We recently connected with Jackson Mulkey and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jackson thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

The vision behind my creativity is that we, as humanity, are created to create. I believe that every single person has been made in the image of God and that he wants us to partner with him in bringing beauty and goodness to the world. My creative work exists to glorify God, tell stories, and amplify other people’s voices!

In the Bible, the first story told is the story of creation, where God looks upon the dark void and brings order to chaos, creating the world we now live in. He literally brings light to the world, creates the sea, sky, and land, plants, and animals. He creates a lush garden full of fruit-bearing trees and rivers that water the garden. From the get-go, we learn that God is deeply creative and that he creates good things.

Then, when God creates the first human beings, he makes them “in his image”. While these humans are not gods themselves, they do carry a piece of God in them that is meant to show the world more of who God is. God tells the human beings he created to take care of his garden and to go make something of the world.

The example God sets for humanity is to take chaos and disorder, raw materials and resources, and to turn it into something good – something new. For us as humanity, whether we see ourselves as creative or not, we get to take the various gifts and strengths we possess to go bring beauty and goodness to the world. I see this story as being the foundation and beginning of all things and the heartbeat of my creativity.

Jackson, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Jackson Mulkey – I am a 24 year old filmmaker and creative living in Athens, Georgia. I have a background in videography, stop motion animation, photography, and illustration, and have been involved in those creative pursuits since around age 11.

I’ve always been inclined toward creativity – one of my first memories of being creative was when I was about 9 years old, and I recruited my siblings to make a play adaptation of Indiana Jones for our parents. We used household items to recreate a jungle temple, Middle Eastern desert, and a snowy mountaintop, all in our living room! We had multiple intermissions where my siblings and I would change the set, and one of us would sing a song or do a dance to entertain our parents during the switch. It was far from a Hollywood production, but it opened some creative doors in my mind.

As a kid, I watched lots of movies and shows on VHS and especially DVD’s. I remember always being interested in the “Behind the Scenes” segments of DVDs, where you got to see a glimpse of how the movies were made. That was fascinating for me as a kid. I loved imaginative movies like Star Wars, The Road to El Dorado, Rango, and Megamind, and I spent many hours rewatching them and learning about how these movies were created from start to finish.

Another way I stepped deeper into creativity as a child was through LEGO stop motion animations. I had become very interested in Legos as many boys do, but I was captivated learning about how you could make entire films using your legos. I had always felt constrained by other creative projects where my siblings and other friends were reluctant to help, but now I had found something where I could express myself entirely on my own. I built the sets, animated the characters, did the voice acting, and edited everything together, all by myself. It helped me become familiar with and proficient in a number of different skills. By the time I reached high school, I was seriously considering pursuing stop motion as a career, with the hope of working at a studio like Laika Studios (Kubo and the Two Strings, Coraline).

During my senior year of high school, I finally decided against stop motion as a full time career and instead went to the University of Georgia for a business degree in the hopes of pleasing my dad, who works in real estate. However, to my surprise, my dad came to me one day during my freshman year of college and told me that if I wanted to pursue filmmaking as a career, I should go all in and fully give myself to it. I didn’t need to “please him” with my major. That conversation entirely shifted my paradigm, and I immediately changed my major to Entertainment & Media Studies, a new program at UGA. While I didn’t jump back into animation, I did start making live action short films and have pursued that since then.

6 years later, I have directed, written, and filmed a feature length film, written/directed a 30 minute murder mystery on Amazon Prime, have served as cinematographer for a number of student films, have filmed 8 wedding videos and a number of corporate/freelance videos, and have created countless short films, most of all of these being made in my spare time and not for school. I have also been hired as a photographer and illustrator for various freelance projects, and am currently working as Lead Videographer at a large college campus ministry at UGA.

