Jon Bielich started out in the stunt business somewhat by chance when he shifted roles from working as an operations manager at Frontier City to producing the amusement park’s live stunt shows. For the next fifteen years, Bielich worked in this field serving as an entertainment manager for a theme park in Maryland and production work with Six Flags and Universal Studios. Soon after, Bielich shifted interests and worked in television broadcasting as a producer, writer and director for the UPN and WB Networks. His first experience working on an Oklahoma film was as a background extra on the productions “Rain Man” and “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Upon the birth of his son, Bielich took a job teaching stagecraft at a local high school where he continues to serve as a swim coach and instructor of Film Studies and Financial Literacy.
When productions began utilizing Oklahoma’s film incentive program, Bielich’s stunt career opportunities began to rise again. His multi-faceted work in stunt coordination paired with his experience as a set teacher, wrangler and armorer have allowed him to work on over 20 films and a number of commercial and television projects. Previous credits include “August: Osage County”, “Rudderless”, “The Lone Ranger” and “Hellraiser: Judgment”. Recent credits include “Wildlife”, “Southern Christmas” “Overexposed”, “Ava”, “The Grave” and “The Jurassic Games”, the latter of which just completed principal photography in Oklahoma utilizing the Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program.
“Safety and satisfying the director’s vision is what drives me. I find the collaborative spirit in Oklahoma to be exceptionally rewarding. Virtually every crew and cast member with whom I’ve worked has gone above and beyond the call of duty to insure the best film product possible. I plan to stay based in Oklahoma, as I am excited about the progress I’ve seen as well as the potential of the industry to grow here.”
Bielich continues “I feel very blessed to have been able to work with the likes of John Wells (“August: Osage County”) or Gore Verbinski (“The Lone Ranger”) on major film projects, but just as blessed to work with local producers, directors, and UPMs such as Ryan Bellgardt, Bunee Tomlinson, Kyle Roberts, Sharee Green, Wendy Parker, SP Eaton, Ty Dickson, Nathan Gardocki, the Burns Brothers and Lance McDaniel to name a few. The energy and passion of our locals is very inspiring.”
For more information, please visit Jon Bielich’s listing in the Oklahoma Production Directory.
