Today we’d like to introduce you to Filmmaker Jacob Miguel.
Hi Jacob, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, let’s briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Master of none, but I get things done. My name is Jacob Miguel, and my story will differ from what you’re used to hearing. In a small town in Illinois, the only real thing I had going for me was that my small town was home to a university. This university had a thriving music department. Through the influence of my parents, older half-sister, teachers, and cool local college kids I looked up to, I went all in for music at a very young age. I had a lot of great role models and educators when it came to music, but the nature of a small town and academia left me with very little foresight into what options I had in the future; after my first year in college, working towards a Jazz performance degree in trombone. I was lost. I knew quickly that the options for making a living after school did not align with my personality. I can now admit that my character at the time did not align with performing well in school either. I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew I was still interested in music. Just more from a rock and roll perspective (and it’s hard to be a rockstar when you play the trombone). I jumped from major to major, spanning multiple departments electronic music, video, interactive art, communications, and theater. After 7 years of wandering through these departments, the school let me graduate with a “Contract Major” or a major I could define as “New Media Art and Technology.”
I also played in multiple bands – Continuing as a trombone player in larger experimental bands, singing in a punk cover band (the Ramones), and playing bass guitar in a psychedelic rock band. In Austin, this sounds par for the course, but where I was from, anything Psychedelic was very different from what you heard anywhere else. I also was a partner in a rag-tag company of friends that opened a recording studio (That failed miserably – different interview) and put on a regional music festival every year called STOMPKEE (cutely named after the country road our secret outdoor venue was on, ROMPKEE ROAD). This started as a party of about 300 people and grew to over 1500 people (at least people who paid) at one point. I could swear it was closer to 3000. But I was high on endorphins and probably a couple of other things. I’ll note here that one of my partners in those endeavors, DAVID CLICK, on different terms, later made his way here to Austin as well. He owns a recording studio called “THE OVEN” here on the north side and is doing quite well for himself. He will tell you that most of the big things we did back then were his ideas, and he is probably telling the truth. We all let our EGOs blind the narrative a bit at that age.
All of this background is to say this. Even having no idea what I wanted to do or how to do it, in all the searching, I ended up just doing it. All the skills I learned here would set the stage for a future I still had no idea was even an option, for me, to lead at this point in life.
In 2010 A phone call from a local city council board member was a match that lit the fuse under my launching pad to get out of my small town midwest bubble. This caller, also the father of my late friend Carl, had heard about my aloof dealings with video art from his son. Maybe he saw a couple of experimental short films. I’m still determining. Still, when he was presented with a request from a New York-based Filmmaker, Ramin Bahrani, to be shown around our county in hopes of finding the locations he needed for his big-budget feature film (drum roll), I turned out to be the only person he could think of to show this director guy around. So, I did. This encounter exploded into my first job as a unit assistant to the locations department on a multi-million-dollar film starring Zach Efron, Dennis Quade, and Heather Gram, to name a few. They needed corn fields, old dinners, and dirt race tracks, and we had them all. This experience was life-changing. Seeing all the moving parts on a set like this come together to accomplish a single task was inspiring. The regional festivals I had thrown had no organization; they were mayhem, Chaos, and this was order. I was fortunate that the people at the top of this production were some of the most outstanding examples of strong leadership I have seen today. I knew I wanted to be this kind of leader one day, and I was dying to learn what every person on the crew was doing.
One year before, I had never even considered working on a film set to be an option. Now I was smack dab in the heart and wanted to keep feeling the rush. Working in the film industry comes with its downs, long stretches of work followed by similar lengths of job insecurity. But I was ready for change. I had gotten a taste and was not afraid to continue that process. I changed a lot. Jumping from city to city, traveling on the road with tv shows living in hotels with no place to call home. No personal positions besides what fit in my car. No more rock and roll bands or close friends I saw every day. It was the wild west for me from 2011-2013. After a while, I found a Home in Austin, Texas. From what I had heard about it during a speech Louis Black gave in Chicago during a film festival I was working at, it was the Shangrila of places for me, a thriving Film scene thanks to a tax incentive, a historical live music scene, and the super bowl of all festivals SXSW. It just made too much sense, I had to end up here and when I did – I took life by the horns.
