SPEAKER_00 0:02

Yeah, all of my siblings are biblical J names, Jake, Josh, Jeremiah, and Jordan.

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Stop it. Jeremiah? Does he go by Jeremiah?

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Yeah. Or uh like more casually, Maya will sometimes shorten it.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Ooh, I like Maya.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Um I I I met a toddler named Jeremiah. And it's just when you talk to a toddler, when you talk toddler, Jeremiah, you know, there's like an innate, you know, um formality to that child. Um powerful name. Hey yo, welcome back to Ilse Will Say. Welcome to my brain. I'm Ilse, and I said I was gonna cut off coffee, and I definitely did not. Uh, I am joined today with uh writer, director. He did the thing, like the thing that all the Chicago folks want to do. He did uh proof of concept that then turned into a feature that is now streaming. What an incredible feat! I'm so excited to get into it. I have a couple friends in the actual movie, super excited. Please welcome my buddy Jake. Truly, you are like the the walking example of what a lot of folks like want as their trajectory. I mean, uh, okay, I did I do need to ask about your pinky.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you want to see it? This is it. I I would offer it to you. This is what I do. People are like, hey, what's going on with your pinky? I say, hey, do you want to try to bend it? And this is as far as it goes. Joe, can I tell the whole story?

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Can I can we first get yes, but can we first get a little log line of your life? Can we get a little log line of your life and then get into the pinky story?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Love it. Yeah, I'm Jake Myers. I'm so happy to be here. What an intro. Uh, this is great. But um, yeah, I write, direct, and work in posts, so I'll do VFX and animation for different projects. And I I love working in Chicago, it's great. I also love going out to LA, it's great. Um, but yeah, I just directed a horror comedy called Kombucha, and it's a corporate sap tire about a drink that makes you spectacular at your job, but uh you eventually have to pay for that performance with your life, your creativity, and your soul.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Sounds familiar.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yeah. Unfortunately relatable, super relatable movie for anyone that's worked in a corporate office, especially one where they have kombucha on tap.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

I have not yet. Have you been at a day job where they have kombucha on tap?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

I worked uh for a creative company where that was very much the vibe, but it was during COVID. So I was working remotely and I didn't get the kombucha on tap. Um the closest thing I could say that I've had is freelancer for the onion, but they just had beer on tap and it was great.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

That's better. Uh I'm gonna work at a yeah, for sure. I worked at a day job where they had like an incredible espresso espresso machine just like at the at the go, and they would bring in lunch uh like every Thursday and Friday, so you like felt like you needed to be there. You're like, I guess they got me.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Um you can work through lunch now, now that we paid for it.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Mm-hmm. Um what where are you from originally, Chicago?

SPEAKER_00 3:59

So I'm from just outside Chicago. I don't know if you've ever been to Starved Rock, but I was born in Ottawa, Illinois. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh but I grew up in Aurora and I needed to, I wanted to live in the city.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Nice, yeah. And where'd you go to school?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Um, I went to UIC, University of Illinois, Chicago. Um, are you talking about high school or college?

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Oh, college.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

College, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

But you can tell me you're high school too, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

UIC was great. It was such a good experience. I love my professors. Like Deborah Stratman was like, she's in the Criterion collection. She was one of my most formative professors. And then I remembered I worked in the film cage at UIC. So I was checking out gear to Jennifer Reader. Uh it's where uh all the film students go to rent gear. So I was the dork that like got the gear ready for you. Um because I knew how to work the gear, so they had to get someone to do it. Um and I needed scholarship money. So um so yeah, but I would run it out to the professors and Jennifer Reader was well.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

You know, like the WWE cage where like only one can come out.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

