THE PICKUP - NOW PLAYING ON PRIME

JEF HOLBROOK AND SARA LYNN HOLBROOK ON THE Red Carpet in LOS ANGELES FOR THE PICKUP:

From Newsweek:

Prime Video has a brand new film starring Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, Keke Palmer, Jack Kesy, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Eva Longoria, Andrew Dice Clay, Jef Holbrook, and Marshawn Lynch landing on August 6, called The Pickup.

The film's official synopsis reads:

In the action-comedy The Pickup, a routine cash pickup takes a wild turn when two mismatched armored truck drivers, Russell (Eddie Murphy) and Travis (Pete Davidson), are ambushed by ruthless criminals led by a savvy mastermind, Zoe (Keke Palmer), with plans that go way beyond the cash cargo. As chaos unfolds around them, the unlikely duo must navigate high-risk danger, clashing personalities, and one very bad day that keeps getting worse.

Watch The Pickup on Prime Video

Saturday Night - Now Playing in Theaters Everywhere!

Actor JEF HOLBROOK Turns Skillful TV Editor in

Jason Reitman’s New Comedy Biopic Film ‘SATURDAY NIGHT’

ATLANTA (tba) – Actor Jef Holbrook hits the big screen as a fast-working small screen Editor in Jason Reitman’s new biographical comedy feature film, SATURDAY NIGHT, releasing nationwide from Sony Pictures on October 11th.

Based on the true story of the 90 minutes leading up to the debut broadcast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live show on October 11, 1975, when a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television – and culture – forever. 

Holbrook enters this now iconic but candidly chaotic world as the Editor called upon to make last minute changes to a segment as the clock is ticking down to curtain.

Holbrook was thrilled at the opportunity to be part the historical retelling, sharing “I’m actually a freelance editor so when I was cast, I reached out to the Editor’s Guild who connected me with people who knew about the editing processes available for TV in 1975. It was super fun to talk to other editors while preparing for the role.”

Up next, Holbrook can be seen alongside real-life SNL alums Eddie Murphy and Pete Davison in the upcoming Amazon MGM Studios film The Pickup. Coincidentally, Holbrook also recently worked with two other SNL alums, Beck Bennett on a commercial campaign with for Buffalo Wild Wings, and Fred Armisen in the music video Come and Save Me.

A Georgia native, Holbrook has built a solid reputation for his many talents. He has appeared in numerous television shows, including Cobra Kai, Will Trent, Brockmire, Heels, Drop Dead Diva, Young Dylan, and two DC shows, Black Lightning and Naomi. His credits also include notable film roles in Harold and the Purple Crayon, Lyle Lyle Crocodile, Electric Jesus, and Survive the Night among others.

Holbrook first discovered his love for acting at a young age. He honed his skills at the Springer Theatre Academy, the actor training program for the Springer Opera House, the State Theatre of Georgia. He eventually become a cast member in their national touring shows, Greater Tuna and A Tuna Christmas led by Broadway director Ed Howard. Next, he spent a year touring and performing over 40 characters in a hilarious two-person show with Broadway playwright and screenwriter Topher Payne.

His artistic endeavors also extend to the comic book world, as a creator and animator. He gained fans with after publishing his six-part comic book mini-series, The Čricket: Diamonds Are for Never, which he later made into an animated short film.

With his sights set beyond acting, Holbrook and his wife, actress Sara Lynn Holbrook, started the production banner Argo Navis Studios. They quickly became recognized as a dynamic filmmaking team on the indie scene and even founded the annual Five Minute Film Festival, now in its third year.

For more about JEF HOLBROOK visit: JefHolbrook.com

Follow on Instagram: @jefholbrook  Threads: @jefholbrook YouTube: @jefh

TikTok: @jefholbrook  Facebook: /jefholbrook Mastodon: jef.mstdn.social

https://saturdaynight.movie

SYNOPSIS

R | OCT 11, 2024 | COMEDY, DRAMA | 2HR 10MIN

At 11:30pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television – and culture – forever. Directed by JASON REITMAN and written by GIL KENAN & REITMAN, Saturday Night is based on the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Full of humor, chaos, and the magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, we count down the minutes in real time until we hear those famous words…

Directed by:JASON REITMAN

Written by:GIL KENAN & JASON REITMAN

Produced byJASON BLUMENFELD, PETER RICE,
JASON REITMAN, GIL KENAN

Executive Producers:ERICA MILLS
JOANN PERRITANO

Now Streaming! "Redeemed" on BET+

I play a hapless Public Defender in this BET+ original produced by Manns-Mackie Studios.

From IMDB:

"After becoming the youngest female, minority judge elevated to the bench in her state, Angela Sylvester quickly finds herself trapped into a 'Kids for Pay' prison scam orchestrated by her boss, Judge Cynthia Paulino. Fearing her legal career and dream of becoming a federal judge is over, she struggles and her career spirals out of control. Afraid, she takes the advice of a close friend and turns to her faith to find the strength needed to redeem herself of the crimes committed."

