Hi, I’m Shane Jacobson, star of the film Oddball.
That’s not me. That’s not me. That’s a dog. I’m Shane Jacobson.
Forget the dog. I’m going Back to School with Student Edge.
Shane, so I understand you did amateur theatre – or started amateur theatre – around the age of 10.
Yeah, yeah.
Were you a theatre kid? Was it something your parents kind of encouraged?
Or were you the one who said: “I want to follow this. I want to do more of this stuff.”
It was a mixture of both really, because my mum still does and did back then teach dances,
and my dad did stand-up comedy at the local cricket club and the footy club functions
and was forever the guy standing in the corner of a room telling jokes and had an audience there,
irrespective of whether it was a gig or a party.
And my brother wanted to be a filmmaker and was running around with a small camera filming stories
and my sisters danced.
I guess I was destined to do it, because you can’t help but be a bit of a product of your environment.
But I went and saw a gang show which is a scouting show – amateur show, variety show
put on by scouts – sat in an audience and there were these kids around about my age
onstage at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne
A venue that holds two thousand people – or in excess of two thousand people – with
a full orchestra in the orchestra pit, doing this whole show.
So seeing those shows, I still remember that first time I walked in and saw the lights in the venue went down
and the curtain opens and the magic of theatre happened right in front of me. And I loved it.
But it was when I saw gang show that I went, “I can do this.”
That’s when I looked at my mum and said, “That’s what I want to do. I want to be
on that stage.”
So I auditioned for gang show the next year and got in and started performing.
Have never stopped since then, but always had a thirst and a yearn. Theatre was my first
love, as they say.
So you had theater, you had your scouting as well as you mentioned. I’m kind of curious, was
it hard to stay interested in school after that point, when you knew, “Well, my real
love, my real passion is the theatre and the outdoors and stuff like that.
I’m not so interested in maths or science or English.”
My parents had instilled it into me and my siblings that education will never be wasted.
You always need something to fall back on.
So the truth is – I wrote about it; I did a book called “The Long Road to Overnight Success” – and
that is, making sure I’m gathering skills.
I’ll tell this to my children and I’ll tell it to everyone else: no skill is really
going to be wasted. It’s going to come in handy at some point.
And just because you haven’t had a need for it for a while doesn’t mean you don't need it.
A first aid kit is a great example. You could have a first aid kit sitting at home that
you haven’t touched for two years. That’s a good thing.
But at the point that you cut yourself, you’re going to need it. I think education is like that.
I know what you mean. When I was doing shows, I was very distracted for those weeks,
when I was doing shows at night in front of an audience of two thousand people, and then
going back to my primary school and high school and having to sit in an English class. That was distracting.
If you’re going to read scripts, you need to know how to read well.
If you wanna write scripts, it’s important to know a little about English.
I always knew entertainment was going to be hard; to get full-time employment in entertainment.
It’s okay to say “I’m wanna be a rock star.” That’s gonna take some work.
So, if you are gonna be a rock star, it’d probably be a wise idea to learn all the parts
of the process.
I was a lighting guy for many years. I did fireworks for Bon Jovi, Guns n Roses, bands like that.
I kept myself busy learning every aspect of filmmaking and television making; I’ve worked,
produced and done lighting and done sound and fireworks and all sorts of things;
lighting design and rigging design.
So in a theater I know my way around – I’ve done flyers; designed lighting shows, I’ve been a lighting designer and a moving light operator.
So I learnt all the aspects of theatre and film and television,
and that meant I got to stay near it and understand the process even more.
And none of those skills – Kenny, my brother directed it, wrote it – I helped him write it
I lit the film, he did the sound, he did the editing.
All of those skills we gathered over a lifetime of schooling, that’s how Kenny got made.
Ten years ago you had to mount that with your brother.
Yeah, Clayton.
When you look back on it, what are your takeaways from that whole period?
I mean, Kenny was the role that launched my career. Doors that used to slam in my face
were being held open, which was amazing.
I mean, nothing can beat the feeling of having made a film with my brother and my family,
and putting it out there, hoping people would enjoy it, and then waiting to see if people did enjoy it
and to find out people did enjoy it.
That’s pretty special. That’s the birth of your own film child if you will.
Just to wrap up, what is your piece of advice, in terms of an educational track, is there
something you’d say? Do you follow your dream or do you have a backup plan?
What is the better way to kind of go about it?
I think it’s both. I was following my dream by wanting to be an actor, but I stayed working
in the field right around it.
If I wasn’t acting, I was doing the lighting on the actors. But I got to stay in and around
film and theatre and television.
Now, I love the fact that a lot of crew mention that I’m very technically aware.
I’ll find the light in a scene and I’ll be considering the audio department in different
moments and letting them know if I’m about to yell in a scene, so that they're ready to adjust the gain accordingly.
So, my advice for people in any endeavour – entertainment is no different, I always
have to pick sport because it’s such an easy analogy – that people often say I want
to be an actor.
The four things you need to succeed in anything are vision, belief, action and persistence.
It took me 26 years of acting for people to be able to go, right, you’re that actor guy.
That’s a long apprenticeship, you know? Considering I wanted to do it from about the age of eight or nine.
Vision, belief, action and persistence, and that sporting analogy I was going to give is,
if people think they want to be an AFL footballer, then, if they’ve got nothing
to do, they should be down at the oval kicking the football.
Because one day if some guy says, “Do you want to be an AFL footballer? I’m a selector
for a team. I’m a scout. There’s a footy. There’s the goals. Kick.”
He’s gonna stand there and watch you kick that ball and you need to be able to turn
around and go bang, straight through the middle, and he goes, “You got a bit of talent in you."
But if you haven’t been kicking the footy on the weekends – doesn’t matter where;
amateur, on your own, to a mate.
Stand-up comedy with a friend at the pub. If you want to be a dancer, do some dancing.
Do some acting. Have a go at doing some stuff in front of the camera. All of it's experience
and it won’t’ be wasted.
But you’ve really got to enjoy it and you've got to stick at it, because one day when the guy says,
“There’s the ball." You get one chance.
Because once he’s gone – you kick a point – he says, “Keep at it kid.”
And he walks off, that might be the last scout that comes through town for five years, and if
you give up in four years, by the time the next scout comes, the bus has gone.
So stick at it.
But enjoy the process.
Nice one. Let me just say that you’re the first person to offer me the football as a
scout, even metaphorically. So I appreciate that.
Thanks for your time Shane.
Pleasure mate.
Nice one. Thanks again.
Hey guys, if you enjoyed that video, click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Or find more of our stuff at studentedge.com.au