Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Holben.
Hi Jay, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was five years old when my parents took me to the movies to see Star Wars. It was only my second time at the cinema, but I walked out of that transformative experience declaring that I wanted to direct movies – and the rest of my life has been dedicated to that goal.
I started making films when I was seven, after discovering my mother’s Kodak Brownie 8mm camera tucked away in a drawer and I quickly learned that if I wanted to be a good director, I had to know what everyone else on the set was doing so that I could better communicate with them about what I wanted from them. To that end, I started, professionally, as a young actor; mostly in theater, but some television and movies. Shortly thereafter, I started branching out behind the scenes and learning each trade to a comfortable level of competency. Filmmaking evolved from 8mm to Betamax and VHS in middle school and high school and I continued working as a professional actor and behind the scenes. In the nearly 35 years that I’ve been working as a professional, I’ve professionally embodied every job in production and post-production with the exceptions of hair/makeup, stunts, catering and music composition (I started learning makeup recently).
Along the way, I found a second passion in cinematography and I stayed working as a cinematographer for nearly a decade – the longest of any particular trade, except directing and producing. The art of filmmaking is rooted in the camera — it’s what makes movies unique among other art forms — and the craft of the cinematographer is so vital in the world of visual storytelling. While I officially “hung up my meter” in 2008 to direct and produce full time, I continue to stay very active in the cinematography world as the technical editor for American Cinematographer magazine, an instructor for the Global Cinematography Institute, author of three books on cinematography, associate member of the American Society of Cinematographers and chair of multiple ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council committees — cinematography is still a part of my daily life.
But the real day job now, as declared on that hot summer day in 1977, is as a director and producer working in Los Angeles.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t think there’s any smooth road in Hollywood. They’re all paved with broken dreams and heinous potholes. The life of a filmmaker is always gig to gig and the cliché of feast or famine is absolutely true. You’ll bathe in a spoil of work and riches and then wallow in an elongated drought of an empty calendar and crippling self-doubt. As a young man entering Hollywood, I was often told “It’s such a hard business!” which is absolutely true, it’s designed, fundamentally, to be exclusive and exclusionary “There’s so much rejection!” That second part actually isn’t true. There’s very little rejection in Hollywood. Mostly there’s hollow acceptance. “You’re great! We’d love to work with you.” and then silence. Ghosting has been popular in Hollywood for many decades. It’s incredibly rare that anyone outright tells you “no” – most are afraid to because they might reject the “next big thing” and look foolish. Instead, they paint you in accolades and praise and then quietly hope you won’t be persistent. Yet, to survive in this business, you have to persist. I was once given the piece of advice: “persist to the point just BEFORE they call security…” and while I don’t necessarily subscribe to that, literally, I do in spirit.
As there are ebbs and flows in the industry, it is accompanied with deep boughts of self-doubt, depression and disillusionment. When it’s been a couple of months between your jobs, it can become a hard time of questioning yourself, believing in failure – but if this business is in your blood, you must persist.
As I noted earlier, this business is designed to be exclusionary and exclusive. The very base structure is created to weed out the week and, generally, make it very difficult for new talent to enter the foray. Because talent is an intangible, people who are already established want to hedge their bets by working with established talent — minimize their risk factors. This extends all the way through the production crew to the PAs working on the front lines. Hollywood is, very much, a “who you know” business because each position is hired first off of direct connection and then by indirect connection. So-in-so worked with such-in-such on their last job, so they’re the first call. If they’re available they join and bring on all their usual crew. If they’re not available, they will recommend someone else and based on the strength of that recommendation, that person will get the job. It’s extremely rare that anyone gets hired off a cold resume – it’s all about connections. So networking is so crucial in this business. It gets lonelier and lonelier as you work your way up the ladder and up the production food chain. As a producer, it’s generally me who is setting up a production, so I’m not getting hired, I’m the one doing all the hiring, which leaves it up to me to put the whole package together. Finding financing for movies is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish that has only gotten substantially larger and harder in the digital streaming world.
In truth, every stage and every day of the film business is a challenge rife with obstacles. You have to love this business enough to keep climbing over the obstacles. Every. Day.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
It can be complicated to encapsulate what I do because I stay active in many different aspects of this business on a daily basis. Primarily what I do is work as a director and producer. A hyphenate between the creative and business lead of a film production. What separates me from others is my background having embodied every role in production and post makes me uniquely suited to communicate with every member of the production in their own language. Because I’ve been an actor, grip, electrician, carpenter, painter, visual effects artist, editor, sound mixer, script supervisor, graphic designer, production designer, and so forth, I can communicate with each member of the production crew to troubleshoot or to specifically ask for my wishes in their own vernacular. There isn’t anything I’d ask of my crew or cast that I haven’t or am not capable of doing myself. In nearly all cases, they should be BETTER at their jobs than me, but I at least have a level of competency to relate.
I love telling stories and sharing experiences with an audience. The magic of the darkened theater and the glowing light of life on the screen has captivated me my entire life (except those first five years when I was a little unfocused and wild 😉 ). So I love making films and moving audiences to tears or anger or fear or empathy with a character’s plight. I generally gravitate toward suspense, drama or thriller films. I love to thrill an audience and when they scream or laugh or cry in the right moments – it’s the best feeling in the world. To leave an audience with a lingering emotional impression that stays with them for hours, days, months, years – are the moments that make me proudest.
I am also known for teaching. In addition to the Global Cinematography Institute, I have been teaching and lecturing all over the world for nearly 30 years. Between the books that I write, to thousands of articles in American Cinematographer, Digital Video, Videography, the Hollywood Reporter, Government Video, TV Technology and many other publications to educational posts on social media, I have made a lifelong dedication to teaching and sharing as much of my knowledge and experience as I possibly can. And I never stop learning myself.
How do you think about luck?
Luck is a true fickle motherf*%^*, ain’t it? Unfortunately, there’s an extremely significant role that luck plays in this business. Success is really preparation meets opportunity and the opportunity part is HEAVILY steeped in luck. I have been lucky to make a living in this business for more than three decades. While I’ve diversified over the years in my specific trade, I’ve never ventured out of the film business into other jobs since I was in high school. I’m lucky to have wonderful family and friends who are supportive. Many great jobs and experiences happened because I HAPPENED to meet someone or “be in the right place at the right time.” There’s no doubt that “luck” is a significant player in the filmmaking business. Even the intangible of a successful project or not depends highly on luck. Many filmmakers have been convinced that they’ve hacked the formula and can produce a paint-by-numbers film, but when it doesn’t resonate with an audience, is that failure of the formula or bad luck? The thing is you have to be grateful for the good luck and shake off the bad. You can’t manufacture luck, but you CAN prepare. You can make sure you’re ready to seize an opportunity when it presents itself and to put yourself in as many situations as possible that may lead to opportunity. I’ve been fortunate to be able to parlay many tangential connections into wonderful opportunities – and that’s the real key. But I do carry a Good Luck Charm with me every day – just in case it helps.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jayholben.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayholben
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jayholben
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/adakinprod
- Other: https://ascmag.com/blog/shot-craft
Image Credits:
Image 1,2,5,6 – Otto Kitsinger Image 3, 4, – Raina Virginia Image 8 – Eric Lombart Image 11 – James Cole
