Evan Jacobs has directed a terrific new film titled “1985-1986”. The story of a young boy who falls in with the wrong crowd, it’s an animated film that’s look has been likened to Matt Parker & Trey Stone’s “South Park”. CLINT MORRIS caught up with earlier this week.
Is it fair to say you make the kind of films nobody else would be brave enough to even attempt to do?
I wouldn’t say that! I am just one of those people that is impatient. I started off writing screenplays and after writing a few I wanted to see some get made. This was right around when Pulp Fiction and Clerks were happening. I got some interest from this agent… that went nowhere and I hated being so darn dependent on someone else to help me do something. So I made my first movie on video called Walking Between the Raindrops. That was a good experience and I made more films. And more films. However, that took me away from writing. This happened because in addition to making films I was also distributing them on VHS. So then I would “go to ground” and write a lot, want to see a movie get a made, shop it around, option it (so somebody else had to shop it), and then if nothing happened with it either make the script or keep it as one I could show to prospective producers. So basically… it all stems from impatience and the feeling that if I know how to do something, and nobody wants to help me do it, I will just do it myself.
You say ”1985-1986” is your most personal film… why’s that?
I would say better than 80% of the film happened to me. In 1985, I started attending a middle school in a much different neighborhood than the one where my elementary school was located. I was suddenly in school with people that were in real gangs, brought weapons (guns and knives) to school, and basically were a lot older (mentally) and street smart than I. This experience had a profound effect on my life because at age 12, I realized how drastically things could change and how sometimes the world is a really tough place. Years later, via sites like FACEBOOK, I have connected with a lot of people who inspired characters in the film and they had similar feelings about the school we attended. Some of them have even seen and liked 1985-1986 which is gratifying.
Did you do all the animation yourself?
Evan: Yes, I bought Toon Boom Studios and worked with it for a year. I storyboarded out the film and then spent 10 months or so drawing it. Pixar it ain’t. People have likened the look to South Park and that is being kind. Lets just say my animation style is simple. I knew nothing about the program or animation when I started, and I am sure people will view the film and say I still don’t! To that I say that I really wanted to make this film and animation made it possible. Working with literally zero dollars there was no way I could make 1985-1986 as a live action film. I was drawing for 12-14 hours a day sometimes. It was tough and there but it was an incredible experience to empower myself with technology.
What’s the story?
1985-1986 is a coming-of-age story about a 12-year-old boy named Erol who begins attending a new middle school in a rough neighborhood. His new environment is different from the safety of the suburbs he has always known. Erol ends up falling in with a bad crowd and is introduced to a world of smoking, alcohol, drugs and punk rock. Ultimately, Erol realizes that the best person he can be is himself.
It mixes the after school special tone with a lot of Charles Schulz and a little bit of Larry Clark. It really looks at the psychological effects that bullying has on young people and what they sometimes do to survive. In my case, since I couldn’t beat them, I joined them.
Did you finance the film yourself? And how long did it take to get it up?
Yes, this film was 100% financed by me. The budget was the price of the software and two 300GB hard drives. It was made in 2004-2005 so if you know the prices of that equipment from back then that should give you some idea of how inexpensive it was. Also, I guess you could say there was my time I put… sweet equity. I had made some money editing a news show for The Gallop Poll for three months in Princeton, New Jersey. When I came back to Orange County, CA I was staying with the folks rent free and that money allowed me to stay afloat. Then, I was an extra in a Budweiser commercial with Brad Pitt and a featured extra in Tim Allen’s The Shaggy Dog and that money gave me a lot of breathing room. So it took me ten months to draw and then maybe another 4-7 months scoring, editing, and redrawing parts of the film. The biggest hassle was when I started I wasn’t that good with the program. Not that I became great, but I got better over the course of drawing the film. So… I had to have a lot of discipline not to go back and redraw most of the film just because I could. To quote Jean Renoir, “perfection is in the mind.” There’s no point in killing yourself when you’re doing something creative. The big thing is to have fun and learn.
How are you distributing the film?
Originally, a bigger company was going to license it but then they backed out. So I schlepped it around to a bunch of distributors and that sadly never went anywhere. So now I am self distributing via Amazon.com. It is available on DVD and also as a digital download or rental. People with certain Samsung TVs, Roku players, TiVo… heck, a connection to the internet, will all be able to see it. I am not done, however. It will play on public access in California soon and it will also come to some mom and pop DVD stores in all 50 states in the US. I am ALWAYS looking for more distribution so anybody in the world that wants to help me distribute 1985-1986, no matter where you are, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!
What’s the goal.. move onto bigger projects, studio fare?
As a director… maybe. Although, I would probably need somebody much bigger than me, or a big actor that believes in me to make that happen. I love making movies. However, what I really am, my biggest strength, is as a writer. I am like RL Stine in that way. I can just crank out scripts. I’ve written some scripts in as little as 3 days. This is while working other jobs. I don’t know how good or bad they are but I’ve written them.
So… I could see myself eventually writing scripts for a studio. So far things have gone pretty well in that direction. I co-wrote (with director Darren Doane) a script called Black Friday that came out via Universal Home Entertainment. I co-wrote (with popular actor Louis Lombardi) a script called Dough Boys that came out from MTI, and very recently I co-wrote a script called The Boxer & The Kid (this was based on an original script of mine). The Boxer & The Kid got made this summer and it stars “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Daniel Magder. It looks like another script I co-wrote called How I Lost My Mind and Killed Someone is going to get made with some pretty well known people. There’s also a bunch of other scripts I am either working on, or have set up with producers, who are trying to bring them to fruition.
Right now I am finishing editing a documentary called Orange County Hardcore Sceneste.r It is about the Orange County punk/hardcore scene from 1990-1997. After that, I will be doing my next animated movie. It is a moody/supernatural tale that is heavily inspired by Phantasm and The Gate. It is called Insect. All the voices have been recorded and I need to start drawing it!
”1985-1986” is now available on DVD
