Homegrown talent finds Hollywood success

Jeff Helton has been outdistancing the competition for years. The Springville native and Porterville High graduate is a prime example of the kind of persistence that is needed when working in the ultra-competitive film industry.

“I’ve never seen myself as a Red Carpet type of guy. I don’t need all that. After growing up on the farm in Springville and working and eating off the land I am humble and will always be approachable,” says Jeff Helton, a film director and producer in Los Angeles.

According to Helton, current projects for his production company, Flashback67 Productions, include television pilots, feature films and a documentary titled “Don’t Give Up.” The film focuses on a team of doctors that travel to Vietnam where they use their expertise in order to ease the pain and suffering of the local population.

The concept for the film came about as a result of some information he received. With this tip he approached the organizer, doctors Vien Doan and John Branch, and discussed his proposal, to film the trip, their mission, and the team, with them. After getting the green light, from the organizers, Helton and some of his crew will travel to Vietnam in July. He hopes to have the film wrapped and ready for release to various outlets, including cable, by the end of 2012.

Helton’s journey began when he was a youngster. Attending screenings of movies like “Indiana Jones,” at the Porter Theatre in Porterville, fueled his interest in the film making business.

This led to his propensity for story sharing, says Helton, “I had always written down or documented interesting things in my life, experiences on the farm, and especially dreams. I started taking those images and putting them on paper, sometimes adding flair, sometimes not. I would share them with people and their response would be wide eyed and wowed.”

Helton, who was a star in both cross country and long distance events in track and field, graduated from Porterville High School in 1985. At the age of 19, he left Porterville to work as a high rise building welder. As a side job he became involved in the music industry.

However, according to Helton, he was not musically inclined, so he found another way to participate through talent management.

What happened next helped to steer his career. As a result of moving back home, due to his day job, Helton met and managed, nationally for six years, one of Porterville’s other local homegrown talent, Country Western singer and songwriter Michael Mandella and his band the Stray Bullets.

After being offered an automotive parts sales management position in Los Angeles he exited the music business. Later on, in his mid-30 to early 40s, he pursued a multitude of freelance writing, video editing, and cinematographer opportunities which led to a major life-changing choice, says Helton, “Ultimately, the side work consumed my day job and forced a decision upon me to take the chance and put my faith and effort into film 100 percent which is my true passion.”

The traditional route when deciding to work in Hollywood of course would be to attend some kind of art, film, or humanities school, but Helton decided to start from scratch.

Combining many aspects of learning styles, including new age i.e. Internet tutorials, and old school, attending writing courses and seminars from some of Hollywood’s top screenwriters, he refined his skills at his own pace. This resulted in his high scoring in screenplay competitions. This feat, according to Helton, has allowed him to bridge out through networking and has opened up many doors.

An opportunity to collaborate with fellow director, Sasha Knezev, led to the birth of Helton’s production company — Flashback67 Productions.

Interestingly enough, according to Helton, while working on a screenplay, that was optioned for a different production company, they were told to add in a role and increase the budget.

When they sent it in, it was rejected. After taking a break to regroup and reading about how actor Denis Leary started his own production company due to similar circumstances, he decided to follow his lead.  

Today, Helton’s company employs an assortment of craftsmen including gaffers, editors, and sound techs. According to Helton, past completed projects for the company include shorts or (short films) to help launch actors, to full length promotional videos for non-profits. For more information about Flashback67 Productions, visit their website at www.flashback67.com.

Other projects include a “sizzle reel”, which is a kind of promotional video for a screenplay of a feature film. The feature film titled “Ask Me No Questions” is an action thriller that stars Mandella as the protagonist. The company is in final talks with Curtis Young, the son of Dr. Dre, as the antagonist. It is slated to go into pre-production in early fall of this year.

For would-be Hollywood artists, his advice is simple says Helton, “It is a very competitive market, but you’ll only get to the finish if you continue to move forward. You only fail if you quit.”