Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacqueline Villegas.
Hi Jacqueline, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m from El Paso, Texas originally, and lived on the border of Mexico my entire life. I started college at the University of Texas at El Paso, majoring in film production. It was there I committed to my dreams of becoming a film director and my parents supported me in transferring to central Texas to attend Texas State University. My background is in theatre, choir, and modeling, and somewhere in the mix of high school, I discovered I loved video making and started a YouTube channel. I learned to create, entertain, and edit, and it’s where my love of filmmaking began. I’ve always loved movies (favorite 3 off the top of my head: The Shining, John Wick I, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) and by the time I was a senior, I had a feeling that’s what I’d major in. Spring of freshman year at UTEP it occurred to me I’d need an internship to learn more and stand out, and luckily I found Power at the Pass- a local production company and hub for creatives involved in everything from filmmaking, music, art, business, and more. It was exactly what I needed. To this day, I’ve never found any place quite like it. I interned with Valentin Sandoval, the creative director behind PATP, for the remainder of my time at UTEP until I transferred to Texas State. To this day we continue to work together and check in on each other, presently a film of ours is currently being produced! It’s his baby really- Barcology, but we rewrote the entire script together and, in cooperation with Bored Film Studios (another phenomenal production company in EP), several scenes are already completed, not to mention the behind-the-scenes work Val is putting in. Safe to say, I was blessed with my first internship experience and it was a wild success. Moving to central Texas was instrumental in my growth as a filmmaker, and through some hard work, God’s blessings, and a network of great people, I’ve worked on some fantastic projects: student films, union sets, in massive film warehouses, a 2024 fall internship with TCP Productions and 2024’s SXSW Film Festival as a venue manager (plus confirmed to work this year’s fest as well!). I am more and more grateful every day that I took the risk and moved out here!
I’ve made the Dean’s list every year since my first year (2023) and my reputation as a filmmaker at school is, well, let’s just say pretty good! This isn’t even to say how many impressions I’ve made, places I’ve gone, and everything else I can’t remember in this moment, but following my dream path has been so good to me. Ultimately, God is the guiding force in my life. I used to not be a believer- 2022 me would be thanking the universe or something, but I’ve changed. You don’t choose when Jesus opens your eyes and takes you into his arms, it just happens. Or at least it did for me. I definitely feel it’s made me a more responsible filmmaker. Directing is incredibly impactful and it’s easy to take the power we wield as creatives with a camera to create whatever messages we want but Jesus is my moral compass and I am constantly looking to him for answers. I know wherever I go, big or small, God’s got me and nothing that’s meant for me will miss me. I have Hollywood dreams, and eventually see myself owning a production studio. God has a lot of room to work in my life and it’ll be exciting to see how it all unfolds. I understand now what they mean by “it’s not about the destination but the journey”. I have a new appreciation for each day. Life is good because God is good, and I’m just so grateful for all the blessings I have.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think any person has had a perfectly smooth road in life, but I do think walking with God has made my life significantly better. My parents divorced in the spring of 2020, smack dab in the middle of Covid. I missed out on the last half of my junior and entirety of my senior year in high school, which I still lament. I was frustrated at that time because I didn’t know who I was. I was searching for identity when everything was suddenly different. I didn’t know God then so I searched for meaning on the internet and was led to an entirely different path which massively impacted my mental health. Everything up until the fall of 2022 is a bit of a blur for me because I was all over the place. I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker and tell stories, so during quarantine all I’d do was write and create art. I got deeply in touch with my emotions and the hurt I was feeling, and essentially experienced an ego death at the tender age of 19. It was good for me. Mental health struggles are only struggles if we think we have no option but to live with them. Suffering feeds off of us. Before I encountered God I held this idea of depression and anxiety in my mind but on some level, I knew I didn’t have to accept it. My dad had Covid pretty badly during 2020, so I was mostly alone all the time. When I wasn’t alone I was with my little sister Olivia, who to this day is my rock. We grew close during 2020 and I finally felt the sisterly love I was supposed to feel all these years. It was something different. I was feuding with my mom constantly and we too separated during the divorce. I was rebellious and hardheaded, and she was mean and always right so our relationship suffered. Living alone with my dad was nice and he’s always been an amazing father, but in that time I grew a deeper appreciation and understanding for my mom. I matured a lot and realized I was wrong in a lot of ways, and together we repaired our relationship. Time does that sometimes. Emotions are a massive part of the human experience and if we aren’t careful they’ll get the better of us and damn near lead us off a cliff. My challenges were emotional, mental, and centered around my identity. After all, if you don’t know who you are, how will you know where you’re going? I had no real part in becoming saved. It was just gentle nudges from God and things I began to question about my reality. No matter how old I get I’ll always be open to new perspectives. It took dark years to become who I am today.