[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: Did you have a goal of building your own studio before you made your first feature film?
Jake Jalbert, Cinematographer/Filmmaker: Was it before? It was probably after. I think it’s something that developed. We coined like Florida “Jollywood.” We wanted to create Jollywood and create films in Florida and we did. We were making films and we had a studio, renting an office with a cyc wall in the back and lights and all that stuff.
That was the goal. I think the biggest thing and why it didn’t work out was because we didn’t have the capital. We weren’t built up enough. We were trying to start from the ground up with no capital. We were just bootstrapping it.
We were creating these films, put them on Amazon so we had two TV shows, three movies all on Amazon that were collectively making money that were paying us that we were paying for the studio. We were trying to create a business doing films paying for a studio and just kind of growing that and that didn’t quite happen the way we thought it was going to.
We ended up…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
Jake Jalbert began his journey into producing and cinematography 14 years ago, shooting his first feature film, *House Guest Massacre* (2013), starring Alex Vincent from the *Child’s Play* franchise (as Andy Barclay). Over the years, he’s worked his way up by contributing to numerous films and TV shows, collaborating with actors such as Burt Reynolds, Amy Smart, Sean Astin, Michael Shannon, Alexander Ludwig, and Charles Melton. From 2020 to 2024, Jake served as Director of Photography on several films, beginning with *Mind Games*, starring A-list talents Robert LaSardo, Jim Fitzpatrick, and Michael Paré, as well as *Soulmates*.
Jake was later hired to shoot two studio films, *Megaboa* and *Shark Waters*, both of which had small theatrical releases through The Asylum, the studio behind the *Sharknado* franchise. In addition, Jake was the cinematographer for the Tubi original film *DC Down*, directed by Geoff Meed and starring Eric Roberts and Sean Young.
In 2023, Jake produced and shot his most ambitious project to date, *Off Rip* (Sports/Drama), directed by and starring Jadon Cal, which is currently in post-production.
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