Jack Hackel

Jack Hackel Bio Good direction is about listening skills and the ability to understand a client's vision, objectives and perspective. From the first meeting through to post-production, genuine collaboration is instrumental. Whether it's an online teaser or a full-length documentary, effective direction requires a good ear every bit as much as it demands a good eye. It not all bullhorns and berets... It's a slippery equation involving an artist's temperament and an accountant's parsimony. It's the knife-edge balance of time, money, creative objectives and marketing demands. It's about making, and keeping, the clients happy. It's onset hacks and workarounds that ensure the day gets done on time and on budget. It means directing talent and having talent for directing. It's judging the temperature of the sun at dawn, and knowing if you can bag the shot before lunch. Most of all, it's about being a mensch. About Jack Jack learned his trade as a journeyman holding a camera long before he ever stood behind one. Learning how to get the shot in time for the six o'clock news was every bit as edifying as watching the collected work of Kurosawa or Coppola. Jack's got what Polanyi called tacit knowledge, what others call "chops" - A level of expertise achieved through doing. It's hard to describe in writing, but it's evident onscreen. Hello Dolly Jack's schlepped Imax rigs into the wilds of Patagonia, rigged robots, children, and a couple of bottles of premium liquor. With Jack you get everything you would expect from someone who has been there and done that, except the attitude. Whether he's shooting under the chassis of an armored vehicle or hanging from a helicopter over pristine shoreline, Jack will get the shot, and likely buy you one, all before the sun sets.