That's way cooler. That would be a way better story, yeah. It was just it was a really cool place. I love my professors. Um, I love the experience. And I was one of those few people that I don't talk bad about film school at all. I was like, no, no, I needed it. Like the films I would have made would have been awful, like unwatchable. Uh yeah, just dumb. Like just repeating everything that I've seen Tarantino do in the past.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Fair enough, fair enough. We've all been there. Okay, Pinky.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Oh, uh part of my log line with life is volleyball. I played for a really competitive traveling volleyball team. Uh, that was the first time I went to California was to go play volleyball out there, but I kept coaching uh even after college, and I played for UIC's team, and it was really fun. Um, but while I was coaching one of my first years out of college, I went up and you're supposed to like flex your fingers to block. I didn't do that, and the ball was gonna go 90 feet out of bounds, and my pinky got in the way. So the pinky came off and was just dangling by a tendon down here in the bottom bone. Like, I don't know if you can see that, but it like came through. You can see a little scar there. And I went over to another coach, this like six, seven pro volleyball players, like, yo, man, you gotta take me to the hospital. He looked at my pinky and went, ah, and did not drive me. Another coach, I went up to him and he said, Yes, I will drive, like, reluctantly agreed to take me to the hospital. And the whole time he's looking over and starting to get like woozy, so I had to hide my pinky from him. Um, when we got to the actual hospital, I've never been seated so quickly. Like normally I was like, All right, shit, now I gotta wait for like three hours to get a bet. No. They were like, Oh, right this way, sir, come on in. And the doctor took one look at it. Yeah, pinky privilege, I guess. Um he brought in all the med students to say, Hey, uh, you guys gotta see this. And I'm like, wait, so I'm the freak? Like, this is the bad thing of the night that everyone needs to see. Great, cool. Um and this guy was odd. He had like his shirt was unbuttoned a little too far, and he had like chest hair coming out and a whole lot of hair just. He was like Miami Vice um doctor, and he is like describing how cool this is to all the med students, and then he pulls my pinky, and you just hear this awful snap, and I look down and I can see like my pinky nail when I'm looking down at my hand this way. And I look around and all the med students are looking at their toes, like, fuck, we just witnessed malpractice. And I look up at him and I say, Yeah, I'm no doctor, but uh, I'm pretty sure that's on backward. And he said, Yeah. Yeah, he put it on backward the first time. He said, Let's see what the x-rays say. So we went, I got the x-rays. The x-rays confirmed that my pinky was in fact on backward. And afterward, he was like, All right, yeah, sorry about that. It happens sometimes. I'm like, I don't think it happens sometimes. That seems like kind of an same era.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Also, why did you need an x-ray?

SPEAKER_00 8:18

To prove. I think he was just trying to delay, like trying to figure out his next steps. And this was the best plan that he could come up with. He said, So we're gonna give you. He was like playing cool guy. He was like, You had a really rough day. We're gonna give you some really cool pain meds that we usually reserve for people in hospice. This was before like we knew about the opioid crisis.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Oh so he gave me fentanyl. Goodness.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

He loaded me up with fentanyl.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Oh my god, I'm holding my heart.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Crazy, right? I think he wanted me to not remember what happened to me. Because like that I I think would fuss with your memory. But unfortunately for him, like my body just rejected it on the drive home, and I just threw it all up. And I was like, wow, that was awful.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

That is crazy cuckoo bananas. Like, wow, wow, but what a great story now that you have. Like, now you have a great story. I don't know. Did you sue them? Like, I would have, I would have maybe made a fuzz or something.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

In hindsight, like I could have financed three movies with the lawsuit. Like, I really should have done that.

unknown 9:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

I mean, yeah, in hindsight, should have done it. I think I'm past the statute of limitations, but yeah, yeah. If you see a doctor with too much chest hair, like get a second opinion.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Ugh, I was just talking to somebody about chest hair and how I think it's so gross, but I think it's because I was a swimmer, and all of these prepubescent dudes would just have like large chest hair, and they would come out of the pool and it'd be like a dog shaking off water, and I'm like, ew, I have to swim in this pool.

SPEAKER_03 10:02

Were they like proud of it?

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Yeah, they were so proud. They thought they were the coolest because they had chest hair. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Um I have shame. I have so much chest hair, and I'm just a ball of shame about it. I don't want anybody to see it. I like I should wear turtlenecks all day. Well, I'm at a point where like I think I'm so old that it just connects. It's just from here all the way down. I have the mustache just so it creates a visible break between my chest hair and my face.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

That's amazing. I think the person who should be wearing a turtleneck is the doctor.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Um at least got him to put the chest hair away.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Yeah, absolutely. Like, what if oh my god, what if he was like sewing you up and there was just like a little bit of chest hair just sticking out?

