Life & Work with John Scheibe

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Scheibe. 

Hi John, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My creative journey first began back in 2007 with YouTube. I was in middle school at the time, and the site had just started becoming popular. It was a quick addiction for my friend group, and I can remember us spending hours together after school every day just pouring over those earliest uploads. We’d quote our favorite comedic clips back at one another in complete hysterics, literally line-by-line, until we would start losing our voices. Where it all changed, though, was when we thought to start making our own videos. I stumbled across our family’s camcorder one day, a Panasonic VHSc Cassette Recorder that was just gathering dust in some random closet. I immediately called up my best friend, snuck the camera out of my parent’s house, and by the end of that same day we had our very first video uploaded to YouTube. We started creating content for our channel, which became a very intense after-school hobby. We would improvise scripts, teach ourselves visual effects, create these hilarious characters, and I just remember having the time of my life doing that. Most of our class and a handful of our teachers were subscribed to our channel too, which was fun. There was a lot of energy & excitement about what we were doing. 

We made videos all the way through high school, but when it came time to venture off to college, I sort of drifted away from filmmaking and started exploring a developing interest in acting & performance. I had no idea what I wanted to do professionally at that time, but I was having a lot of fun on stage, so I just kept doing that. I met my wife during one of those earlier productions, actually, so by the time we graduated there was already an amazing support system established between us- which made our very next decision to move to New York City together that much easier. Our time there was very exciting, but it was definitely a career choice. New York made sense for both of us because there was so much potential for both of our professional interests to develop quickly in that environment, so we hit the ground running and accomplished quite a lot in the 5 years that we were out there. Personally, I was able to make it into a few off-off-Broadway shows, I sang in some amazing spaces, I played a lead role in an indie feature, did some voiceover work, and even had a chance to act on a number of professional film sets. I took singing lessons twice a week almost the entire time I was out there, auditioned for some ridiculously cool Broadway musicals that never once called me back – and, of course, was only able to make any real money by bartending 5-6 days a week. Ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic marked the end of our chapter in New York City. We flew one way back to Michigan in late April 2020. 

Michigan became a bit of a safe haven for us during that time, so with little else to do, we just sank our teeth in and just pressed on with our work. For me, that materialized as a returning interest in YouTube, moviemaking, and also photography. Looking back, this was a really strange time for my creativity. I was literally making YouTube videos out in the woods, then driving into the nearest town to find a free Wi-Fi connection that was fast enough to support the actual upload. I made all sorts of weird, often aimless videos for about 2-3 months straight before receiving some random email from a marketing department based in Marquette that wanted to offer me a writing job, of all things. They told me that they had stumbled across one of my YouTube videos (exactly how I’ll never know), and based off of the storytelling in that one singular video – felt like they’d seen enough to make a hiring decision. I still laugh about how ridiculous that whole scenario was, but the craziest part of that story – is that all of the creative projects that I’m working on right now… including the accolades, recognition & opportunities that I’ve had since being back here in Michigan- can all somehow be traced back to that video I made in the Michigan wilderness almost 3 years ago. 

Since then, I’ve been pouring most of my available energy into Yonder Studio, an indie film production company I founded here in Marquette just last year. It’s been challenging, I’ll admit, but it’s also extremely rewarding to be working on creative films & advocating for more narrative filmmaking within Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ was a big Hollywood movie that filmed around here back in the 1950s, and the locals here love talking about it…but that was over sixty years ago. I think Marquette’s ready for its next chapter in this industry, and one that’s a little more permanent. So, it’s a big goal of Yonder Studio to be a part of those conversations and to help bring exciting, professional creative work to a community that truly deserves those opportunities. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being a creative is never easy, I’d say it’s been a constant struggle from the day I first picked up that Panasonic camera back in 2007. Artists are constantly warned against the viability of our careers from the most hilariously under-qualified people imaginable, and it’s so incredibly difficult to find people that want to support you early on – who aren’t also trying to take advantage of you. That said, all the major obstacles I’ve encountered so far in my career tend to all have one singular thing in common; success on someone else’s terms. I dealt with this growing up, in college, and almost every day in New York. For some miserable reason, it’s almost like people don’t want you to be successful or to even be finding decent-paying work unless you can somehow prove that you’ve suffered through the same resume-validating shenanigans as everyone else. Starting out as an actor when I moved to New York, this was absolutely everywhere and was such a bummer ‘standard’ to be constantly roadblocked by. The best thing I ever did to combat this, was to just start creating my own opportunities. That’s all I’ve been doing since being back here in Michigan, and suddenly nobody is interested in my resume, they just see the work…and the work speaks for itself. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’ve been having an amazing time experimenting as a filmmaker/photographer, and I suppose that’s probably what I’ve been most recognized for recently. The last film I worked on, called Perhaps We Wrong Them, has been doing extremely well in the international film festival circuit over the last few months – which I’m unendingly proud of. It’s a screendance short, which is a film featuring dance on screen and tells a powerful story of how an intense childhood trauma continues to impact one woman’s daily adult life. Currently, it’s an Official Selection in a handful of film festivals, including the Cannes Short Film Festival, and has become the recipient of several awards & nominations for: Best Short Film, Best Cinematography, Best Screendance Short, Best Direction, and a few others. I wrote & directed this film and am also responsible for the cinematography & editing. My favorite thing about this whole project is that we shot this entirely in Upper Michigan, on a cheap 10-year-old used cinema camera, and every cast & crew member involved is pulled exclusively from our local creative community right here in Marquette. It’s a massive showcase of the collaborative potential for narrative filmmaking in Upper Michigan while also showing off the top-tier creative talent that lives here in our communities – which is a nice bonus. The best part is that we’ve been able to do all of this – in a film that’s not even 5 minutes long. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.scheibejohn.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonderjohn
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theyonderjohn
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/YNDRfilms
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@yonder-john