We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jesse Harris. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jesse below.
Jesse, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?
Passion and Drive is nearly everything. Talent and luck of course play a big role, but from my experiences, the desire to keep pushing and being relentless is the way to reach success, especially in my industry,
My first witness to this was when I was in my early 20s and decided to start a film festival for young filmmakers. I was myself a young filmmaker and having convinced my parents that I should forgo film school and instead make a feature film, I saw first hand how little opportunities there were for very young and emerging filmmakers to showcase their work and connect with fellow filmmakers and the industry. There was no Sundance for the truly young and emerging filmmakers, so I decided to start it. However, I had no business degree, no degree at all, no real connections to the industry and knew nothing about starting a business or forming a non-profit. But I figured it out. Obviously I got a ton of help along the way, including from my mom who for her job helped people start small businesses, so there was a lot of technical knowledge and support she provided that was vital, but ultimately, it was up to me to raise all of the money and bring the entire event together. And in those early years when I really had no idea what I was doing, all I had to move forward was a ton of youthful drive and an incredible passion for what I was doing. I was able to obtain big sponsors and get meetings with a lot of people who probably wouldn’t have met with me if they knew how young and inexperienced I was going into it, but when I got those opportunities, they always saw my exuberance and dedication and it was contagious. And to this day, I still think that is why I was able to pull it off and build what I did with the film festival. It was when things got hopeless and so hard (which they did all the time), I just kept going. I refused to give up. I continued to believe what I was doing was important and that I was going to find a way to do it. The film festival, NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth) is about to have its 17th anniversary. I have moved on from my involvement in it, but I’m so proud of what was created.
And I think that lesson was taken with me as I moved on to the other stages of my career. First going into commercial and advertising directing and now more recently into feature filmmaking. Like before, I had little to no formal training or relationships to push me to the front, I’ve just had to use my sheer desire to make things happen. It still is not easy and I still at times think I should give up, but I can always remind myself that as long as I continue to hold the hope and excitement for what I’m trying to do, I will find a way. Of course it takes a lot more than just passion to start a business or find success, but without that, I don’t think it can ever happen, so in my opinion, it’s key to everything.
Jesse, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
For me, filmmaking started when I was 8-years-old. I picked up a VHS camera my next door neighbor owned, looked into the viewfinder and it hit me. From that moment on, I knew this is what I wanted to do. To tell stories, to make moving images. And since then, that’s really all I’ve ever tried to do.
I continued making short films all throughout my childhood into high school. By the time I was supposed to decide what college to apply for, I realized that my drive to just create movies was too strong to be stuck in a classroom. I wanted to make things and so many of the film schools wouldn’t let you do that right away. I was always someone who loved learning by just doing it and getting my hands dirty and I knew film school just wasn’t right for me. So after a lot of convincing and negotiating, I got my parents to agree to give me some college savings they had and put it towards me making a feature film. It would be my film school. I would hire a professional crew and I would not only learn so much, but then I would walk away with an actual film to show for myself. I also had to raise additional donations and grants to pull it off. But that’s what I did, I wrote and directed my first feature film when I was 17-years-old.
By some crazy luck, a tiny indie distributor picked up the film just as I was graduating from high school and the film got a small release. But what really came from that was very different than I was expecting. I did not get offers to go make another film as a late teen, but instead I started hearing from other young filmmakers who had heard about my journey and wanted my advice. I realized that I was not the only young filmmaker out there thinking like this. This was around 2005 and before social media and online connections were so easy to make. There was likely hundreds if not thousands of young filmmakers just like me out in the world, I just didn’t know how to find them.
So I decided to start a film festival specifically for that, for very emerging filmmakers, under 22 years-old, the kind of filmmakers who were not yet out in the business working, but likely had powerful stories to share. I dug in and by mostly a lot of relentless energy and passion, I was able to pull off the film festival and continued to rapidly grow it. Within a few years we were getting thousands of submissions from around the world, bringing in nearly 10,000 in attendance and had sponsorships from some of the biggest brands in the world. The festival, NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth) still continues, now in its 17th year!
Through the relationships I made doing the film festival, I started getting getting into advertising work as a director. In a similar way, I still had to constantly be pitching myself and convincing people through my passion that I was the one to help them. I found success and was able to get to travel the world making a wide range of commercials for some really big brands and a decade later that’s what I’m still doing.
In the past five years though I have returned to my real passion for narrative filmmaking. I knew I wanted to make a movie again. After several years of a relentless pursuit of it, I was able to get it made. The film, BORREGO, came out in theaters in 2022 and then on to Netflix in the US and Canada later that year where it made the Global Top 10 and #3 Movie in the US.
Currently I have several film projects I’m working on getting financed and made. Although I’ve learned so much and now have the credibility and track record to make it easier, it’s still is an uphill challenge to get any movie made, so I continually have to revert to my original driving force of my drive and passion to keep me going when it gets tough.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Ever since I was very young I just loved entertaining people and telling stories. And soon after my love for movies began to grow even stronger and I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker. For me, it’s all about making people feel something. A story or character or moment that sticks with you. For me, nothing is better than getting goosebumps or wet eyes while watching something, being so moved or sucked into a film that nothing else matters. Making movies that do that for other people is my ultimate goal.
Any advice for managing a team?
For me, every project I do, including a one-day commercial shoot, is like a mini company. A team of people, many of them I’ve never worked with before, all coming together for the same goal. Whether it’s a film set or an office, my biggest goal is to always inspire people around the goal to make them feel part of it and to ensure an environment is friendly and safe. In the end of the day, we aren’t saving lives, we are making content, so no one should be stressed out and miserable for no reason. From the production assistants to the stars, they all play the same part in getting the film made, without either of them, it wouldn’t happen. So I really try and make sure everyone is comfortable, feels included and that the attitude on set is a fun one. (I am often seen dancing with my actors between takes haha) Filmmaking is very stressful so we don’t always accomplish that, but my goal is always to set out to create an atmosphere that makes people feel good.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jesseharris.tv/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesseharris
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesseharris/
- Twitter: twitter.com/jesseharrisfilm
- Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/jesseharrisfilm
Image Credits
Can just be no credit or courtesy of Jesse Harris, they are various photographers from a wide time period, but all were hired by my festival or film entity to take behind the scenes, we own the photos for use.