Jesse P Pollack of 1289 Films: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Filmmaker

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Behind every great artist is a collection of countless individuals who gave their time, opinions, and assistance to help guide their work into what it is today. Every great novel has an editor. Every timeless film has a devoted crew. Art is never created in a vacuum, and no one can do it alone, so do not hesitate to ask for help when things get tough during the creative process.

As a part of our series called “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Filmmaker”, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Jesse P. Pollack.

Jesse P. Pollack was born and raised in the garden state of New Jersey and has served as a contributing writer for Weird NJ magazine since 2001. His first book, Death on the Devil’s Teeth, coauthored with Mark Moran, was published in 2015 to critical acclaim. His second book, 2018’s The Acid King, formed the basis of the 2021 documentary of the same name, co-directed by Pollack, along with filmmaker Dan Jones. Also an accomplished musician, Pollack’s soundtrack work has been heard on Driving Jersey, an Emmy-nominated PBS documentary series. He is married with two children, two dogs, and a couple of cats. The Acid King is now available to rent and own on VUDU, DIRECTV, FiOS TV, and Roku.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit of the ‘backstory’ of how you grew up?

Thank you so much for having me! I was born and raised in Union County, New Jersey, about a half-hour outside of Manhattan. My mom was a hairdresser, and my old man was a mechanic, so it was a very prototypical suburban upbringing. A lot of time spent outside hanging out with neighborhood kids, exploring, building forts, skateboard ramps and bike jumps, causing trouble — your typical lower-middle-class childhood.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

Growing up in the early-to-mid-1990s, I was obsessed with reading. It was a great time to be a book lover as a kid. You had Goosebumps, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark and all the great books by Daniel Cohen about monsters and ghosts. I just really loved sitting in my room and reading these spooky little books and feeling the primal rush that comes with being scared. Being from that part of New Jersey, the paranormal was an almost ubiquitous presence. It was an area rich in history. Revolutionary War battles had happened nearby, so you would hear stories of headless ghosts roaming the fields where they died as soldiers. There was plenty of Native American folklore being taught in school, so you’d hear tales of ancient spirits there. There were even elements of the Satanic Panic fueling local gossip. I remember being told from a very early age that devil-worshippers were supposedly holding rituals in the woods near the local golf course. It sounds ridiculous now, but at the time, these rumors scared a lot of people. So, being a kid surrounded by all this spookiness, it wasn’t hard for me to get lost inside some of these books about the paranormal. Once I got a little older, I upgraded to my mother’s Stephen King books, and that just cemented my desire to become a professional writer. This led to me writing my first little articles for Weird NJ magazine when I was thirteen years old, which, of course, carved the path to Death on the Devil’s Teeth and The Acid King. Getting those books published then opened to doors to becoming a documentary filmmaker.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your filmmaking career?

Back when the 1289 Films crew made our first filming trip to Northport in 2017 for what became The Acid King, I was very nervous about upsetting the locals by walking around with cameras. I had already been there the year prior to conduct research for the book of the same name, and I knew far too well that just the very mention of the name Ricky Kasso could be upsetting to a lot of people, understandably. So, once we parked the car, I told my co-director, Dan Jones, and our cinematographer, Rusty Tagliareni, “If anyone asks what we’re filming, just tell them we’re shooting B roll of the marina for the news.” The very first person to approach us and ask what we were filming for was this really sweet older woman who ran a shop on Main Street. She reminded me of my grandmother, and I couldn’t bring myself to lie to her. I immediately caved, and in the most sincere voice I could muster, I replied, “Well… Do you remember that whole thing with the devil-worshippers in the park back in the 80s?” She did a complete 180, visibly tensed up, and said, “That was all BULLSHIT — the REAL devil-worshippers are out on Eatons Neck!” and walked right back inside her shop. I couldn’t help but laugh, not only because I had sabotaged my own plan, but because it’s always the next town over’s fault — they’re the REAL devil worshippers! (Laughs)

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

One of the greatest things about being an investigative journalist and a documentary filmmaker is meeting a wealth of incredibly interesting people from all walks of life. While the subject matter was undoubtedly harrowing, The Acid King was a very easy book to write, character-wise, because everyone involved in that story was a very unique person. Some of the interviews I conducted for that book and the subsequent film lasted well over four hours, simply because the person I was interviewing was just that interesting to talk to — and that’s not even getting into the more well-known people I’ve met and interviewed. While writing for Weird NJ, I got to meet and interview Tim Jacobus, who painted almost every Goosebumps cover when I was a kid. While working on The Acid King, I got to have pizza with Brendan B. Brown from the rock group Wheatus while he suddenly launched into one of Shaq’s raps from the 90s in Shaq’s voice. Taking to Jim VanBebber and Tommy Turner about the pros and cons of shooting independent film on vintage stock like 16mm and Super 8 was a real treat, as well. Hanging out with Lori S. from the stoner metal band Acid King, who got their name from Kasso, was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. Meeting all these people has really enriched my life.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I wouldn’t have been able to write these books or work on these films without my wife Ann’s support and encouragement. It’s a huge gamble to go, “I’m going to quit working at this video store and this newspaper and go write a book about a long-forgotten murder case from 1972,” and I owe any of the success I’ve had as a writer to her.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I once read Steve Martin saying, “Be so good they can’t ignore you,” and I think of that a lot when working on a project. Hype only goes so far — quality stands the test of time.

