We recently connected with Jacob J. Christiansen and have shared our conversation below.

Jacob J., thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

If you could take away anything from this conversation, here’s my TL;DR.
1.) You’re never going to feel “ready”.
2.) You will make mistakes.
3.) You can’t let #1 and #2 stop you.

I’ve struggled with imposter syndrome consistently throughout my budding career. I was even on the phone last night with a friend, reminding me of my points written above. It’s a feeling I expect never to go away. That feeling like you’re never quite good enough, that you’ll never be ready can kill creativity if you let it. However, I believe it can be taken advantage of instead.

As a younger filmmaker, I know this industry can be extremely daunting. Pretty much any avenue in which you can venture down; producing, directing, cinematography, editing, etc – you will get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of knowledge you’re “supposed to know”. News flash: filmmaking is art, not a checklist of requirements—a means to an end. If you can create something meaningful, then it matters not *how* it was created (so long as what you’re doing is safe and ethical).

In retrospect, my inexperience at the beginning of my career taught me one of the most valuable skills I possess: restrictions promote creativity. You can take all the classes, watch all the videos, and read every forum thread in the world, but I guarantee you that every time you walk onto a set, you’ll encounter an issue nobody else has experienced before. You’ll be on the spot and have to develop something clever.

For example, on the first real film production I was hired for, “The Squirrels in the Attic”, I made a mistake that needed immediate correction. Stepping on a critical prop (which we only had one of, of course), I knew I had just screwed up an entire scene’s continuity. I tried piecing it back together with no luck, looking back at our director, Rachel. That’s when my horror shifted into intrigue. As the producer and editor, I put on a new hat and ran over to her, saying my favorite two words: “What if…”.

We tweaked the scene, and our broken porcelain squirrel became a recurring theme in the edit. It even was featured front and center on the film’s poster. Sure, with experience we might’ve had extra props. But then we also wouldn’t have created an extra layer of depth in our film. The mistakes, the inexperience, the low budget—it’s all part of your art. You don’t need to learn *everything*, just that which makes your individual process work.

And one last little tidbit: don’t go through it alone!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hey! My name is Jacob Christiansen, and I’m an independent filmmaker and Co-Founder of Seapoint Studios. I specialize in narrative film editing and finishing work (visual effects, color, mastering, etc). While my bread-and-butter is post-production, I also regularly produce and direct (more on that later!). Everyone has a unique story about how they got into the film industry, and I’d like to share mine!

I like to think of my style as “naturalistic”. Growing up in Maine, I spent a lot of time in the water—lakes, oceans, rivers, you name it. I made small videos as a kid, but my passion for video production flourished in high school. I mostly blame my partner in crime, John Bono. When the summers were infinitely long, we would spend our days jumping off bridges into Chauncey Creek (Kittery Point, ME). One day John brought a GoPro and well, one thing led to another. I had my vlogging phase and experimented with school projects and short films.

When I went to college for computer science in Colorado, I couldn’t let go of my roots; they felt integral to my identity. So, being the overzealous person I am, I convinced John to start a company with me, alongside some additional friends to help (including the amazing DoP, Mark Chernyshov). Seapoint Studios began as a video production studio created to produce high-quality content for the local businesses of Coastal Maine. We had a few good gigs at the start, but we quickly realized the market in our area wasn’t as fruitful as we thought.

Then something big happened. After working on our website for about a year, I received an email from a local screenwriter, Rachel Thomas-Medwid. She had been shopping her script around and was looking to direct herself. After being turned down a few times, she reached out to us. While we were both inexperienced, learning together was a lot of fun.

Since our first film, “The Squirrels in the Attic”, Rachel and I have partnered on many indie projects, including our latest, “Fenwick” (which just premiered at the New Hampshire Film Festival 2024). It’s been a blast to share our films at festivals around the world, and we’ve even garnered some awards to boot! My involvement in the local film industry has taken off, and I’m especially proud to be involved with Women in Film & Video: New England, making sure everyone has a voice in filmmaking.

So, what’s next?
As part of this interview, I’m incredibly excited to announce that my first directorial featurette, “The Second Bird” has entered a year-long production with a killer crew, with our first production day wrapped! This comedy film, broken up narratively by 4 seasons, will explore the struggle of an amateur artist and his inexplicably bad luck. Narratively, this film is inspired by true events, and is personally helping with my grief from a recent death in the family. It takes visual inspiration from nature documentaries and the landscape photography of my brother, Bennett Christiansen, who is helping with our cinematography.

If you want to learn more or get involved, visit our information page: https://seapoint.studio/thesecondbird

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I was still discovering my passion for film and video, I began trying to justify my projects to my peers. Too many times to count, I was met with the “You’re too young/inexperienced to pull this off” line. On many occasions, I proved them wrong. However, this caused a side effect: I began focusing less on interpersonal relationships and solely on being as professional as possible. I put on this appearance to seem more qualified than I felt.

When I moved into a professional setting, working full-time at a studio in Denver, I quickly realized there were better approaches. This industry is based heavily on relationships. Our regular clients didn’t care as much about how professional we looked, but they would notice how kind and light-hearted we were, even when our projects didn’t go according to plan. I came to the understanding that being professional isn’t just about crossing every ‘t’ and dotting every ‘i’; it’s about being easy to work with.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

I’m going to share a little secret of mine if you’re looking for indie film work: the majority of my connections, projects, and even full-time gigs have been sourced through online groups. It’s true; I’ve legitimately gotten two salaried jobs from social media posts. It’s about knowing where to look because there is a lot of junk. For example, here in New England we’ve got the WIFVNE, Channel 14, and NH Film & Video Community Facebook groups, to name a few (I’m an admin on that last one for full disclosure). Some are public groups, but others are private and more curated. If you can get into a few, and start connecting on some projects, you’d be surprised how many friends and colleagues you’ll make. It cascades from there!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jacobchristiansen.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacobjc99
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jacobjc99
• Other: The Second Bird film website: www.seapoint.studio/thesecondbird

Image Credits

Bennett Christiansen, Gustavo Soto