I worked on so many different projects wearing many different hats. Highlights of that time:
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I got to work with Robert Rodriguez at troublemaker studios and made a lot of trouble there at our wrap party after the first season of the DUSK TILL DAWN TV series.
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I was a co-producer on an award-winning independent feature film, “HERE WE ARE,” directed by one of my best friends in Austin, David Bellarosa.
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I was the first assistant Director on the Award Winning Film “Tejano” by a Director I now call a good friend David Blue Garcia. Most recently David Blue Directed the 2022 installment of Texas Chainsaw Massacre!
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I was Line Producer and UPM on a music video for Gary Clark Jr.’s song – “The Healing.”
Making some of these moves to do things like produce independent work came with its setbacks. It became awkward around people I had worked for in the past. Who wants to hire a guy to do a “lesser job” after they go out and call themself a producer? It’s semantics, but it was real. I’m sure some blame is on me because burning bridges was a talent I was getting good at.
In 2016 the film tax incentive went away, and so did some of my close friends, who also happened to be some of the people that hired me a lot. Many people Jumped ship to Atlanta, but my thirst for spontaneity, risk, and change was just not there for this moment. I was not ready to leave Austin. This was when I started working part-time at a bar called the Yellow Jacket to subsidize the longer stretches without film gigs. Besides my freelance film work and service industry dabbling to this point, I had worked for SXSW annually in some capacity. As a stage tech for a band called HAIM in 2013, to private event producing in 2014, a stage manager in 2015, pro media crew in 2016, showcase booking in 2017, MTV talent mover in 2018, and Performer in 2019. That’s right. Somewhere in all the jumble, I was able to start a band again. One that, to this day, I am still singing in. We are a Punk, Power Pop, Glam-Trash band that has had our moments of struggle, embarrassment, and adversity but come out stronger and better people for it.
We were blessed to work with one of my favorite local musicians on our first album as a producer—Andrew Cashen from A giant Dog and Sweet Spirit. While putting the final touches on our tracks, I asked him one night, sitting in the control room. “What do we do now? How do we reach the next step of success in this industry?” His response was simple: “Don’t give up. Don’t break up, and someone will notice that at some point 2,3,8 years from now.” I continue to heed this advice and intend to do so for more than just my aspirations as a musician for the rest of my life.
It was January 2018 when the following big change came for me. My world paused, and I had to take steps backward to accomplish what I knew I needed to do on multiple fronts. My drinking had gotten out of control (it probably was never in control, but it was more noticeable and affected my relationships with friends and the community). My Service industry work had proven to be a more stable income for me, and this was when I needed stability. So I walked away from working on film sets. While getting sober, I had to give up a lot, but I did not give up on my love of music or film. The 2 worlds (service industry and creative industry) collided when I began getting closer to a co-worker at my new place of employment, a Bar on the south side of Austin called the Little Darlin. Many of the bartenders who work there are musicians that need a solid gig while they are not touring, and this place is a very nurturing spot for them. The co-worker I was getting to know at that time was Trae Martinez. A guitar player from a well-known (street credible) band that took off in the early 2000s called the “Krum Bums,” his credentials are enough for his own story in voyage Austin, so I’ll get on with my story.
Trae had learned about my film exploits and knew I had a soft spot for Punk Rock, so he asked me to document an annual event he has put on called THE PUNK ROCK LOTTERY. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Musicians from all over put their names in a hat, and then the names are drawn, and you’re paired up with strangers to start a band and write songs for a month, preparing for an epic one-night competition judged by some of Austin’s more eccentric “Punk Legacy.” I’ve always wanted to direct a documentary. While capturing the footage for his event, I came upon a much bigger story that involves a lot of Austin history and the ethos of a movement that has become separated from its roots. I have now spent 5 years interviewing/ editing/ writing this documentary called PUNK ROCK LOTTERY & THE DIY GUIDE TO DOING IT YOURSELF. In late February 2023 this film Had its first private “test” screening in front of about 75 music and film industry professionals. It’s so close to finished and we are essentially just running small focus groups to see what audience reactions might be before putting the final seal of approval on it and sending out to film festivals, sales agents and the like. The test screening went great and I have a lot of feedback to look over, but all in all the response was very encouraging and I’m so grateful to everyone that has helped me along the way to get to this point.