I am very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

My feelings on the issues of diversity are very simple — no one should be denied a place at the table simply because of how or where they were born, or any other factor outside the realm of their own control. Everyone deserves a chance, and representation is important in our society. Our way of life is driven by inspiration, and inspiration can be achieved on a massive level simply by a person seeing someone they identify with on the TV screen, in the pages of a book they love or singing a song that moves them. Too many doors have been shut in the faces of too many people for no reason other than bigotry and discrimination, and I am happy to see the strides that are being made to correct this today. There is more work to be done and I look forward to seeing that work come to fruition.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

Right now, I am working on my third book, Room 100, for Rowman & Littlefield Publishing. Room 100 chronicles the lives and deaths of doomed punk rockers Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, along with the plethora of mysteries surrounding them. I hope to have it completed sometime early next year.

Which aspect of your work makes you most proud? Can you explain or give a story?

Back in 2014, I was working on a story for Weird NJ magazine about an unsolved murder case from 1982 involving a young woman who has never been identified. For a short period of time, the police believed the victim to be a teenage girl who had seemingly vanished without a traceback in the late 1970s, but once I began looking into that person, I discovered that she had been arrested under a different name years after the unidentified body was found, definitively proving it could not have been her. My discovery of this information led to the revelation that she had sadly passed away in the mid-1990s under that different name, and her body had gone unclaimed because no one at the hospital where she died knew how to contact her family. I wish there had been a happier ending, but I was very proud to have been able to help solve a missing person case that had been the source of one family’s constant heartbreak for over thirty years.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. Don’t expect to make a comfortable living off your art. The Arts are severely undervalued in a capitalist society, so if you’re only getting into this business to get rich, get out now. Get into this world because you love creating something, and if you make some profit in the meantime, all the better. Don’t allow yourself to be taken advantage of, but don’t assume you’re going to become wealthy from your art, either.
2. If you’re crazy enough to read reviews of your work, just remember there isn’t a single piece of art that is universally loved. It’s okay to have detractors. There are people in this world who sincerely believe The Beatles were “talentless” and that Spielberg is an “overrated filmmaker.” If Sgt. Pepper can get bad reviews and JAWS can get panned for having a “fake-looking shark,” you can survive some random blogger talking trash about your work.
3. You are going to have to constantly adapt to survive while finishing your creation. Sometimes a camera is going to break down while working on a two-camera shoot. Sometimes the lighting is going to work against you. Sometimes an interview you were really banking on is going to fall through. Keep moving. Adapt. Learn to work around these bumps in the road while heading for the finish line. It’s very easy for artists to fall into the trap of believing every great piece of work is fully formed when first conceived of and is then released to the public in that very state. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you don’t believe me, go hunt down the first draft of the screenplay from your favorite movie — I guarantee you most of what you love about that film is barely present in any tangible form in that script. Or go listen to a bootleg of the earliest demo of your favorite song. I’m willing to bet that the hook you love is far from crystallized on that recording. Trust in the inevitability of chaos that is ever-present during the art of creation.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Behind every great artist is a collection of countless individuals who gave their time, opinions, and assistance to help guide their work into what it is today. Every great novel has an editor. Every timeless film has a devoted crew. Art is never created in a vacuum, and no one can do it alone, so do not hesitate to ask for help when things get tough during the creative process.
5. It’s okay to have some disappointments with the final product. Da Vinci once said, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” Artists, by default, are finicky people. Star Wars may have won an Oscar for special effects in 1977, but those effects ate at George Lucas so much that he eventually decided to redo the bulk of them via CGI in the mid-1990s. And guess what — most fans hated him for it. The things that bother you the most about your creations usually aren’t even noticed by those who consume them — which is doubly ironic, considering most artists are harsh on themselves due to a fear of how others will perceive and judge their work. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again — you must be fucking crazy to want to be an artist in today’s society where anyone with an internet connection can be a critic, but the desire to create something worthwhile almost always outweighs that reality. And thank god it does.

When you create a film, which stakeholders have the greatest impact on the artistic and cinematic choices you make? Is it the viewers, the critics, the financiers, or your own personal artistic vision? Can you share a story with us or give an example about what you mean?

Above all, I try to make films that I myself would want to watch. If I’m making a film that I don’t enjoy, why should anyone else? If you enjoy the work you are creating, chances are someone else will too.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’d just like to see people being kinder to one another in whatever way they can. That’s all.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. :-)

Jim Lovell. For quite some time, he was the world’s most traveled human being, having flown as an astronaut on the Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8, and Apollo 13 missions. He was the spacecraft pilot on humankind’s first voyage to the moon, and the commander of the first mission to face the serious possibility of death in the void of outer space on the ill-fated flight of Apollo 13. I can only imagine the level of insight that could be offered by a person who has seen and experienced the things Captain Lovell has. Just to sit and listen to him discuss these achievements would be an honor and a privilege. What a life!

How can our readers further follow you online?

You can follow me @jpollackauthor on Twitter and you can follow 1289 Films @1289films on Instagram.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Thank you so much! You as well!