SPEAKER_00 10:54

There probably is. In addition, there's probably like a couple inside buried in my pinky sutures.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Oh my gosh. Okay, gross. Let's move on.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Sure. Oh, do you have any sports injuries?

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Uh my shoulder. What happened from swimming? Um I I was doing No, I just dislocated. Um but then it I mean just dislocated. Uh I was swimming backstream backstroke.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

Oh, sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Yeah. So no, no worries. I was swimming backstroke and my goggles when I like um dove in because you have to die, like do it backwards in a relay. Like my the my one of my straps went into went forward and down my chin, and so I couldn't breathe. And but I was like trained to finish. So I was like swimming for my life. It was the fastest I've ever swam.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Whoa.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Because I just wanted to finish. And by the time that like I I was just overextending myself, and I came out and I just my swim coach says that I just kept saying ice, ice, like that I needed ice. Um, but I don't remember most of it. Uh, but then I got like the electroshock therapy, whatever, and that was incredible, and that was that. It's cured now.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Whoa, that's crazy. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Yeah, yeah. And I joined swimming with my b my thank you. Uh my face is a ball magnet, so like any sport with a ball, like my face will just get hit with it. So I joined swimming thinking what could possibly go wrong.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Exactly. Yeah. Um, okay, but I do want to talk real quick. Um how in the I believe it's the short film, your monster was supposed to be practical and then something didn't show up. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 12:54

In the short film, the monster was practical. Um, and it was something that it just worked. Like the big N monster was just a giant, you know, three-pound gummy worm that Terrence Carey pulled out of his mouth. Um, but in the feature film, the monster was supposed to be a giant, like Cthulhu scoby squid looking thing with tentacles, and we're supposed to have all of these like articulating arms, and we hired this SFX artist who was like renowned in Chicago as the person who can make these really cool monsters, like worked on huge budget Hollywood movies, and I'm not gonna name his name, but he didn't fabricate the thing he said he was going to fabricate. He sent me fake screenshots of the work in progress, and I kept saying, yo, that's great. I love seeing the work. I need to go to your studio. I gotta see it in person. And he kept saying, Look, if you just give me another week, I'll make you an extra tentacle. I'll make you some, I'll use some of the extra material I have to make you some extra things to dress the set with, and I think that's gonna be worth it. And I was like, I I can't like stop everything. I need to keep doing location scouting and getting all the casts and everything, and I need to put out whatever fires immediate, so I'm I'm gonna trust you. And then it started getting closer, and I was like, yo, where is it? And then we're filming, and then I was like, yo, where is it? And then we kept filming, and I the night before I said, We need it, and I went to a studio and there was nothing. He had nothing. He had like a couple of 3D printed rings. I I thought I would be able to get it done. And that was it. And so what I had to do is send members of my art department to just fabricate something so that we had some kind of physical puppet in the shot that the artist could react to. And then like I'm so thankful that I had my experience in VFX leading up to this. So I know how to do a little bit of compositing and a little bit of animation. And I'd worked for this company in Chicago called Third Beacon, and I said, yo, we got a little bit of a problem. Like, I can kind of text.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Just a little bit of a problem.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Yeah, our monster is bad. Like, it will not be scary, it will ruin the movie. The little bit of a problem. Um, can we try to replace some of this? And I'm so thankful for Third Beacon. We ended up doing a total CGI replacement, and I'm glad that we had a great puppeteer to try it, and the actors all like they knew it was a shit situation, but they still like game face on, Terrence Carey was great, like just total professional. So the performance was there, the shadows were there, and then Third Beacon and their team uh just did a spectacular job of animating the creature, and then I just composited it. So I put like Terrence in with that animation.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Oh my goodness, wow, what a ride! But how incredible of a feeling it is to be like F you, you didn't come up with it, and we still made it and it looks fantastic. Like, what a great, what a great story. What what all's well that ends well, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Yeah. I mean it had to. I was like, oh, the rest of the movie looks great. I can't let this ruin it.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Okay. Um we won't uh let you ruin hot cakes, uh, sir. So it is hot takes, but they stack up. We're gonna ask you a few questions. We're gonna put 60 seconds on the clock. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yes? Best kombucha flavor.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Um ginger.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Best late night eat in Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Um El Patron Tacos Lomo.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Scariest Are You Afraid of the Dark episode?

