Meet Jessica Kantor of Three Giants Media in West Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Kantor.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My career started when I was in high school in NYC while also being a semi-professional ballet dancer. I loved science and technology but wanted more than anything to be a professional ballet dancer. During my senior year in high school, I got injured and found myself pursuing my back up plan, going to college. I didn’t apply to very many schools but was lucky to be accepted into the Gallatin program at New York Univerity. I could study anything I wanted across the school and I found myself studying film and computer science.

After graduation, I went on to work in the film industry in New York City. Starting as an assistant to a (story) development executive at Sony Pictures, assisting the showrunners of a TV show that aired on ABC and then working for the Weinstein company. It was difficult to move out of the assistant seat and it was the beginning of social media, so I saw an opportunity to bring what I learned from story and production to marketing. I worked at agencies and freelanced specializing in digital content and how it can bridge the physical marketing activations to the online sphere. My last job in NYC was working as the Head of Marketing and Content for Livestream leading a team and interfacing with the product and technical teams to take a business to business product and make it consumer-facing. It was an amazing job, with talented people but I found myself unhappy. I picked up surfing, moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn but ultimately realized I had stepped very far away from my initial goal of telling stories.

I decided to leave Livestream and pursued an opportunity working for the Sundance Institute as an Associate Director of Marketing. This job brought me to Los Angeles and reconnected me with the world of independent storytellers. The job introduced me to the medium of Virtual Reality and showed me my path forward. After just under two years, I decided to leave and work as a writer/ director. I started in the Virtual Reality space making 360=videos and called upon my earlier experience of being a dancer. I did this while freelance consulting in product management, marketing and directing branded content. Slowly content creating became my full-time job. Now I work as a writer/director full-time oscillating between immersive media and traditional film. I’ve joined forces with two other producers and together the three of us have launched THREE GIANTS MEDIA which is a full-service production company focusing on a slate of film, television and immersive media.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
What fun would a smooth road be? Of course, every step of the way there have been major leaps of faith, and trust. Creating stories and sharing them with the world consists of thousands of rejections but only takes one yes to move forward. When my piece ASHES was programmed to be part of the Tribeca Film Festival my career in immersive media was launched. The exposure and stamp of approval help me showcase why my approach to a medium is worth investing in. Some projects are still looking for that right home two years later.

Someone said to me once that I get all the wins, and I realized they didn’t realize how many no’s I get cause I only invest my time in what moves me forward. I applied to a grant, a contest or general opportunity every week. Sometimes multiple times a week, and most of them were no’s but I got enough yes’s for people to start taking me seriously.

With writing, I’ve had a lot of no’s and some terrible notes sessions but I must say every single one of my scripts is better for the process. It challenged me to know my characters, what I want to say so clearly that it’s on the page. It’s all the obstacles that have pushed me to invest in my craft as much as I can. Whether it be writing every day or taking a lab or workshop.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Three Giants Media is barely one month old. We’ve just created our business plan and are fundraising against our slate of film, television and digital media. I’ve written a feature film and three pilots on our slate and attached to produce a few other projects. Every single one of our projects have integrity, a proven audience and say something about the world.

I’m most proud to stand next to my partners. Each of us is an expert and together we make a powerhouse team. It is hard to find people in the entertainment industry that work hard, do what they say and have impeccable taste, so when I met Evy and Max, I knew they were the right people to partner with.

What were you like growing up?
I’ve always been a pretty intense, all-in kind of person, so when my parents put me in gymnastics I rose the ranks quickly and competitively. When I grew out of that sport (I’m 5’7) I turned to ballet. It wasn’t just an after school activity but an entire identity. I read every book, learned everything I could and worked really hard to be the best I could be. There was happiness in learning and great joy in doing, especially dancing, which I still do today.

I’ve taken that same approach to most things in my life from understanding the string theory after reading the Elegant Universe at 15 to wanting to know everything about virtual reality starting from the earlier prototypes in the 1980s.

So yeah, I’m a big ol’ nerd but don’t think I’m always serious. I love to make fun of myself, laugh at the absurdities of life and try not to take myself too seriously.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.threegiantsmedia.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/jesskantor
• Other: www.jessicakantor.com

Image Credit:
Brandon Fuller, Henrik Christofferson, Kyle Lewis

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