I am deeply rooted in my Christian faith and believe that God wants to use my creativity, like everyone else in the world, to show more of himself to the world. My work is very flawed and is not even close to perfect or “divine”, but I believe that God can show himself even through flawed humans. I think God wants us to learn more about him through each other, since we’re made in his image and likeness. I love telling people’s stories and show the beauty of God’s creation through the videos I make. Whether it’s a fictional or true story, I hope for there to be truth in everything I make.

The creative service I offer at the end of the day is really just offering myself. I think that human relationships are one of the most important things in life, and so when I connect with someone for a creative job I basically just try to get to know them and figure out how to tell their story. I love getting to connect with people and tell their stories to glorify God! My creative work might look like making a video to advertise a product someone is trying to sell, or making a video to promote the campus ministry I work at. It also might be filming and editing a video of someone’s wedding day or making an action-packed short film. Whatever I create, I hope it inspires people and reminds them that the world is a good place with good people, made by a good God, and that that is true even in spite of all the evil in the world.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

This is an unpopular opinion, especially in our culture where profits are such a central goal of business, but I think that living a life dependent on the generosity of your community and not fully on your own salary is a really good way to live. Much of my work has been funded by generosity – by gifts from family and friends, and crowdfunding for my film work. This has actually helped me to grow in humility and realize that I am dependent on my community and ultimately on God to meet my needs. It’s also a beautiful way for me to let friends partner with what I’m doing and get to be a part of my work!

Crowdfunding a film for the first time is a great example of how generosity has funded my business. In 2022, I wrote and directed a 30 minute murder mystery called A Puzzling Postmortem, which I decided to fund entirely through crowdfunding. Asking for funds to finance my film was a very scary process, but was incredibly rewarding! I worked together with my team to create a Kickstarter with financial goals and various perks to incentivize donors to give.

I also work at a campus ministry called the Wesley Foundation, which is a Methodist campus ministry at the University of Georgia. Our ministry exists for college students to know God and grow in their relationship with him, and we have various services, discipleship programs, and other programs to help students do that. At the ministry, I am in charge of the video team, so I create all of our most important video content and teach the college students on my team about videography. Since this ministry is a nonprofit and doesn’t bring in enough money in donations, I support raise my own salary as a missionary to the university campus. This has been deeply challenging to me because our culture generally stigmatizes support-raising and celebrates the salary, especially climbing up the corporate ladder. At times I worried I was being lazy by asking people to give to support me. I came to realize however, that the work we do is very important and that there are actually many people out there who want to partner with me in that work – both people that I already know and those I don’t. Like crowdfunding, it has been a humbling and fruitful experience for me to learn about interdependence within my community and to trust God to meet my needs. I currently am living supported by friends and family to do my work at the Wesley Foundation, and I also supplement those funds with money I earn doing freelance video work!

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Up until now, most of my work has always been created through pre-existing friendships and connections, and those are the clients/coworkers I prefer by far. I’m ready to make friends with anyone, but I particularly enjoy working with friends. Whether it’s corporate videos, wedding videography, or short filmmaking, the vast majority of the video work I’ve done has been for friends I already knew and trusted. Each new job brings more connections and more opportunities, and working with friends like these gives me a greater level of security and enjoyment in my job. But if I do work with someone I don’t know, I am eager to get to know them and connect with them so that my work with them feels the same way. I want to build trust and connection rather than maintain distance.

When you’re on a film set and you’re running out of time to finish your scene, or an actor doesn’t show up on time, it’s crucial to have people on your crew that you know you can count on. You want to be around people who even can see you in a moment of stress or weakness and still have your back. I’ve heard lots of wedding videographers tell horror stories of having clients who threw tantrums, didn’t pay them, were drunk, etc, and thankfully I have never encountered anything like that. I feel blessed to have continued to have so many friends and family members approach me to work with them for various video projects, and because of that I’ve been able to work with a lot of amazing people with a lot less stress.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacksonmulkey_/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JacksonMulkey
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0B787DNT3/ref=atv_sr_fle_c_Tn74RA_2_1_2?sr=1-2&pageTypeIdSource=ASIN&pageTypeId=B0B789RM32&qid=1742230340156