Meet Jacob Alan Clark

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Alan Clark. Jacob Alan was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Jamie Campbell.

Jacob Alan , can you walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.

Growing up I always had an interest in stories and storytelling which all culminated at the age of 12 when I picked up my first video camera and thought “this is it”. Ever since then I’ve made YouTube videos that turned into professional corporate work that then turned into professionally produced short films and also Jamie Campbell’s Big Dad Energy Comedy Special.

Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?

I always tell people that I tell stories for a living. Whether it’s a commercial, testimonial for a company, a music video, or a short film; everything that I do is story driven and I think that that’s something that really sets my work apart. Sometimes it’s finding the story and figuring out the best angle to tell it from and other times it’s crafting that story but it always draws back to telling a story that people are going to care about and feel connected to.

Jamie Campbell has been a great friend to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Jamie and your experience with them.

From mine and Jamie’s first interaction over zoom when he was auditioning for Special Delivery I could tell that he’s the ultimate collaborator. He’s always looking to bring something to the scene or whatever project he’s involved in and he’s always pushing to give you that extra 10%. That’s one of, I think, many reasons why Jamie and I work together so well because I also try to embody that collaborative spirit so on sets I’m always looking for input from other people for them to kind of put their own spin on what we’re doing. I think both of us being receptive to that collaboration just creates a really fun and almost effortless process.

A pretty funny story from the first time I met Jamie, it was during his audition for Special Delivery which we did during COVID so they’re all virtual auditions and me and one of the co-writers of the film, Taylor Hoos, we were hanging out in zoom calls all day and Jamie came on and he was super fun and energetic right off the bat and we run through the scene a few times and he’s just killing it. It’s super funny and then after a few takes he just asks “Hey would you guys mind if I improvised a take?” to which Taylor and I were like “Please!” And then we just watched him take this character that Taylor had written and just fully embody what we were looking for in that and from that point forward we got off that call and me and Taylor looked at each other and we just went “Well we have to cast him.”

Directing stand up is really interesting because the environments I’m typically in with directing you’re able to say “Cut! Let’s reset and this time let’s try this out” or you can take breaks and talk with your talent and ask them “what’s working for you/what’s not working for you?” and really craft those moments but with stand up you have very little control over the moments themselves and you are more so capturing a series of events. We had over a hundred people in the audience that we couldn’t just hand a script and tell them “laugh here, snicker there, gasp at this part” so a big part of it was tapping back into my TV background and a little bit of more live production and it was more just about prepping for every possible scenario you can think of to feel the most prepared going into the shoot and then as things are going just sitting there and constantly checking cameras and while watching it cutting together what you can see the special being in the edit bay and going like “okay yeah that part was good that part was nice” and trying to make a note of all those things to keep your sanity during the shoot and then I feel the real directing comes in during the editing process and getting to choose what camera we cut to for certain jokes and that can really help you to build certain moments to enhance Jamie’s already terrific performance.

The idea for The Sitcom & The Drama came about from my own personal experiences. Growing up I was typically the class clown and always a very upbeat person and from establishing that kind of a reputation I always felt the pressure to be that person. If I was going through stuff or had down days I felt like I had to put on a face to hide that part of me from people so that experience was the genesis for Oliver, the character that Jamie plays, and the film idea as a whole. Like the title suggests, it’s like living in a sitcom and a drama.

I’m someone who’s always rooting for comedic actors to get the chance to take on more dramatic roles. I feel like you get such incredible performances from people who do get that chance –  like Steve Carell, for example, has really begun to make a great name for himself in more dramatic films.  Same with Jim Carrey and Bill Hader. Also knowing that Jamie is a very talented writer as well and having read some of the scripts he’s written I just had that gut feeling that he would be able to fill the shoes of that role and be able to take on both sides of that coin, being a very talented comedic actor while also being able to dive deep into that drama and fully flesh out that character for The Sitcom & The Drama.

Website: www.visiblehorizonfilms.com