Director Biography – Jake Hart (VOICES)

After performing with Blue Man Group for 5 years, Jake started his screenwriting career by working with Kurt Vonnegut on multiple adaptations of his work. This led to partnerships with Dean Koontz, Stan Lee, and the Flaming Lips adapting their work for film and television. He is currently developing projects with Lex & Otis animation, Panay films, Cosmos-Maya Studios in India, Bon Voyage films in Germany, and Narratively podcasts.

Director Statement

After experiencing development hell a few times with various networks and studios, I met the founders of a micro-production company in Los Angeles called Some Assembly Required. We make little slates of short films and one-act plays a few times a year. We make what we want, with our friends, on tight schedules and budgets. I love all the members very much, and I’ve gotten to make three short films with them. The only restriction for making the shorts is that you have to abide by a challenge, a central idea you must write around. For Voices, my challenge was to make a film about two people who don’t speak the same language talking to each other. I decided to make the main character deaf, speaking sign language. Working with the actress and her on-set interpreter was one of the best professional experiences I’ve had. Also, I got to work in my childhood imaginary friend into the story, which made my parents’ day.