Batavia native a long way from public access TV

Batavia native Kevin Jakubowski is remembered in the area for his entertaining Batavia Access Channel show, "A Bit Carried Away."

Since those days of high school comedy, he has come a long way. He is now a script writer in Los Angeles and had his first film, "Assassination of a High School President" released on DVD this past week.

The entertaining comedy, starring Bruce Willis and Mischa Barton, was shown in a private screening in Chicago to family and friends from Batavia and Oak Park last week. Geared for a post-high school audience, the plot revolves around stolen SAT tests and finding out who is responsible for the theft.

The film has some very creative dialogue and surprising plot twists. It is rated "R."

Q. When did you first become interested in writing scripts? What spiked that interest? A favorite movie or TV show?

A. There's a page in the Dr. Seuss book "My Book About Me" where you can write what you want to be when you grow up. At age 5 or 6 I wrote "Movie Maker." My mom has since framed that and it's now hung up next to my desk.

"Saturday Night Live" played a huge role in that. By about sixth grade, I was watching as much of that show as my parents would let me. I started writing my own sketches, skits, and little stories. Then when high school rolled around I started an access channel comedy show with my friends from Batavia. That's when things really clicked. I knew that this was definitely what I wanted to do with my life.

Q. How did you connect with the other kids who did the BATV show with you? Was it your concept or a group effort?

A. I have had the same four best friends from Batavia since Kindergarten. Those four guys (Eric Nelson, Mike Mueller, Brett Ferrell and Jay Kramer) became the members of "A Bit Carried Away." I wrote the majority of the sketches with one or two of the guys. Sometimes I'd write a sketch on my own but it was usually pretty collaborative.

The show followed a Saturday Night Live structure with sketches, fake commercials and a mock newscast. Just laughing with those guys was what made it so great.

Q. How did you learn your craft?

A. I went to Villanova University in Philadelphia. I played hockey there and majored in communications and English. I had a column in the paper. That was fun. I also wrote two horrible screenplays. Looking back it's amazing I ever kept with it. They're atrocious.

I applied to six or seven grad schools in the US to study film. I got rejected from all of them. NYU, Northwestern, all of them. There was a point my senior year when I got a rejection letters so often that on the one day that I didn't, one of my roommates wrote "you are rejected" on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope and left it on my bed. Hilarious.

But I did get accepted to the graduate film program at University College Dublin in Ireland. James Joyce's alma mater, thank you very much. I had an idea to write a script about this Irish sport called hurling. I took classes during the day, wrote and directed two short films, worked in a pub at night and in between I wrote my first really good feature script.

Every day I'd set aside time to write. That's how I got good at it. Practice. That's the only way. That script got me an agent in Hollywood pretty quickly. It got optioned and I moved to LA. I was 24.

Q. Tell us about how it felt when you actually got someone to read the script.

A. "Assassination of a High School President" was the fifth script I wrote (not including those crappy ones in college). It was the second script I wrote with my writing partner Tim Calpin. Before "Assassination" we had written a script called "Your Ex-Girlfriend's Cat", a comedy that was optioned by Rogue Pictures. Getting people to read our stuff was fairly commonplace by this point.

But "Assassination" was the one that really took off. There was a huge buzz around town and Tim and I had to sneak out from "South Park," where we worked as production assistants, to take meetings.

The day after the script went out we had a meeting with Barry Mendel at Universal, he produced all of Wes Anderson and M. Night Shyamalan's movies, our heroes, so it was a pretty cool experience. Within three months we were able to quit our day jobs at "South Park." No more picking up Trey Parker's laundry at the cleaners.

Q. Was the Sundance Film Festival in 2008 the high point of your career?

A. Sundance was amazing. There was no pressure there because we weren't in competition trying to sell the film. At that point we already had distribution through Yari Film Group. But it was great. Parties, red carpets, the works. The best part though was the audiences' reaction to the film. They loved it at Sundance. And the reaction at South By Southwest and AFI was even better. I feel really fortunate that we were able to have that festival experience.

Q. Now the disappointments. What have you learned about film distribution? How difficult has it been seeing your film go to video rather than play in theaters?

A. Actually Assassination is getting a theatrical release, although it's a very limited one. It's being released in theaters simultaneously with Sony's DVD release on October 6th. It will play several theaters on the West Coast in October and November and it's scheduled to hit a few Illinois theaters in December. Sort of a grass-roots campaign. It's very complicated why "Assassination" isn't getting a wide release. First of all it really has nothing to do with the film itself. It tested through the roof and garnered some really great critical acclaim at festivals. Basically, Yari Film Group bit off more than they could chew, made some bad decisions, the economy tanked and they went bankrupt. So they could no longer properly release the film. To properly release and market "Assassination" it would cost somewhere in the ballpark of $10 million. If you don't advertise, at least a little bit, no one will ever see the movie.

Q. I know this film gave you the opportunity to write full time. What are you currently working on?

A. Since "Assassination" broke, Tim and I have written four other scripts, one for Lions Gate, one for Paramount and two on spec (without the backing of a studio).

Q. Did any teacher inspire you or help you along the way?.

A. More than probably any other teacher, Dave Holm had the biggest impact on me. He was my seventh grade English teacher at Batavia Middle School. Mr. Holm made writing cool. It wasn't just about proper spelling or punctuation; it was about taking chances and being funny and different with what you put down on paper. He opened up a whole new world for me. I'm really thankful for that.

I also had some fantastic teachers at Fenwick who gave me the confidence that I could do anything I wanted with my life.

I'm not sure I would have gone to Philadelphia for college or Dublin for grad school or moved to LA to become a writer if I hadn't gone to Fenwick. It prepared me for life.