Mischa Jakupcak
“Growing up, we seldom watched television. We spent more time playing outdoors or listening to records or npr on the radio. When VCRs came out, my parents would drive 40 miles to the nearest video store in Missoula and we would rent 2 videos a week. So my brothers and I would watch those films over and over again. I guess, that was my first introduction to film.”
“My father has always loved rummage saling . Over the years, he collected all of these really horrible b-movies; which he later donated to the local video store. In return, they gave us a lifetime membership where we could watch any movie we wanted for free. Which was amazing! So we pretty much had full access to their entire library of titles, including their collections of more obscure films, documentaries as well as world cinema.”
“To live in a rural community in Montana, pre-internet, meant I had very little opportunity to see worlds other than the one I was living in. Movies soon became my way of seeing how varied and rich different worlds could be, outside of mine own. They animated my imagination."
“When it came time for me to go to college, I left Montana for Arizona. I had a friend in Tucson who was looking for a room mate, so I loaded up my old car (which had an engine held together with duck tape and bailing twine) and drove across the country.”
“I graduated with an undergraduate degree in creative writing and philosophy. I then moved to Seattle, where I worked for a number of temp agencies and a dental insurance company for awhile. I hated it. As a student in Tucson, I had become involved in social work. I was fascinated by restorative justice and mediation, so I thought my next step would be related to law in someway. After working as a nanny, at soul sucking temp agencies and at a golf course, I got a job with a law firm as a filing clerk.”
“I was getting ready to apply for law school when I met with a woman who I greatly respected. She asked me, 'if you could do anything at all, what would it be?' I paused and closed my eyes and said, without thinking that I would go to film school in London. This was followed by deafening silence. After which, my friend calmly said, 'why don't you try to do that?’”
“Living in London was a dream come true for me in many ways. Being exposed to the theatre, history and the diversity and cultural richness was such a formative experience. I loved being in the limitless city, surrounded by different languages, cultures and more people than my mind could comprehend. The two loves of my life, film and London combined to make those years incredible for me.”
“But after I graduated and returned to Seattle, I was unemployed for the first eight months and had mountains of school debt. I was 28 years old and was now living back with my parents, and couldn’t get hired in film or any other field, for that matter. Things were dismal.”
“I ended up working for free on a feature film, being shot here in Seattle. The film ‘Cthulhu’ was a chaotic production and was by far, the craziest film I had ever been on before or since. It was, however, a great learning experience for me. And I met an array of amazing people that have become life long friends and collaborators.”
“One of my jobs on this film was to get a hundred unpaid extras, to come out of the sea as these ancient sea creatures. I found myself waist deep in water as one of the sea creatures myself, along with a hundred others, giving them all instructions through a megaphone. All I remember, was thinking to myself that this is not what I went to film school in London to be doing! What was I doing with my life, and how did I get to be a sea creature on a Tori Spelling horror film?”
“After this film, my ambitions were modest; I wanted to support myself working in film. In any position. And I have been able to do that. I ended up working back to back on a variety of films doing everything from PA work, to working as a 2nd AD and eventually production management and line producing.”
“Every time I got hired on a job, or my friends did, we would bring each other onto the jobs that were happening in the area. I worked back to back on films, for about ten years like this. They tended to range between $2-7m.”
“I benefited hugely from watching all of these different filmmakers over that time, and seeing the decisions they made along the way. After my daughter was born, I took a break from the frienzied pace of back to back production. Now I am able to be more selective. I want to produce films that I feel need to exist in the world. I also want to write and direct, and to collaborate with filmmakers and artists who I admire.”
“From conception to completion, it’s audacious that filmmakers can ‘will’ their creation into existence. The fact that there is an entire community of people, who are willing to follow along and help make it, is also truly amazing to me.”
“I originally came into film, because of my love of storytelling. It's an honor and a joy to be a part of an active, humane and creative community of filmmakers, writers and artists.”
“Since moving back to Seattle I’ve started a production company called Mechanical Dreams with my producing partner and dear friend, Lacy Leavitt. We produce films, television as well as immersive VR content, both fiction and non fiction. I think Seattle, because of its tech industries and the caliber of talented filmmakers and wonderful crew lends its self to being a great place to develop and create VR content. It's also a warm welcoming community for filmmakers. I feel lucky to be here.”