Interview with Director Jarek Zabczynski (JACK IS PRETTY)

Jarek Zabczynski’s short film “JACK IS PRETTY” was the winner of Best Film at the July 2016 FEEDBACK Film Festival. 

It was a pleasure meeting him and his family at the festival and chatting with him about his film and filmmaking.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Jarek Zabczynski: Well, I’ve been talking to Ryan Katzer, the writer, for well over a year about teaming up and making a film. We both lead pretty busy lives so getting on the same page about what to do was a bit of a process. The final push came when I bought my first Red Camera. I was itching to do something creative right away. Ryan reminded me of a short story he wrote a while back that he sent me and I somehow didn’t read lol. I asked him to resend it and he did. The moment I started reading I knew it felt like the right piece to work on. So we discussed how to turn it into a screenplay, he then wrote a few drafts and now we’re here!

MT: From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

JZ: From the time we agreed on the project, it was almost 3 years until the project was done. Filming took place over the course of a summer and we only shot on the weekends, many of which were rained out. After that we started post. I wanted Ryan there during editing since it was his story. Sometimes we would only have time to meet once or twice a month to edit. Then there’s finding a composer, doing the visual effects, color grading, audio mixing. We did it all in house so yeah, it was a true labor of love. It took a really long time, but we wanted to do it right.

MT: How would you describe your short film in two words!?

JZ: Modern Fairy-tale (was that three?)

MT: What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

JZ: Probably finding the time to work on it. I run my own production company so I’m constantly swamped with other work and projects. I’ve mostly worked on music videos and commercials up until that point so figuring out the workflow of a film was something new that we would be figuring out as we went. We definitely learned much from the experience and have already seen massive changes (for the better) in the way we shoot and work.

MT: What were your initial reactions when watching the Toronto audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

JZ: I really loved how vocal and astute the audience was. People were picking up on little details and pointing them out and I couldn’t help but smile as I sat in the back of the theater. I kinda liked that no one knew that I was there until after the feedback session, really assured me the comments were real and genuine, not at all influenced by my presence at the festival.

MT: How did you come up with the idea for this short film?

JZ: I’ll have to turn that one over to Ryan, he’s the one with the weird mind!

MT: You were at the festival, what was your favorite film (besides your own) that played with your short at the festival?

JZ: I really enjoyed “Ironied.” While not completely original, it had it’s own unique take on the idea of thinking how terrible your life is, only to realize that it could be much worse. Having the same actor play both roles at the end was a nice touch and well done.

MT: What film have you seen the most in your life?

JZ: Ok, this one might be a shocker. Michael Bay’s first film, “Bad Boys”, starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. I’ve seen it well over a hundred times for sure. I can pretty much recite the film line for line, tell you what shots are coming up, and sing along to the music cues in the score. While my roots in film growing up were “now classics” like Indiana Jones and Back to the Future. My love of film-making began with the Jan de Bont film, “Speed”, the score by Mark Mancina in particular. I just loved the score to that film so much. They used parts of that score in the trailers for “Bad Boys” so when I saw those I knew I had to see the film, and thus began my film love affair with Michael Bay.

A lot of people give me shit for saying it but I don’t care, I love Michael Bay’s work, the guy is a hero to me, and my biggest influence. He’s kinda been trapped in “Transformers-land” the past few years, but that’s a whole other story we can save for another time. I wish he’d get out of that and get back to making his own films again. His early work is by far my favorite. But anyway, I think I’m getting wayyyy off topic here…

MT: What is next for you? A new film?

JZ: I just recently finished shooting another short film entitled “Away From The Ribbon” which was adapted from a short story written by Ella Schnoor. She was the little girl in “Jack Is Pretty.” We were in Virginia, where she lives now, going to another festival and she showed us her story at dinner. I read it at the table and thought it would make for a great short. Ryan took the story and adapted it into a screenplay, we took few days and went down to Virginia with a small crew and got it all done in under a week. We’ll be starting post on that soon. Aside from that we are in preproduction on two prequel short films to “Jack Is Pretty.” There’s so much of that story that we weren’t able to tell in our film, that we really want to go back to the beginning and maybe answer some the questions that might have been raised, as well as perhaps create a few more.

Aside from the films, Ryan and I have been very busy in the Hudson Valley creating several local commercials and PSAs for different groups and organizations in the area. Of note, we’ve done much with the CAPE Council on Alcoholism, Prevention and Education in Beacon, NY.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of JACK IS PRETTY: