. I hope it’s the first of many, next time I’ll give you some proper lines, make it a bit meatier. Now I know you’re good, that’s it, you’re stuck with me.
Jess: That was our trial run.
George: Yeah, a little warm-up for what’s next. Watch out, because the gap between actor and musician and everything else is really separating now, and I think that’s such an exciting time in the industry. I’m constantly in meetings, and it can be slightly depressing when people are casting movies and TV shows and go, “But they’ve got four million followers”, and my job as a director is that I don’t make films for that, I make films for films, but also for people to watch, so it’s a weird dynamic constantly battling that. What’s exciting about you guys is that you’re trained actors as well, and there are a lot of influencers who can’t act, but you really can. I think it’s the start of a long career, and you’ll go on to do bigger things than my stuff, maybe your own show with a season four one day. I feel like we should finish talking about young people, we’re all nearly 30 now, basically dead.
Brooke: She’s seven months younger! So let’s just say we’re the same.
George: Without tooting our own horns or being egocentric, my thing is take the work seriously but never yourself, which is probably evident from this. What’s been cool is that in both our worlds we’ve achieved things people might think, “I could never imagine doing that”, directing two movies by 26, or for you guys, a year in and opening Wembley, that’s mental. Now you’re both successful, living in London, doing the things people dream of, and it’s easy for young people like us to always focus on what’s next, the next acting job, the next directing job, but it’s important to take a moment and look back and think, “We’ve done the thing that 16-year-old George, or you guys stuck in the library wishing you had fake IDs, would be really proud of.” I like taking down the barriers in our industries, because what’s cool about all of us is we just made work for ourselves; no one handed us nine million followers or a movie to direct. What’s your advice to young people, like someone starting to make YouTube videos? I always say “just pick up a camera,” and then hate myself afterward because everyone knows to do that. What’s the next step beyond writing the four-page script, picking up the camera, making a TikTok dance, or doing “come spend the day with me” content?
Brooke: I’d always say, when we were younger, we used to say “just post it and have fun,” that was our thing at 21. But now that we’re older, I’d say just keep going. If it doesn’t work in this moment, keep going. Hearing your story, starting at 16 directing and getting to where you are now, it sounds near impossible, but you just kept going and did it. So yeah, I think just be delusional, keep going.
Jess: Yeah, for sure, and I also think if it’s something you’re truly passionate about, that you care about and believe in, it will show, so go with that, because that’s the truest thing to you. I also think Brooke and I are lucky to have each other for this, we’re constantly reminding each other to look back at how far we’ve come. Sometimes you forget, and you get down on yourself if you feel like you’re not doing well enough, but every so often, just appreciate yourself for a second, like, “Me two months ago wouldn’t believe I even did that.”
George: I think that’s so cool. Keep going, consistency, appreciate it. I always use this weird analogy of a cheese wheel, one of those massive cheese wheels, if you try to eat the whole thing at once, you’ll make yourself sick. Take it piece by piece. The overnight goal isn’t to break through overnight, great if it happens, if you wake up one day the lead in a Netflix show or your off-campus project blows up, but really, take it piece by piece, do the one step up, not the twenty steps up. And sometimes someone will send you an elevator and you’ll just fly up.
Jess: That’s such a good analogy; we’re going to take that one too.
You can now watch Sunny Dancer in cinemas in the UK, and coming to cinemas in America in September
