Meet Kyle Tague of Jump Scare Factory in Central Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Tague.

Kyle, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m still considered relatively “fresh” in the Los Angeles vernacular; I came here right out of Boston University with a degree in film/television in 2016. I went through the internship circuit with Lionsgate in the television department and Blumhouse in the features. The latter proved to be a fantastic opportunity to learn the ins and outs of modern moviemaking… Blumhouse really is the production company to beat, at this point, quite possibly posting the highest profit margins of any individual “pod” in town with critical lauds to boot. Many of the folks over there, including Couper Samuelson, Olivia Mascheroni, Bea Sequeira, Ryan Turek, and the late Rae Roberts were instrumental in making me feel welcomed and supported while also pushing me to write faster and smarter. They put together an “intern film contest” where we had to produce a micro-budget short using nothing but a smartphone camera and whatever else we could find lying around.

The result was Photobombed, a creepy little chiller I’m still quite fond of, which also functioned as the sort of “birth” of Jump Scare Factory, my platform for horror filmmaking. There’s this self-defeating idea that any sort of valid film production, whether it be a short or a feature, requires a considerable amount of unattainable capital… and that just isn’t true. Jump Scare Factory was in part founded on the premise that young professionals could also be scrappy filmmakers through careful budgeting and focused premises. That brings us to now. Since Blumhouse, I’ve had stints at Studio71, Weed Road Pictures (the Paramount banner for writer-producer Akiva Goldsman), and presently RHETROACTIVE, a theme park design firm where I serve as Creative Design Manager. Whenever I’m not in the office, I’m writing, directing, editing, and tinkering.

Has it been a smooth road?
Without the benefit of some prime nepotism or a near-unlimited slush fund (ideally both), smooth roads and Los Angeles are somewhat incompatible ideas. Everyone always says there’s no set path and everyone has their own avenue to success, and as annoying an idiom as that is, it isn’t particularly wrong. I’m fortunate enough to benefit from a substantial amount of privilege, one that affords me additional income that combats the frankly insane cost of living in Los Angeles and the criminally low wages thrown to industry assistants. Not everyone is so lucky, and I try to recognize that when things feel hopeless or tough… I’m luckier than most and need to make the best of the opportunities that appear. And of course eventually, if I do reach any level of influence, I’ll need to work to find a way to make things more accessible to those who don’t have extra safety nets.

Beyond the logistical and practical, like any creative, I’m beset with unending self-doubt. The only antidote to self-doubt and the truly bleak odds of mainstream success seems to be completely unjustified narcissism, which is probably why many creatives in Los Angeles are so insufferable… so that’s something I try to keep tabs on, lest I let Hollywood consume me before I even break-in. The fear of failure does hang over you like a sort of Sword of Damocles, and that can make it challenging to keep producing new stuff when you’re too busy battling the suspicion that your work is worthless, you don’t have the X factor, and you have nothing to offer in a sea of endless, professionally-packaged content. But you have to keep going, anyway, and I try to. There’s very little reason for me to be in Los Angeles, paying the rent I do, if I’m not always working toward my ultimate goal of being a writer-director.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Jump Scare Factory – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Jump Scare Factory is the platform for my horror filmmaking, or “stuff.” (I’m trying to avoid saying “content,” which is too commodified, or “art,” which feels too haughty. Maybe there’s a better word somewhere.) We primarily shoot horror shorts, with me usually taking on writing, directing, and editing duties. We have a tremendous director of photography in Tyler Vess, a rotating troupe of capable of actors, and lovely post-production folks, especially Ryan Chernin of Inhuman Records, who has composed many of our scores and soundscapes. I touched on this before, but what separates, I think, is our penchant for keeping things lean and focused. We spend very little in way of budget for our shorts… usually cost of supplies, any vital props (which we sometimes craft ideas around), any special talent. It’s a young, hungry team of creatives eager to make scary-spooky stuff and get better doing it.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
The thing I like least is easy, and I mentioned it before: cost of living. Wages are a joke, rent is a joke, upward mobility is often a joke. It’s prohibitive for anyone that doesn’t enjoy at least a middle class starting pad, and that’s unacceptable. What’s even more crass is the manner in much of the city’s social elite flaunts their wealth in the face of rampant poverty or outright homelessness. We have to do better. What’s best, then, is the variety of perspectives the city offers. It’s a mecca for creatives, and that means a real wellspring of ideas, personalities, and life experiences. That answer is both an oxymoron when paired with my response to the other question, but I think that only highlights the importance of making Los Angeles truly livable. We shut out so much by denying access, directly or indirectly.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jumpscarefactory.com
• Phone: 6147691632
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: instagram.com/jumpscarefactory
• Twitter: twitter.com/kyletague

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