On Friday, September 15th, you might have read our conversation with composer Thomas Beckman. If you haven’t, here is a link to that article.
One prolific, talented, and independent filmmaker who came up a few times was Jason Mills. I’m sure you are now intrigued to read his story.
We felt that this opportunity should not be denied. So we had a wonderful conversation with the Filmmaker, Jason Mills.
HNMAG: You’re originally from Southampton?
Jason Mills: Yep, Southampton, England. I was born in Norwich but I was brought up in Southampton.
HNMAG: When did you come to Canada?
Jason Mills: I came to Canada in 1994. I was twelve.
HNMAG: Why did your parents move here?
Jason Mills: To start a new adventure.
HNMAG: When you were twelve, did you already know that you wanted to make movies?
Jason Mills: Yes. I used to shoot action figure videos. I did that when I was younger. As I got older, around grade ten, that’s when I started to make movies.
HNMAG: Was that for school?
Jason Mills: It was an English class at Delta Secondary and I didn’t like writing back then, which is funny because now I write all my movies. They asked me to write an essay and I said “Can I just make a movie for you guys?” It was close to the end of the year, they said “Fine, just do it.” I did it and it created my whole career.
HNMAG: How did that manifest?
Jason Mills: I made five short films. Then I took a small filmmaking course called Digital Cinema Push, which was a private class in Delta. After that, I made my first feature, which was They Came From the Attic.
HNMAG: How did you finance that?
Jason Mills: I was originally just going to self-finance and make it for five thousand dollars.
HNMAG: Wow!
Jason Mills: It went a little bit crazy and landed up being a thirty-thousand-dollar budget.
HNMAG: This is still very low for a feature.
Jason Mills: I had 40 crew and a really big set. The shoot was fourteen days.
HNMAG: What happened with that movie?
Jason Mills: It was released with Lions Gate UK and York Entertainment. Which I found through word of mouth.
HNMAG: What was the takeaway from your first feature?
Jason Mills: I loved it but I figured out how to make it more budget friendly. My next movie was The Changing of Ben Moore and I made that for about four thousand.
HNMAG: That’s amazingly cheap.
Jason Mills: I shot that film on a Panasonic GH2.
HNMAG: On a videocamera.
Jason Mills: I made films where I had limited crew and they’ve gotten over five million views. I have scaled down the size of my crew, as I do a lot of the work myself, however, I love working with other artists and crew members when the budget allows.
HNMAG: You’ve made a lot of feature films.
Jason Mills: Eighteen now, yeah. And I am excited to produce even more films.
HNMAG: That’s funny.
Jason Mills: My World War II Movie, Beyond The Line, was one of my favourites to make
HNMAG: How was that distributed?
Jason Mills: That’s with Vision Films.
HNMAG: Where can our readers check out some of your movies?
Jason Mills: I have them on my YouTube channel. There are almost one hundred thousand current subscribers.
HNMAG: The distributor is ok with that.
Jason Mills: Vision allowed me to put them on there, which is amazing because I’ve just hit seven million views.
HNMAG: Do they do any theatrical releases?
Jason Mills: Yeah, Vision does a lot of that. That’s why Elvis the Pig is not on there because it’s still playing in theatres worldwide. It’s currently in nine different countries.
HNMAG: What are you working on right now?
Jason Mills: Right now I’m working on The Freakees which is like Gremlins.
HNMAG: How cool!
Jason Mills: I have the handmade puppet, made by a local artist who worked on some of my previous movies. It’s eighties style, using miniatures for the exteriors and projectors for the actors to be in front of. It’s got this really cool style to it which will be fun to make.
HNMAG: Is this going to be released through Vision?
Jason Mills: I’m making it for my YouTube channel. I also release films on FilmHub. That’s where my Clown Motel series is on. They also have DVD releases for those.
HNMAG: Do you have something else lined up after The Freakees?
Jason Mills: I’m making a witch movie called The Mushroom Witch. It’s still in pre production. It will be thrilling to work with this new concept.
HNMAG: It’s not magic mushrooms?
Jason Mills: No, nope, it’s just kind of evil demonic stuff. A friend is luring the protagonists into the woods because they want to become one of these witches.
HNMAG: You are able to do so much on your own. What is one thing that really saves your budget that most readers would not even consider?
Jason Mills: I wear many hats and do majority of the work myself. From camera op to 5.1 mix, which saves a a lot, to editing, script writing, and more. I’ve learned to work on and practice my skills to enhance each and every project.
HNMAG: How do you work with Vision now?
Jason Mills: We have lots of discussions in terms of what films they envision for their platform. Elvis the Pig was funded by Vision, which allowed me to pay everyone well!
HNMAG: What led to you becoming kind of a one-man band as a filmmaker?
Jason Mills: Three Hours Till Dead was my zombie movie, with a larger cast and crew.
HNMAG: That was in 2016. Was that fifty people?
Jason Mills: No that was maybe thirty crew but a lot of zombies. I learned a lot from filming that movie. I learned how to be efficient in terms of scheduling and with our fast turnaround rate, having more people to coordinate did slow down the process.
HNMAG: What’s another downside to having a big crew?
Jason Mills: Budgeting when you are funding your own films. I was working a full time job and making my movies on the side. I appreciate all the cast and crew who believed in me and helped make my dream a reality.
HNMAG: That makes sense.
Jason Mills: My new movie Life 4 Life, Is currently in post-production. It’s an action revenge story. The movie is intense and we shot it in five days. We just have fun making them.
You can shoot a feature film on a smartphone. Making a movie is an expensive proposition.
Jason Mills has figured out how he can do what he truly loves with a brilliant DIY approach. He is making a lot of enjoyable, entertaining movies right here in the Lower Mainland. He’s not waiting for Hollywood to phone. Jason’s work proves that we don’t need to be a service center for big studios. We can create our own amazing and fun films without killing ourselves, going broke, and having a great time on a wonderful ride.