About RocketJump

 

What is a “rocketjump”?

It’s a video game reference. It’s when you simultaneously jump and shoot a rocket at your feet. The resulting explosion propels you to insane heights from which you can unleash a frenzy of destruction. Nerdy. We know. But we think it actually captures the spirit of everything that we do (bear with us for a second here)…

Think about it. Somebody, at some point, thought that the rocket jump maneuver was:

  • Something that might work
  • Something they should totally try
  • Something that would not kill them instantly

It shouldn’t work. And yet, it does.

And that’s us in a nutshell. We take a different approach. Yes, it might be risky, but the results are often spectacular and unexpected (assuming we don’t blow ourselves up).

We’re a weird hybrid studio/production company that, at our core, strives to bring you fun, genuine entertainment, whether it’s TV shows, feature films, short films, live streams, tutorials, or anything in-between. We pride ourselves on making better stories than you’d expect and with more heart than you’d imagine.

Our story begins with a few of us stuck in corporate Hollywood jobs…and we were sick of them. See, we grew up making movies by grabbing up a camera, rounding up our friends, and shooting something! All of a sudden we became adults and everyone told us that’s not the way movies are “supposed” to be made.

So we got impatient. In 2010, we quit our jobs to make movies the way we remembered, the way that got us dreaming about becoming filmmakers in the first place.

Luckily, digital cameras were very affordable (and looked great!) and there was this cool new website, YouTube, where you could put your work up for people to see! Freddie Wong and his friend Brandon Laatsch started making movies and putting them on the (incredibly lazily named) “FreddieW” YouTube channel. Matt Arnold and Dez Dolly soon joined in to help create the kinds of things we wanted to see: short films chock full of action, comedy, and visual effects.

Over time, our channel grew to what is now nearly 8 million subscribers and ~1.4 billion video views. That’s mindblowing to us; in film school, we would’ve laughed in your face if you told us a short film could get a theater full of people watching, let alone millions all over the world.

 

 

We also knew that those fans, peppered across the globe, were important. For the first time, those who made movies could have an honest, close, and concrete relationship with the people who watched them. So we were open and transparent: we made detailed behind-the-scenes showing the filmmaking process, we revealed how we pulled off visual effects magic tricks, and we invited those who enjoyed our work to join us and share in the passion of creation.

People started asking us, “When are you going to join Hollywood? When are you gonna do a studio movie?”

Our answer was to form our own independent studio: RocketJump.

We started with Video Game High School, a three-season, full-length, award-winning independent web series. It was named #1 Web Series of 2013 by Variety, nominated for a Producer’s Guild Award for Outstanding Digital Series in 2014 and 2015, and won Streamy Awards for Direction, Ensemble Cast, and Action/Sci-Fi Series. Soon after, we partnered with Lionsgate, which resulted in the 2015 behind-the-scenes documentary series RocketJump: The Show on Hulu, our upcoming sci-fi anthology show Dimension 404, and a whole bunch more awesome stuff to come.

Which brings us to the future.

We’re neck-deep in development on some very exciting projects but our mission has not changed one iota. That is:

1. MAKE

Make great content. From the upcoming Dimension 404, to our unannounced future projects, to our bi-weekly online shorts, we’re all about creating genuine entertainment.

2. ENGAGE

We are more than just a place to watch videos. (There are plenty of those on the internet.) RocketJump is just as much about our community, where behind-the-scenes, forums, and live streams invite our fans to share in our passion.

3. EDUCATE

They say, “those who can’t do, teach.” We don’t believe that. We are defined by our thirst for knowledge and our belief in education. That’s why we started the RocketJump Film School, a free online school which brings you weekly videos, tutorials, demos, and visual essays about the craft of filmmaking.

This is who we are. For all of those who have found us throughout the years–whether through our early videos about cats and rollercoasters or our series like VGHS and RocketJump: The Show–welcome.

Enjoy your stay. We hope you will be equally entertained and surprised by what we have in store!