Today we’d like to introduce you to Jean de Meuron.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Jean. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
From a very young age, I was very passionate about movies and TV shows, so it has always been a dream of mine to pursue a career in entertainment. After High School, I had the privilege to do an internship at ViacomCBS (formerly Viacom International) for the Senior Vice President Public Affairs. This invaluable experience further solidified my passion, conviction, as well as dedication to work in the entertainment industry. Therefore, I decided to go to film school in the US.
After attending short term, as well as conservatory filmmaking programs at the New York Film Academy (NYFA) at their New York and Los Angeles campuses, I started my professional storytelling career at a Film & Photography production company (Tim Lüdin GmbH) in my native Switzerland as a commercial, branded-content and photography producer.
Since it has always been a dream of mine to work in Hollywood, I continued my education, consequently studying at USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Summer Program, UCLA Extension Business & Management of Entertainment program and The New School in NY, where I got my Bachelor’s Degree. During my studies, I was fortunate enough to intern at Paramount Pictures, The Weinstein Company, Universal Pictures and MGM. This led me to work as Marketing Coordinator for prolific Emmy®, Grammy, Oscar®, Golden Globe and Tony Award (EGOT) winning producer Scott Rudin, as well as Oscar® nominated producer Eli Bush at Scott Rudin Productions.
My first film credit was Associate Producer for ‘CINEMAsuisse: Marc Forster’, a documentary short subject about Hollywood director Marc Forster, who I admire, respect and appreciate tremendously. Serving as Executive Producer, our short film, ‘La femme et le TGV’ by director Timo von Gunten, starring the iconic Jane Birkin in the leading role, premiered at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival in the Pardi di domani section. The short was further recognized with an Oscar® nomination at the 89th Academy Awards for Best Live Action Short Film.
Following the success of ‘La femme et le TGV’, I produced ‘Megan’, an ambitious sci-fi proof of concept, which received widespread critical acclaim, global press coverage and multiple festival accolades. Several media publications such as The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly, Empire, /Film and IndieWire reported on the short. ‘Megan’ won Best International Sci-Fi Short at the 2018 London International Short Film Festival and went viral online, surpassing 1.2M views on YouTube. In 2019, ‘Megan’ was honored with the renowned Telly Award (Silver Winner 40th Annual Telly Awards) in the Online: General-Viral category. The short also won Best Sci-Fi at the 2019 Los Angeles Film Awards and 2019 New York Film Awards.
I am currently working as Marketing Manager on ‘Tides’, a sci-fi feature film by director Tim Fehlbaum, for which Roland Emmerich (one of my favorite filmmakers) is the Executive Producer. Tim is also the reason I was introduced to and got connected with Roland and producer Marco Shepherd, the Head of Production & Development Centropolis Entertainment. I value and cherish that close friendship dearly, as I learned a lot from Marco, who has always supported me and helped my career, as well as Roland, Tim and his producers Ruth Waldburger in Switzerland and Thomas Wöbke in Germany.
Has it been a smooth road?
I consider myself very lucky to have crossed path with so many wonderful, gifted and talented individuals who have mentored and helped me in my path. Most importantly, my parents always encouraged my career as they stand fully behind my decisions. It is a blessing and so very uplifting to be able to pursue one’s dream with such an immense support system. It was such a wonderful experience to have my parents and best friend accompany us to the Academy Awards ceremony.
I pride myself in having a good work ethic, as I believe in hard work, passion, dedication, determination and perseverance. I fondly remember how an instructor at NYFA lectured us about the three important ‘P’s: practice, professionalism and persistency — all admirable attributes, character traits and qualities I aspire to live by. I would also add precision and perfectionism to that list. It is important to me personally to contribute one’s best work possible at all times.
Generally speaking, I don’t dwell on the struggles along the journey, as I consider myself an optimist. Difficult times, conflicts as well as struggles are part of our daily lives. They are a constant and essential reminder to be humble, work hard and not give up. I wouldn’t say it has been a smooth road, but I wouldn’t want to have it any other way, as our “defeats” sometimes lead us to our greatest victories and accomplishments. We achieve greatness by overcoming our struggles and learning from them. I would say obstacles/challenges are a crucial part to our personal growth along the way.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am most passionate about storytelling, specifically filmmaking and creative marketing, as I love to work and collaborate with people. The entertainment business is a very collaborative one, where individuals from different backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures come together for a collective, unified and shared purpose with the intention/goal to emotionally engage viewers.
One of the proudest moments of my career was to receive the recognition of my creative peers by being invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.) as a Member in the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch (Class of 2019) — this was very special and humbling, as I get to vote for The Oscars.
As far as my career is concerned, I not only love producing but also marketing, specifically creative advertising, as well as publicity. I am in love with being creative, creating content and telling stories while raising public visibility and awareness for an individual, product and/or project. I find it immensely gratifying to share and communicate one’s work with a receiving audience — be it your own work or somebody else’s.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Los Angeles is the capital of entertainment. That being said, the entertainment industry is a global business. The streamers, such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Disney+, Peacock, HBO Max, Apple TV+ and Quibi, to name a few, allow for aggregated content to be digitally distributed and accessed around the world whenever is convenient, suitable and desired by the consumer/customer that is, subscriber. Since international and domestic content is very popular, it can be produced and exhibited on a global scale. Netflix in particular is expanding its international outreach/footprint with world programming and opening offices in multiple territories to produce local shows.
Streaming has further collapsed and simplified the release/distribution window of content. Meaning, one can produce and make content wherever to find an audience. Theatrically speaking, the distribution has radically changed. AMC Theatres, the largest movie theater chain in the world, has struck a historic agreement with Universal that will allow the studio’s movies to be made available on premium video-on-demand after just 17 days of play in cinemas, including three weekends — a watershed moment for the entertainment industry. This means that Universal will have the option of making any of its titles available on PVOD after just three weekends of exclusive play in cinemas. Initially, motion pictures typically had to wait 90 days before they appeared on home entertainment platforms.
A lot of productions are currently taking place in Europe (e.g., Pinewood Studios in the UK). Additionally, many states in the US, as well as foreign countries, offer tax incentives and government subsidies, which entice productions to shoot in a specific location. Regarding physical production, one does not necessarily need to be in Los Angeles, as London, Berlin (Studio Babelsberg), Munich (Bavaria Studios) and Budapest, among others, have great access and resources for film crews. However, the major film studios, networks, streamers, production companies, talent agencies and management companies are primarily based in Los Angeles, so from a business point of view, the US media sector is heavily centered in Los Angeles, as well as New York, where most companies have offices.
Long story short, technology has immensely facilitated our communication, which enables an accessibility from anywhere, so generally speaking, one does not necessarily need to be in Los Angeles in order to pursue a career in entertainment.
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