On Nov. 2, Rick Jacobs, an Oswego State alumnus, spoke to the Living Writers Series class in the Marano Campus Center Auditorium about his experiences as a film and TV producer.
Jacobs gave a brief history of how he broke into the business of reality TV. He has lived in many places throughout the world, including London, Paris and Sweden. His latest show, “Tareq Taylor’s Nordic Cookery,” has been aired in 122 countries in North America, Europe, Africa and Australasia.
After an opportunity granted Jacobs with a six-month visa to London, he said he did not stay in the United States for long after graduating from Oswego State.
“I left America about four months after I graduated,” Jacobs said. “I went to London originally for six months and 16 years later I was still there.”
After his time in London, Jacobs moved to Sweden to continue his career in film directing and stage production.
“I took a job in Sweden,” Jacobs said. “Not knowing any Swedish and not knowing anybody, but I decided, ‘What the hell, I’m [going to] try’ and I went and I stayed there for seven years.”
Jacobs recently moved back to the U.S. and is excited to be working on new things.
“The start of my journey is starting again,” Jacobs said.
In Sweden, Jacobs worked as a copywriter, stage director, stage producer and film director. As a theater director and playwright, he has also staged multiple productions in London theaters and throughout the United Kingdom.
Jacobs told a “bubbe-meise,” or old wive’s tale about a new power couple or Antona and the story of Bove. Jacobs said the point he wanted the audience to take from the story is that each time a story is told, details are exaggerated.
He used the example in the old wive’s tale he told, saying that the story could have been exaggerated to say that Bove slaughtered 35,000 people, because that would be more impressive to the listener. But in London at the time of this tale, only 5,000 people actually lived there.
“[Bubbe-meise is] a story that could be true but there are elements in it that you think they stretch the truth a little, but you want to believe it is true,” Jacobs said. “This kinda ties to how we watch TV these days. It could have happened, who knows for sure, but we want to believe.”
Jacobs discussed the evolution of reality TV and how technology has changed our perception of TV. According to Jacobs, the internet was the end of censorship.
“You can watch anything now,” Jacobs said. “The ‘70s and ‘80s started to really expand on swearing in cinemas and more sexual situations. Once the internet was started it became the wild west.”
Sophomore Ryan Cobane attended the discussion as a guest to the class and said he was glad he was able to attend the talk.
“Knowing that someone can uproot their life and leave the country with enough money to last two weeks and make it out on the other side is incredibly inspiring,” Cobane said. “It makes me want to do just that.”
Senior Sarah Pasquarelli also attended the talk as part of the Living Writers Series class.
“He was definitely cool,” Pasquarelli said. “He was really down to earth and his presentation was realistic. It seemed like we could actually be as successful as him. He was super inspiring.”
