Pandemic Problem? -- and my solution!! (CLICK HERE TO OPEN LINK)

Written By George Jac

San Diego Voyager Magazine recently interviewed me to get my story on how I was able to pivot during the pandemic! Check it out!! It's a quick read that I'm proud to share!

Today we’d like to introduce you to George Jac.

George, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
It was at the end of 2019 that you first interviewed me as I was on the heels of my most prolific year as an actor & producer, and I was on the verge of directing my first short film, “Windfall,” in March of 2020, literally on the weekend that California imposed the stay at home order because of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic–which left so many of us in the creative industries to suffer the consequences a little bit more than most.

In retrospect, the irony to follow is that this was my “Windfall,” of sorts…

Creatives are part of what’s commonly referred to as the “gig economy” because for the most part are all freelancers or independent contractors with no sense of job security because by nature gigs are short-term jobs, and what that means is a lot of freelancers side hustle with part-time jobs such as the most common trope: waiting tables or bartending. While many Americans who lost their jobs received unemployment benefits, those of us in the gig economy with side jobs were considered “mixed income” employees and were subsequently left out of legislation that provided these unemployment benefits. I was one of these unfortunate individuals and compounding the stress of losing all of my acting work with the fact that I was ineligible for unemployment benefits really left me in a state of panic.

Around that time, I had also recently joined up with my friend Aaron David Roberts and his new startup Creative Agency called Rising Tides Creative and the entire team provided me with support which allowed me to nurture my ambitions as a director. Encouraged by this, I began to watch youtube videos, read articles and literally taught myself how to become a one-stop-shop and write, shoot or edit any kind of video content. Not only to be self-sufficient but because as I see it, a director is a leader and leaders are expected to have the competency at communicating with all levels of staff in a film production. I should mention that one of my biggest influences and role models has always been Kobe Bryant, and losing him early in 2020 was an incredibly difficult pill to swallow. So part of my motivation was to make Kobe proud with a work ethic that would be akin to his “Mamba Mentality” and I suffice it to say I went on a maniacal mission and put myself through a completely self-taught film school!

A couple of months later, another good friend of mine Jayce Venditti was supposed to be the leading actor of my short film “Windfall”–and was one of the influences that kept me afloat through the difficult times of this process–introduced me to a gentleman, who I also now call a good friend Brian Jackson, who wrote a film during the pandemic called “Failed State” which was deliberately written for all the actors to shoot their own scenes remotely during the stay at home order. I was one of the actors in the film and it went on to win multiple awards at film festivals around the world.

It was September 2020, only a couple of months after their inspiration that led me to write and direct something meaningful again–but what was I going to write?? Considering the context that we were all still in the midst of a pandemic there was a lot to consider, but Jayce and Brian were on board as actors, an old friend Eva Ceja who is now in LA humbly lent her talents and from there, we all reached out to friends and acquaintances in the industry to see who was also down to create, and one by one, the cast began to take shape and I essentially decided that what was meaningful to me was creating something that ALL of us could be proud of–and more importantly something that we would finish–an accomplishment I think we all needed during the trying times.

At this point, I didn’t have a story per se just an idea for the main character’s arc along with a backdrop that we were all too familiar with which I called “The Fake-News-Era.” So I began to take mental notes of the resources that we had– cast, locations, props and equipment–and organically built a story around everything and everyone that we had at our disposal. It was definitely not your typical process by which to create a film or story but the circumstances somehow allowed us to circumvent conventional filmmaking. I wrote an outline within a week and an 8 episode web series script within a month and we called it “Last Chance,” with the tagline: ‘A Fake-News-Era Crime Thriller,’ and shot most of it in October 2020 through January 2021.

This project was so important to me because not only was it allowing me to flex my creative muscles during a time in which I needed it most, but it also paved the way to my own discoveries about why I even wanted to be a filmmaker and director. I’ve fallen in love with using this visual medium to tell meaningful stories rich with character and principled themes, but I’ve also found that my deepest passion is to inspire others. To be honest, I’m not very fond of talking about myself, especially in this kind of detail, but I know that sharing my story will inspire others and that’s one of my main prerogatives.

Fast forward to today, we are not quite done with “Last Chance” yet, but that’s because we’ve continued to build on top of it to this day! From the beginning of the project, I had always told the cast & crew involved that this was solely for them, so when I saw an opportunity for us to grow this project into something larger than a web series, I left it up to the team what they wanted to do with it–and what do you know they all wanted to do the same–so I wrote more to complete story and character arcs and we are just about done with shooting those scenes which in filmmaking lingo is called ‘pickups,’ and soon we will all have a FEATURE LENGTH FILM and the pure product of creatives coming together in a pandemic no less and selflessly collaborating with one another to create art that we will soon share with the world!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
In all honesty, I was on the precipice of quitting the arts altogether, in hopes of finding a new skill to master that would be what I called ‘pandemic proof’–or something that could allow me to work remotely like working in I.T. However, I had a plethora of support that poured in and lifted me up–from my fiancee to my family & friends along with many of my colleagues in the film industry, and it inspired a complete mindset shift that took me full circle and back to the initial goal that I had pre-pandemic of developing my voice and skill set as a director.

Before this experience, I had always been the type of person that had zero knowledge of technical skills including that of computers, however, I knew that this had to change if I was to have a reimagining of my creative career. Fortunately, the stimulus’ that were provided to the American people did not disqualify “mixed income” individuals like the unemployment benefits did, so I used that little amount of money to reinvest in my “future self.” Although my technical skills were few and far between at the time, I did still have nearly a decade of experience being on sets, so when I began to thoroughly research what I would need in terms of computer specs to edit and camera specs to shoot, all of the lingo was not as unfamiliar as I thought it would be, and soon enough I was writing, shooting and editing all kinds of content.

Since my original epiphany and inspiration, I have Written and Directed 2 Short Films, a Music Video and several Commercials–not to mention I’ve opened up my own production company called You Don’t Know Jac Films and am now sharing my skills as a freelancer!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Well, you know that I began my career in this industry as an actor & producer, but I’ve since developed into what I call—A Visual Storyteller. My skills as a video & film creator have always been laced with commercial sensibility and that’s helped me become adept at injecting creativity at every level of production—Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production & even Marketing.

A few additional assets that I possess, I attribute to my athletic upbringing, which are: a hyper-like focus on detail, discipline with daily habits—and most ESPECIALLY an ability to be ‘coachable’—which is why I coined the phrase: “You Don’t Know Jac” —because you can always learn something new from ….ANYBODY.

+ Combining with my creative skills & strengths is an acumen in business, which was acquired from a Public Administration degree that I received from San Diego State University, which I seamlessly integrated with my producing experience and have developed a keen ability to see things from a business perspective as well.

Lastly, I have an innate ability to connect with and bring the best out of all collaborators AND see to it that we FINISH what we start!

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Clearly, the Covid-19 Pandemic put me and many others into our own personal crises, but if there is one thing that I have learned throughout my journey, it is that we are all in this together! If we can disregard all of the negativity floating around this world and focus on humanity, then I believe that we as humans can overcome ANYTHING!

Contact Info:

George Jac
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