Jacob Keen relocated to Oklahoma from Colorado when he accepted a Track and Cross Country Scholarship from Oklahoma City University (OCU). Unsure of an exact field of study, Keen’s love of making YouTube videos led him to choose a film major. After working on a student capstone project his freshman year, Keen quickly realized what he wanted to do for the rest of his life and pursued studying film full-time at OCU.
While at OCU, Keen was able to jumpstart his career by working as a production assistant on the Oklahoma filmed reality series “Street Outlaws”. His work here quickly led to jobs on other independent films, including “Sleeping in Plastic” and “Hosea” – both utilizing the Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program administered by the Oklahoma Film + Music Office. His work with these films allowed him to gain experience as a lighting technician and connect with local industry members, including this year’s deadCenter Film Icon Steve Mathis, who Keen credits as his mentor.
In addition to his work on other recent rebate films, including “Unplanned”, “The Bygone”, and “The Turkey Bowl”, Keen’s own capstone short film project, “Means of Transportation”, will celebrate its film festival world-premiere as part of the Okie shorts programming block at the 2019 deadCenter Film Festival in Oklahoma City.
“Growing up in a military family, moving every year, I have never had the opportunity to be ‘from’ anywhere, but the love and acceptance from the large community of filmmakers makes me feel right at home. I’ll be forever proud to call myself an Okie,” said Keen.
For more information and to see his film credits, please visit Jacob Keen’s listing in the Oklahoma Production Directory.