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Uh the one with the faceless things that are like summoning you up.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Corporate buzzword you uh banned forever.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Let me circle back to you on that.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

That's a most haunted spot in Chicago. No, it's all good. Most haunted spot in Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Uh lower whacker.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Weirdest VHS you ever rented.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Uh dark backward.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Best snack on set.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Oh, Hayden brought by these little like um panchetta wrapped mozzarella sticks.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Uh shout out to fancy. Worst office job you ever had.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Oh god. Uh worst office job I've ever had. Um I'm just gonna say worst job. I worked at McDonald's.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Which superstition do you still follow, just in case?

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Um God, I'm like not superstitious. Um Dang. Well, I guess no, no, I drink, I totally I drink kombucha thinking it's going to help my gut, which is absolute superstition. Like, I don't know that there's anything to back that. There's actually like conflicting information on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

That is interesting. That is so interesting. I didn't know. I thought it was just the good probiotics.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

I thought so too. Yeah, well. I looked up some stuff uh for the movie, and uh yeah. Kombucha can sometimes get a little out of whack in your gut, and you can start to get a little mother growing inside.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

And get a what to grow inside?

SPEAKER_00 19:20

A little like culture of bacteria and yeast in there.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Okay, well, now you've changed my mind on kombucha.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

I still drink it. Maybe that's the superstition. I'm like, no, I someone told me it was good, so I think it's good.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

I guess it's good. Um so we do get a little woo-woo. You're not superstitious. Do you have any ghost stories? Do you believe in anything that's like strange? I mean, you have a horror film about a kombucha, so like anything cool, weird that you kind of believe in?

SPEAKER_00 19:57

I don't know if we're living in a simulation. I feel like that's weird. I'm not sure. I'm 100% not sure. Um I also um what's it what's another like really weird thing that I believe that I shouldn't tell people. Oh, uh, for conspiracy theories. I gotta I'm like questioning Meryl M Marilyn Monroe's cause of death and Philip Seymour Hoffman's cause of death. Because the movie that Philip Seymour Hoffman made before um he died was The Master. I shouldn't, I'm not talking anymore about this.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

I mean in LA in LA, if I ever go visit LA, absolutely not. There's a very powerful religious group in LA that doesn't like that movie.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

Ah, yeah. So, and then what about Marilyn Monroe?

SPEAKER_00 21:01

I mean, she knew a lot of world leaders really closely, and I just wonder if she had a little bit of influence or just knowledge that they didn't want getting out. I'm so embarrassed to even talk about this. No, I love this. I love this.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

You're in good company. You're in good company, trust me. Uh I love this so much.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

I worked on the the telepathy tapes, the documentary that's gonna come out next year.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Okay, I wasn't gonna bring it up, but you did what did you do?

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Um, I did some title cards for them and like some like explainer graphics for them. And I love the director, Kai. Kai Dickens is great. Uh she's from Chicago. Um, but she lives in Burbank. When we lived in LA, Kai was one of the people that like brought us under her wing and like took us, took uh my wife and I and our kids like trick-or-treating with her, her wife and her kids. Um so yeah, Kai's the best. And man, um I I don't want to say like I'm a hundred percent bought in, but boy, that's a convincing argument for um people with like a certain neurodivergence being able to find a different way to communicate.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

That is it is wild to me, and there's so much controversy on it, and people have really strong. Strong opinions about it. Yes. Like no one I think is just neutral about it. Which I think is the strange part. You're neutral about it?

SPEAKER_00 22:32

I'm absolutely neutral. I was like, I was kind of like a skeptic until I started working on it. And then I was like.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

Wait, does she talk about you in the in the telepathy tapes?

SPEAKER_00 22:45

She probably talks about Michael, her director of photography.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Michael, okay. Yes, that's right. That's right. Yeah. Um, so you're neutral?

