Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Rottier.
Hi Jack, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in maryland, on a massive hill. Throughout high school my friends and I got super into bombing roads on longboards, and at the same time my neighbor Jon Sevik , had started a youtube channel called crazytac0. He would film and make edits for himself and other longboarders. I eventually got my own camera, and started doing the same thing. Around this time I had also found Yung Lean , which led me to Bones, Xavier Wulf, Black Kray etc. I became obsessed with the underground soundcloud scene, always hunting and listening to new music. I had already spent time editing in Sony Vegas, so I started filming my friends going crazy to one of the songs we were obsessed with and making edits of that. When Seshollowaterboyz came to baltimore, an artist called The Khan opened up for them. I messaged him, asking to shoot for him and he was down so my friend Preston and I drove to DC, and filmed for a song called “Neptune Tunes” in a graveyard. This was before the era of youtube tutorials, I spent so long on that edit. I decided to try and see what I could do with music videos, so I bought some cheap equipment and started going around Maryland shooting local artists. Throughout this time I had never stopped being obsessed with the underground soundcloud scene, and had found an artist named Yeat, after Internet Hippy dropped his first music video called Br!nk. I had taken the bus up to new york to shoot with an artist named Convolk, and had nowhere to stay at the time. I had messaged yeat on twitter saying I would shoot something for him if I could stay the night. I pulled up and we shot “Goat Emoji” in the back alley of his apartment.
Years later I had an opportunity to move to LA with my friend Keshore and Drew, packed up my stuff and drove out here with my dad. During this time, Yeat had moved to LA and was beginning to really gain some traction. We had stayed tapped in, and right after I moved it was the pivotal moment, when Yeat teased a snippet of “Gët Busy” . The day after he did that, it was viral on the internet. We went out to Joshua Tree and shot the music video, which that song ended up going Gold.
Alot of moments happened to get to where I am, but I really had continued to just find artists that inspired me and find a way to shoot with them.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Absolutely not , every step of the way I had no idea what I was doing. I was just trying things to make something work and figure it out along the way. Taking bus rides to shoot videos for free, flying across the country and staying with people I never met beforehand.
I took every risk I could , and after years of doing that it finally started to make sense to me, there isn’t one singular struggle
It was taking something that felt super abstract and trying to make it make sense, I just kept pushing.
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?
I run my own production company (honestprod.co) based in LA, directing & editing music videos. I am most proud of my most recent one with yeat & summrs I directed with Alex Edep, for yeats album rollout. That album ended up going #1 on billboard
I think what might set me apart is trying to make every video different, while really trying to enhance the song instead of distract from it.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Reminders App lol
Contact Info:
- Website: https://honestprod.co
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jackrottier
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/jackrottier
