Meet Matt Jenkins | Filmmaker and professor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matt Jenkins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, what do you want people to remember about you?
This is an appropriate question as I face a career crossroad. As I make decisions regarding my future I want movie making to continue to be prominent in my life.

Since I find the process of moviemaking to be extremely fulfilling, my hope is the people who worked with me on our movies will remember our collaborations as fun and exciting. A great compliment I received was from someone who worked with us on a movie and said, “This was better than summer camp.”

I recall a sculptor who envisioned his work being placed in fields or along paths. People could then accidentally discover his sculptures as they hiked or enjoyed nature. Much of my work is now posted online and my desire is future viewers will come across these movies, engage with them and appreciate them for what they are.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

Tell us about your art.

As a constrained budget producer, I believe the creative process takes place on paper. While I may not have the financial resources of a big budget production or the luxury of time to spend filming the movie, or have access to all the locations I desire or people to work on or appear in the production; I do have time to spend writing the script.

Regarding movies and scripts, actor Morgan Freeman said, “Big budget productions can have big budget perks and small budget movies have no perks, but the driving force is, of course, the script.”

A well written script is the essential road map to production. I can develop the intricacies of the characters and the ebb and flow of story through the script and take my time rewriting and shaping the story.

The Berlin New Wave Film Festival recognized this effort with their feedback regarding one of our movies, “’Static in the Ether’ successfully combines the elements of drama and suspense, creating a thought provoking exploration of the price of fame and the lengths some individuals go to to cope with its loss.”

What excites you the most?

I love planning the production. I take my time conducting breakdowns, deciding camera angles and, thinking about lighting placement. I enjoy figuring out how much time is needed at each location and how many days we need each actor. While I enjoy the actual filming the movie, if I have a well written script and thoroughly planned the production, actual filming becomes more of an assembly process.

If you see one of my movies in the theater, look around at the audience. If you find someone sitting near the front looking back at the audience while the movie is playing, that will be me. I am gauging the audience’s reaction to my movie. Did they laugh in the right places? Did they sigh in the right places? Did they get up and go to the bathroom in the right places?

Film director Steven Spielburg remarked, “Audiences are harder to please if you’re just giving them effects, but they’re easy to please if it’s a good story.”
Nothing is more satisfying than to experience an audience “getting” and enjoying my movie.

One of the festivals we look forward to is, the Houston based Gulf Coast Film and Video Festival. Festival Director Hal Wixon hosts a superb festival filmmakers should serious consider entering.

We are excited to return to Houston this spring to film part of our next upcoming feature, “Ambiguous Indifference.”

What sets you apart?

My goal is to produce a movie people will want to see, I’m not interested in creating the next super hero movie. I purposely work to create a different film experience through storyline, character, filming and editing.

How did you get to where you are today?

From an early age I knew I would not be a painter or a mechanical engineer. However, telling stories visually through using technology has always been greatly fulfilling.

I love having creative control over the work. I am not beholden to someone else because of financial contributions or the possibility of the movie being shelved after completion. Certainly festivals and streamers may reject the work, but I am fine with this. I made the movie I envisioned on paper and it will stand or fail on its merits.

Regarding our Houston based movie “Before Breaker Wakes,” The London Monkey Bread Film Tree Awards provided this review, “The film’s main asset is its clear sense of style and genre. It also uses its budget to its advantage, yielding to its limitations and thinking around them…rather than say, trying something beyond their means.”

Was it easy?

I know the audience for minimalist, constrained budget productions containing interesting storylines and acting exist and this audience appreciates the work we create. The hard part is sometimes finding a platform to provide this audience with the opportunity to view our specific type of movie. International audiences tend to embrace our movies. This is a great compliment to us. So, I actively seek out international film festivals and streaming platforms to submit our work.

What Challenges have you overcome?

As a producer/director, one of the biggest challenges is problem solving on location. An actor doesn’t show up, or someone gets sick or the camera breaks or someone decides to deny us access to a location. Issues and problems come up all the time requiring a quick and form decision to be made by the director. The important thing to remember is, as the decision maker, the decision must be firm and adhered to even if it is a bad decision. A director can easily lose the confidence of the crew if the director appears indecisive. The production must move on, staying within the time frame and the director obtaining coverage or getting enough footage to be able to tell the story.

Lesson learned along the way

For many filmmakers film festival rejection equals failure and failure equals flaw in the filmmaker. I learned failure is only a moment in time, something that happens to me and not a reflection of my character. Not everyone will embrace my work and it is OK.

A second lesson I learned is, I write my scripts following Syd Field’s three act screenplay paradigm. Many film books scorn this method of screenplay writing. However, once I started following Field’s Three Act screenplay paradigm my movie festival acceptance rate increased 50%. I am a big believer in this.

I have learned to surround myself with people who share my vision for production. Lots of people want to make a movie. However when we get down to the grind of movie making, those who are not as invested pull away. This is why I like to shoot much of my work in Houston and Southwest Oklahoma. Here I have found a core group of people who are excited to be involved and their word is good.

One benefit of filming in Houston is we know we can get awesome actors from Lee Stringer’s Film Acting Academy. These actors know each other, work well together and arrive at the location fully prepared.

What do you want the world to know about your brand and style?

I love making movies with distinct and entertaining storylines embracing a minimalist style influenced by other art forms based on a constrained budget to be experienced by an audience in a movie theater. I want these movies to feature engaging portrayals by excellent actors.

When looking to other forms of art for inspiration, one area I study is abstract art. Work from such painters as Paul Rothko continues to motivate me and provide inspiration for visual creativeness in our movies.

I have the freedom to explore unique topics often not contained in mainstream “Hollywood” movies. I love the audience response to these topics.

The Macoproject Film Festival recently provided a review of “Static in the Ether.” Their conclusion neatly sums up my efforts in movie making. They write:

“Static in the Ether” stands as a commendable testament to Matt Jenkins’ ability to craft compelling stories within the constraints of a micro-budget. The film’s exploration of fame, betrayal, and redemption resonates deeply, making it a noteworthy addition to the realm of independent cinema, where its impact reverberates long after the credits roll.”

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Any visit needs to be laid back . We don’t need to be in a rush. We would go to Kemah for food and fun. We can get our science nerd on by visiting NASA.

No visit would be complete with spending some time in contemplation at the Rothko Chapel.

And if it’s September, we would be going to theGulf Coast Film Festival to partake of the excellent movies and good times.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to dedicate this shoutout to all the people who have worked with me and or appeared in our movies over the years. It is their trust in me, our shared vision and their support that make our movies successful. I would name them all here but fear I would inadvertently leave someone out. So I will simply say thank you for believing in what we do.

Website: www.misfitsoffilm.com

Image Credits
Tori Millspaugh