SPEAKER_00 22:54

I mean, that's a big step for me. To even like be neutral is like neutral in something pretty woo is big for me. And it's just because like those families are so compelling. And some of the things that the the students were saying, it was just so it was fascinating.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Yeah, yeah. Uh I can't wait to I never like I'm I'm one of those people that is like I'm not a fan of anything. Like I'm not a huge like Star Wars or Star Trek or Marvel. Like I'd like them all, but I'm just not gonna take that extra step to like be like a huge fan. So the telepathies tapes is one of those where I've listened to some episodes, um, but I haven't like paid for the additional like video and da-da-da-da-da. But I am curious about the documentary, and I'm so curious to have a visual aspect to what I have been listening to. Um I'm so excited. Uh, I think that that the fact that you're neutral about it, I think you're the first neutral person that I've met.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

Um but yeah, that like you said, it's a big step. Um dang, when is that coming out?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

I'm not allowed to say. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Okay, like I'm under very strict NDA. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

No, absolutely, absolutely. I will dig no more, but just know I am excited. Um dang. Okay, awesome. That's great. I'm so happy to hear that um it it's got the good vibes that you want. You don't want to like get get like, oh yeah, I was on that set, and I was awful. I don't know, they're terrible people, you know. I always like I always like a good set, I always like good people. Um so where can folks catch Kombucha? And where are you on your next slasher movie? I don't know how much I can say about that one, so you take it away.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Will do. Thank you so much. Uh Kombucha, watch it now on Tubi. It just dropped on Tubi. Um, I'm so excited for people to be able to see it. It's free. Um before that, it was available on Screenbox, um, and it was available for purchase and rent on Apple and Amazon. And I it's gonna be on Tubi, and then it's gonna drop on a whole like bunch more platforms soon. But please, please go watch it on Tubi. Um, the next project that I'm working on. Initially I was planning on doing a kombucha sequel, but I had this idea that I'd been sitting on for a while, and I had it written for a man, and it was called Neil. And then this actress, Cricket, tried out for uh Kombucha 2, and Cricket was such a magnetic performer, even in the audition. And I remembered seeing a short film called Chump that Cricket was in, and they were just incredible, like so fun to watch, like it's hard to look away, um, so funny and scary at the same time. And I was like, oh, this is exactly my brand. Um, so I rewrote the whole thing for a woman, and now it's called Sheila. So Sheila is about a woman who has a glioblastoma in her frontal lobe. It is inoperable, so it's a death sentence. But when I mentioned that to people who went to med school, they say, Oh no. Does she like get violent or get impulsive? And I was like, Yeah. Um because one of the most famous cases of the glioblastoma in the frontal lobe is the Texas Tower Sniper, who is very lucid, like wrote, I'm really sorry for all the things that I've done. If you're reading this note, then you know that I've probably taken the lives. I just really hope that everyone that I've killed goes to heaven. Like people who are lucid but cannot stop themselves from acting as their face.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

I haven't closed my mouth. I haven't closed my mouth in in minutes. Okay, I'm listening. What?

SPEAKER_00 26:52

That's it. Yeah. So that's sort of the jumping off point, and it's a a character who is weird to begin with, but now has no impulse control, and now um wants to make the most out of light before she dies, and is very sensitive to rejection because of that time crunch.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

Oh, I'm excited. All right. Sheila, dude, that is. Keep an eye out for Sheila. Sheila.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Heck yeah. And Kombucha on Tubi. Woo!

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Um, well, thank you so much for being on the podcast. This was so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yeah, this was great. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

Stop it, Jake. That was so much fun. Um, I feel like I just nerded out and just caught up with a friend that I've known forever. Um, so fun, so cool. Catch kombucha on Tubi. Do it, support indie filmmakers, please, please, please. Um, and then yeah, look out for his other slasher films. And honestly, do the thing. Do Jake did the thing, do the thing. You can do it, believe. Um, please like, subscribe, and do all the things. Follow uh Jake and the podcast on Instagram and social and send us some love if you can. Um and yeah, go outside that cubicle and go live your dreams. Or stay in the cubicle if that's what you like. That's also acceptable. Ilse Will Say is an Intrepid entertainment podcast produced and edited by Jacob Cagle, music by Eric Facus, and photography by Joel Mysenet, and I am your host, Ilse Sacharyo Rivera. The views and opinions expressed on Ilse Will Say are entirely those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any employers, sponsors, or innocent bystanders. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said here should be taken as professional advice, expert opinion, legal guidance, or a reason to DMSU conspiracy theories. We're here for the laughs, y'all. Carry on.