Louis Black, the founder of SXSW, told me in an interview, “You own the culture, you control the culture, and go do it. If you’re sitting around smoking a lot of pot talking about the book you’re going to write or the film you’ll make, fuck you. Go do it.” It’s a mantra I realize to be 100% true to my spirit, conscious of it or not. If I can create a new major at my university, I can start a band. If I can start a band, I can throw a festival. If I can run an event, I can manage a business. If I can manage a business, I can make a movie. If I can make a movie, hell… I can do anything. Things fall into place if you let them. Be open to change. Be ready to take risks. Ask for help or guidance when you need it. Jump when your brain tries to tell you to get down off the ledge. Get back up after you have fallen.
Serendipity is everywhere; you must be willing to see and go after it. My band would not have started if I didn’t continually bump into the same few guys everywhere I went for an entire year. We started talking, and after a while, we realized we all had the same interests and influence, and bam, it’s now 7 years later. I would not have made a documentary if I had not left working on other people’s film sets for a job in a bar. I would not have quit drinking if I had nothing important I wanted to accomplish. Even today, my girlfriend recently told a client of hers at her photo studio about my documentary. It just so happened that he was a film producer and we are now working together to get my film distributed! Just like Andrew Cashen of A Giant Dog told me in 2016 – Don’t give up, don’t break up, and in 2,3,8 years, someone will notice that – and now, go figure, someone just noticed me.
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
I have had lots of mental health issues my entire life. Undiagnosed or misdiagnosed at first. For many years my only approach to fixing this was “self Medication” that led to many health and legal issues. Thanks to the SIMS program in Austin, I finally got therapy and psychiatric medication for my proven diagnosis. It’s amazing what genealogy can do now. With a swab of my cheek, I learned how my body reacts to different medications and the imbalances that affect my mood and cognitive ability. With the right medication, therapy, and a positive recovery network, I’ve turned a lot of this around 180. It will never be perfect or without its hiccups, but in the last 5 years, I’ve made immense progress.
Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a leader in as many forms as possible: a band leader, a bar/venue/restaurant manager, a producer/director, and an entrepreneur. The industry that all of this fits into is entertainment and media. I am a creative and creative problem solver. I have helped start and maintain many businesses, from LLCs to non-profits to DIY underground movements. I’m a killer video editor.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
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Support my band by liking our social pages, buying a record or a tee shirt, and coming out to a show!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
Bandcamp: https://foolsmusicatx.
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Come to the bar I manage, The Little Darlin’, grab a bite or a drink, and if I’m there, say Hi. I’d love to chat and learn about what your goals are and give any advice that I can. 6507 Circle S. Rd, Austin, TX 78745
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Support my film and help us make it onto a streaming service by connecting us with other professionals. We are looking for entertainment Lawyers, Producers Reps, Sales Agents, Production houses or anyone that can help us in the right direction. Outside of personal connections you can also follow our social pages, or donate money to any of the attached banking apps.
Email: Weredonehereproduction@gmail.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/
Pricing:
- Contribution For Film (you name it) – @weredonehere (Venmo)
- Little Darlin’ Tip your Bartenders
- Hire me for your next Music video
- Hire My band for a show
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-miguel-134834209/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacobmi84528369
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-EKeHHZRc8GLGd20CXzCAQ
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5020255/
- Email: Jmtopoftheworld@gmail.com
- 815-901-1330
Image Credits
Photo of me with camera operator Credit: Patric Rusk, Photo of band horsing around Credit: Austin Uncharted, Photo of me in red striped shirt Credit: Dave Creaney, All other photos Credit : Wakeeña Real
