'I used to be a teacher - now I make films about cowboys in Salford'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

In his twenties, Jake Lancaster would spend half-term making coffees on film sets. A teacher at the time, he had dreams of making it big in Hollywood.

To get there, he left his home town of Altrincham so he could live in London and try break into the film industry while working as a high school teacher. “It was basically a thing to get me into London so I could work for a lot of companies for free.” He told the MEN. “What I heard was, to get into the business you have to go and make coffees for people so I moved to London and started doing that on my holidays which was exhausting, but did eventually work.” Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features During his stint in London Jake made friends with big time producer Andy McDonald who is responsible for films such as Ex Machina, Trainspotting and The Beach.

Having paid his dues on film sets he is now developing a reputation as a gifted short film director. At just 34-years-old Jake has already tried his hand at a myriad of things.

Before his stint as a teacher he was part of a Manchester based band that managed to gain some buzz in the industry. Outside of some BBC placements and live gigs at local hole in the wall pubs the band decided to break up and go their separate ways, but last year he made waves with a Netflix documentary about a fish market in East London but his latest project is rooted in Manchester and offers a glimpse into the second biggest Jewish community in the country In ‘The Last Cowboy in Salford’. “I’m from Manchester, I’m Jewish and I love westerns.” He told the MEN. “I always felt that Manchester has a bit of a western feel to it at times.