You can stream the movie with a free trial over at BET+

In the VO Studio for "The Long Night"

The Film Thing

Or: On Going Forward Back Home

I’m really lucky to get to do film in my hometown.

Like, really lucky. 

But that was never the plan.

Here’s the thing: my wife and I left Columbus about seven years ago to move to Atlanta to “do the film thing” which, in this case, was acting. We had agents and stuff. We were booking things in Atlanta even though we were living in Columbus. So, we thought we needed to be a little closer to the metro area in order to book more things. At least I think that was the idea. I know we were looking for a change. I’m not sure what we thought would be different… maybe we just needed to see what would happen. So, we move. We roll the dice.

Things go pretty well, I guess. Sara Lynn books some TV, I book some TV and also get pretty heavily into the audiobook narrator thing. The plan was working for the most part. 

The part that wasn’t working (also known as “the least part”) was that while we had pretty good day jobs between bookings, these jobs weren’t what we moved to Atlanta to do. They were a way to pay the bills. We observed from the lives of our pals that’s sort of the actor’s life in Atlanta: day gigs in some other field while you and your agent pursue bookings. If you aren’t independently wealthy (we aren’t), you find a job that won’t fire you whenever you book a show. That’s just the way it was, so we didn’t think much about it. 

But major life events have a way of snapping your life into focus.

This time is was our wedding.

Actually, it was the reception. 

My new wife and I had been trying to dance to “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” It was the one song Sara Lynn really wanted to dance to and there we were… not dancing. Instead we had been stopped outside the dance floor by Paul Pierce to have a little chat about. We were talking about the film industry in Columbus. I didn’t realize there was a film industry in Columbus. Paul told us that there isn’t one yet but the wind and the wizards all predict that it’s coming and he was hoping that we could be a part of it. I believe that is when we were first offered the job to create with Paul what would become Springer Film Institute. I say ‘believe” because Sara Lynn insisted we get out on the dance floor as soon as possible and politely but firmly ended the conversation so we could get back out there… but by then the song was over. There would be no dancing to “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Lots of other dancing, just not that song.

Today, whenever we hear “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” we stop and dance. I think we’ll be trying to get that dance back for the rest of our lives.

Anyway, we promised Paul we would get back to him about the whole “film in Columbus thing.” Our wedding was in November and we did get back to him sometime in January. What we learned from Paul kind of changed our tune and later changed the current course of our new life together for the better.

We learned that Columbus, our little hometown, was all grown up and had become serious about film. We learned that there was a program in place to fund filmmakers and that major studios and indy pictures were going to try their hands at shooting some projects in Columbus. Paul offered us a chance to make film our new “day job” and we took it. It was a terrifying, exciting time then as we put together plans for leaving the life we built together in Atlanta to go back home and try something new. We honestly weren’t sure if it was going to be a step forward or back at the time but we new it was something different. We left our hometown to pursue a change and as counterintuitive as it seemed, we were now going back home for an even bigger change.

Turns out that we weren’t going back to our hometown. We were going forward to a new, if familiar, place. And pretty soon after we settled in, we realized how much better it was to get to go to work together. To share an office. To be a team at home (still newlyweds remember) and at work. We also got to produce a cool miniseries written by a Columbus screenwriter, directed by, crewed by and starring local Columbus filmmakers. It’s called Grounds and it’s really good.

And within those early days, Sara Lynn and I finally got to be in a movie together called The Long Night. Not just in the movie together, but we have a scene together. I can’t tell you how cool it is to go to set with your wife but yeah…it’s freaking cool. 

Which brings us back to today.

We’ve been in Atlanta together this past week, staying in the house we got married in (which belongs to our friends now, who are also newlyweds), to screen Grounds, a Columbus film, at an Atlanta film festival. We are staying an extra couple of days because we also have to do some ADR (voiceover) for The Long Night while we’re here. We were originally asked to come to Los Angeles for the session, but the producers were nice enough to let us do the voiceover at a studio here.

So today I will be at Crawford Media, one of my favorite studios ever, to do voiceover in Atlanta for a production team based in Los Angeles for a film that will be distributed worldwide but was filmed… in Columbus. 

In my little hometown.

Lucky.

SCREENING GROUNDS AT URBAN MEDIAMAKERS FILM FESTIVAL

Having a blast attending the Urban MediaMakers Film Festival today with Sara Lynn Holbrook, Natalia Temesgen, Will Oliver and Mustapha Slack. We’re screening episode one “Bunker Down.” This is our second film festival for this episode after our premiere at Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland.

Filming "Office Uprising"

Honestly not much more I can say about that today, at least not until the film is released. If I make if off the cutting room floor I'll let you know. =)

In the meantime, here's some articles from IMDB and Variety:

http://variety.com/t/office-uprising/

http://variety.com/2016/film/markets-festivals/brenton-thwaites-lin-oeding-office-uprising-1201901343/