SBHS Alum Follows Bright Lights to Hollywood

It began simply enough, with a young college student pondering his future and choosing to follow the career path that was in his heart.

Jean-Paul Isaacs, a 2009 graduate of South Brunswick High School, was attending Rutgers University as an Exercise Science major as he began to question his future. He soon found himself pulled away from his safe career path towards a burgeoning love for filmmaking and far less stability for his future.

"I've always been fascinated by film and how you could be brought into this world that's not real, but the person who constructed that world made it seem real," Isaacs said. "I was a very creative child who made comic books and board games. I'd shoot little films of my sisters, but that faded away over time. Then in college I switched majors from Exercise Science to Filmmaking, which are two opposite ends of the spectrum. People were taken aback by that."

With that one decision, Isaacs soon found himself on a road to quick and unexpected success. Isaacs joined with a group of fellow SBHS graduates and created a short film called "The Youth," which went on to win Best Picture at the Campus Movie Fest, the largest student film festival in the country.

By winning the top honor, "The Youth" will be screened at the CMF Hollywood Film Festival this month, before going on to be screened at the most prestigious film festival in the world, the Cannes Film Festival in France next year.

While filmmaking was a passion for Isaacs, it wasn't something he took too seriously as he attended SBHS. Just a few short years ago, making movies was simply a unique way for him to tackle class projects.

"In South Brunswick I was always an athlete. I played basketball, ran track and cross country, and played volleyball. So film wasn't really big in my life back then," he noted. "I made short films just to get good grades in high school. There really wasn't any motive behind it, but I had a great time doing it."

A short time after making the decision to switch majors at Rutgers, Isaccs found himself working on "The Youth."

As he began crafting the film, Isaacs joined with fellow former Vikings Saajan Doshi and Isaiah McNeill. Doshi, who Isaacs worked with on short films for class projects at SBHS, worked as producer on the film organizing the actors and locations. 

McNeill, who was a lifelong neighbor of Isaacs growing up in South Brunswick, was the composer of the film's score and handled the sound for "The Youth."

Fellow 2009 SBHS graduates Andrew Buckner and Charles Ferrone also jumped on board as actors for the project.

"I'm so blessed to have friends who could construct the sound and to have friends who are really into the arts," Isaacs said. "In terms of getting the film to where it is, I couldn't have done it without these four. It's easier to collaborate with someone who has the same mentality and I got to where I wanted faster because of them."

In creating "The Youth,"  Isaacs drew from his own experience changing majors to tell the tale of a career focused young man who strives to keep the child in him alive.

"I thought about how I could relay my experience switching majors from something that might seem stable to something that lacks stability," he said. "I wanted to spread the message that, at the end of the day, you have to do what you love and what you always wanted to do in life, but that passion can fade away as real life comes knocking on the door. In the film we see someone who lost their childhood, but he might be able to bring back the child inside of him. So this was my way of putting that visually onscreen with content people can relate to."

As it began to sink in that his film won the prestigious Campus Movie Fest, Isaacs received quite the surprise at his success just one year after he decided to pursue filmmaking, but also received an affirmation that he made the right decision for him.

"I was shocked because I didn't know what anybody else turned in, but I felt like I had a universal story that doesn't just apply to one demographic," he said. "I felt the story was strong enough to win and thankfully whoever the judges were felt the same way. This confirmed to me that I can do this and I can make it my living if I work harder."

Along with the honor of winning best picture, "The Youth" will be one of the showcase films at Cannes, but will not be in competition. Isaacs, who will begin his senior year at Rutgers in the fall, said he will get his crew back together to begin work on a longer form short film to be submitted for the best student films competition at Cannes next year.

But for now, he waits with anticipation to travel to France for one of the most star-studded film festivals in the world, as the child within him delights at the scene of just how far he's come in one short year studying the art of making movies.

"Every time I think about Cannes I'm speechless," he said. "It's just unreal to me. I'm going to go to Cannes and when I see my film up there it's going to make me want more. To want a feature length film and to push to get that film distributed around the world. The biggest thing I'm going to take from Cannes is just a small taste of being a successful filmmaker."

Click attachment above to view "The Youth"