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 CTV 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 armoured vehicle or hanging from a helicopter over pristine shoreline, Jack will get the shot, and likely buy you one, all before the sun sets.
Team Hackel
Production demands a wide array of skills, from anal-retentive lighting technicians to improvisational property masters. With Jack the team moves seamlessly from the physical to the virtual, and from the digital to the analogue. And as thought that were not sufficient variety, Jack’s entourage is equal parts Gen X, millennials, and world-weary boomers - mentoring and reverse-mentoring each another in a way that makes for a vibrant and inventive dynamic.