Meet Jordan Jacobo of Jordan Does Productions in Imperial Beach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Jacobo.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Jordan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
To hear my parents tell it, as a kid, I was always as hyper as I was creative. In order to help focus that energy, and most likely to keep me out of their hair, they allowed me to use the family video camera. By the age of eight, I was directing friends and relatives in short films or making stop-motion animated vignettes in my garage. I continued doing it all through college, but only ever as a hobby.

Just out of school, I was hired by an Advertising Firm. I started in sales, but my duties quickly expanded to copywriting and campaign strategies. Though it was fairly lucrative, I was never quite satisfied, knowing that my real love lay in telling stories in a way that only film could. But there was always a voice in my head telling me that the odds of making it in the production world were against me, so I stayed on the “safe path,” because chasing a dream isn’t what “mature people did.”

I suppose fate had other plans, because as luck would have it, the economy took a nosedive in 2008, and with it went my advertising career. It was one of those low-points in people’s lives where, I believe, clarity can truly be attained…or maybe I just had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, so I went back to college.

My first class was, of course, film production, and I was surprised by how quickly I was able to slip back into it. By the end of the first semester, I announced to my family that, “I’d rather fail at film than succeed at anything else.” After taking every single production class I could, I felt secure enough to venture out on my own.

I quickly realized that, if I had any chance of making a name for myself, I’d have to create my own vehicle. So I combined two things the world seemed to enjoy most, the internet, and sensational negativity. Thus, “Jordan Hates” was born, a cynically comedic YouTube series in which viewers wrote-in, asking me to complain about things they hated on their behalf.

After a few years, it caught the attention of KPBS, where I developed the digital series “Jordan Loves,” an irreverent exploration into the hidden corners of San Diego and their secret, often-nefarious history.

At the insistence of my producer, Allie Lennox, I also decided to try my hand at podcasting. We partnered with Cristyn Chandler, a local San Diego artist, to create “U R Gonna Die Alone,” a sobering and embittered exploration of histories’ most tumultuous, and ultimately disastrous, relationships.

Along the way, I launched a career as a freelance writer, consulting for and collaborating with various artists on a number of different projects. I’ve also begun hiring-myself out as a host for various events.

The art world has often been described as “feast or famine,” and I’ve found that to be generally true. Thankfully, I didn’t choose this path for the money, although it certainly is a nice bonus when it’s around. Ultimately though, following the path that called most to me has proven to be the best decision I think I’ve ever made.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I’d say my biggest obstacle to trying to break into film production was more geographic than anything else. I’ve lived in San Diego most of my life, but when I left school in 2012, there seemed to be few opportunities for production here, so I tried my luck in LA for a few months. The problem with trying to break into Hollywood is, so is everyone else, and with so many people competing for the same jobs, it can get pretty cutthroat.

I left LA feeling disheartened, but returned to San Diego intent on creating my own content. It was around that time I became aware of the San Diego Film community, whose culture, I found, was nothing like that of Hollywood.

I discovered artist groups like Film Consortium San Diego, SD Media Pros and the Media Arts Center who were composed of like-minded artists not only intent on collaborating but eager to help other filmmakers.

Above all, I feel my career has benefited most from the fact that not only has production equipment become more accessible over the last few years, but media platforms are now such that you’re able to break away from the traditional “Hollywood system” and essentially pave your own path by creating and distributing media on your own terms.

Please tell us about Jordan Does Productions.
As the name suggests, “Jordan Does Productions” is a company in which, I, Jordan, do productions. If I had to choose one moniker, though, I think I’d go with “developer,” which is a relatively new, and seemingly vague term, but certainly relevant in today’s media climate.

While you could surely fill a warehouse with my shortcomings, I’ve found one of my strengths to be the development of productions. As such, I work with artists, companies and foundations to help refine their stories and deliver their message. Whether that be as a writer, producer, director or even host, my goal is to help a production achieve its goal.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to do it over again, I’d start sooner. I often feel like I wasted a significant amount of time hanging-back and second-guessing myself instead of just trusting my instincts and diving-in. That isn’t to say that I haven’t made mistakes along the way, but I now realize that stumbling is a significant part of developing your skills.

All in all, I feel I’ve been very fortunate in my career, and if this is the pinnacle, so be it. At the end of the day, I’m just glad to have finally found my path and followed it to wherever it may lead.