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a filmmaker and director! I am fascinated with the entire film industry and love all roles. I’ve been a PA, production manager, sound girl, editor, assistant director, producer, screenwriter, and much more, with varying levels of importance of course. To me, it’s crucial to see how it all gets done. Improvement comes from experience and exposure and I’ve always been the kind of girl who goes after what she wants. When I need experience I seek it out. When I need a network I go out and find them, when I need help or don’t know something I ask questions. I’m in the sweet spot of my career where I can ask as many questions as I want and make choices without fear of high stakes. I’m grateful for all the opportunities I have to learn! Power at the Pass is a big part of my origin story and that experience really gave me the confidence I needed to work on new projects with little experience, engage in conversation with professionals, and seek out exciting opportunities. I love working on film sets especially and I’ve been lucky to work on more than I can count. I thrive in the filmmaking environment and find my zen there, even if I’m running around organizing things and ensuring set is running smoothly. As a screenwriter, I tend to lean more towards drama, action, and thriller in what I prefer to film. I love emotion and I’ve seen enough exhilarating movies to understand, “That. That’s how I want to make my audiences feel.” Watching movies makes me a better writer and I love writing my own work. I hope to get better and better with each script and, to give you a peek into my folders, I’m about 40 pages into a feature film I’m hoping to produce as my thesis, with at least 3 short films ready to go when I choose to shoot them. Plus an unnumbered amount of unfinished works still worth looking at. I’m kind of constantly inspired but since my more short-term goals are to work in the professional industry and get internships, I stock up my ideas and work on them as I can. Life is quite exciting and it’s fun to choose which paths to take. It can be overwhelming but it’s wonderful to have so much to choose from. I am currently applying to a few industry jobs and have SXSW 2025 Venue Managing on lock once again this year! The struggle for me is this nagging feeling of always wanting to do more and outdo my own capacity. It’s a bit of that residual anxiety but it’s a good motivator to accomplish at least a few things every day and make the small wins count. One of my favorite quotes is, I’d rather live with the pain of discipline than the pain regret, and it’s true! I consider my life and my youth every day and I appreciate the power of presence. Only God knows how far I’ll go but I do my best every day.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters to me most is my faith in God. Not to bore anyone but God really changed my life. I used to be a much less happy and confident person when I was relying entirely on my own strength and the truth is, I’m just not that strong. Even a blind man could see how spiritual this world is, but with that being said there are so many paths to spirituality in this world it’s easy to get overwhelmed and confused. I definitely was. There is only one man who came to earth as Son of God, who was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and died a brutal death to save us all from our sins. (Plus rose from the dead 3 days later.) We don’t understand or appreciate how massive that is and I didn’t either until just a few years ago. Maybe it’s hard to believe, but have radical faith. It’s hard to be human. Our lives are all-encompassing as it is, not to mention how overwhelming things can be when we’re going through something difficult. The film industry calls me and I know I’m doing the right thing, and I only say that because I’ve gotten so much confirmation and support from God that is so personal it’s unmistakable. You know when you walk in life with purpose and that’s the difference with being a follower of Christ. It feels like I can walk into any room filled with people who can’t stand me and I’d still feel love. It feels like I can apply to any job I want and if it’s God’s will I’ll get it, even if there’s someone ahead of me with more experience and a better background. It feels like I’ll have an infinite source of inspiration for my future works because I’m connected to the King of the Universe who knows all things, including what stories audiences need to hear. When you understand this feeling, this confidence, this love- you’ll simply never turn back. It takes a personal encounter with Jesus to understand. You must go through a perspective shift. You have to have an open heart and a curiosity for God to find him because if you’ve already written his off, God respects your decision. He isn’t a tyrant that breaks down your walls and forces you to love him, that isn’t love. He respects the free will of all humans, but we aren’t exempt from the consequences. We can take life into our own hands and make it wonderful, but imagine how much better, easier, and more beautiful it could be if we trusted our lives to the one who created us. If we respected the truth that there is, in fact, someone bigger and better than us. Someone so great that he created the air we breathe, the sun we see, and the people we love. This isn’t me forcing my religion on anyone, I’m just saying. But you asked what matters, and to me there’s nothing that matters more.
Thank you for reading my article! I hope you enjoyed this look into my life & thank you VoyageAustin for allowing me the platform to share my story. Please check out my links: my YouTube channel, Instagram, and the Risen Up christian podcast with my little sister Olivia! Special thank yous to my wonderful parents and family for always supporting me and showering me with love. I am forever grateful for your sacrifices and steadfastness in my life. God bless all my readers! Feel free to message me if you have any questions or wish to work together.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p.rincessjackie/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@p.rincessjackie
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA9nia0FcVgbm0YMIy5TdfQ
Image Credits
Jorge Barahona, BORED Film Studios, El Paso, TX
