Film is our medium, hobby, sport, our greatest passion . It’s what excites us and propels us forward everyday. Storytelling and connecting with people is our life.

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We are writers, storytellers, and performance driven first.

About Us

Eric Miller

I've always wanted to make movies. From being forced to play a part in my sister’s horror movies, casting the rest of the neighborhood kids to fill the remaining roles. To my brother Jason Miller pursuing stand up, comedy, and filmmaking, creating @itsJasonMiller YouTube channel purchasing—

Canon’s 5D MK III, L Series 35mm f/1.4, 24-70mm f/2.8, a Sennhieser shotgun mic, wired lavaliere, and two 500 watt LED panels.

This was the beginning of realizing my purpose. I followed. I chased creative writing, stand up, and everything comedy looking to Jason to see where I could fit in to his all encompassing total filmmaker production crew of one. Using Jerry Lewis’s book, The Total Filmmaker, as law.

This was the start of our production company, Lake Forest Studios LLC. We are writers, storytellers, and performance driven first. Quality, production value, and image creation came next. Going through DePaul’s film program I quickly realized how important the camera department is, being more hands on I took to pushing lights around, raising them higher and lower, watching how the reflected light changes, experimenting by putting different materials of varied opacity and texture in front, seeing how it alters and taking note of subtle details.

Capturing a great photo is the result of the presence of mind of an enthusiastic person going out into the field and conducting an experiment, even a failed one can be turned into a success afterwards. I love photography for this reason. You must stay aware of one’s surroundings, the position of the sun in the sky, the millimeter of your lens and distance from subject to image sensor, to the going ons of a scene and emotional shifts, always allowing enough space for the unexpected to happen. This is my goal every time I look through a viewfinder, capture this moment in time.

Eric Miller Resume, Cover Letter, & C.V. Packet

Creating, collaborating, and letting our imaginations run wild.

Jason Miller

We certainly owe our cinema passion to our parents, we are 100% a movie family…No matter the genre, the films always brought us together. We’ve laughed, cried, screamed, and been amazed together. The power of film is undeniable, which is why it’s such an important part of my life. I’ve always been a storyteller. Creating, collaborating, and letting our imaginations run wild is where I’m happiest. Most importantly I want to spread laughter. Which is how the YouTube channel started. It was pure freedom to create comedy sketches with all my friends. However, starting from truly zero, I had much to learn about filmmaking. I had a background in making videos for the high school assemblies, being heavily influenced by SNL Digital Shorts…also a foundation of skills from my time at Drake University in the Radio/TV Production school. But something was always missing, I could only get so far alone. Which is why I truly owe everything to Eric.

Eric showed me what was possible. His eye, attention to detail, and dedication to learning is the backbone of Lake Forest Studios. It’s what elevated our work to where it is today and will continue to push us to new heights. Creating together is the highest blessing.

We’re extremely dedicated  storytellers and  filmmakers. We have experience across   all  genres  and  styles.  We  believe  the  best creating comes from  true,  open,  and  authentic  collaboration.  Beyond all,  we just love working with people. We’re forever grateful for every project and for all the trust that’s been gifted our way. It’s been quite the journey and none of this works without the trust from our  clients,  writers,  eps,  our collaborators.

We’re more than capable of handling any and all production needs, from pre to post. From documentary barebone skeleton crews to commercial big budget multi-cam shoots, we do it all. Please check our sites for past work. Everything you see is us— Writing, Directing, Producing, Casting, Cinematography, Lighting, Art Direction, Set Design, Editing, Coloring, Sound Capture & Design, we're total filmmakers that do it all.

Heck,  we’ve made our own  costumes,  fabricated  set  pieces,  props,  used to do our own  hair  and  make-up— Film  is  our    medium,    hobby, sport, our  greatest  passion .  It’s  what  excites us  and  propels us  forward  everyday. Storytelling  and  connecting  with  people  is  our  life. 

Jason Miller Resume, Cover Letter, & C.V. Packet

Translating a great script into visual language is where I’m happiest.

Mayank Mishra

I’ve had a passion for film and visual media space since my childhood. What makes an image interesting has always fascinated me which led me down a never ending rabbit hole of cinematography and lighting design. As a gaffer, I lead the electrical department orchestrating the lighting design, meticulously supervising the positioning of lights, fine-tuning their intensity, and refining the light quality to achieve the intended visual effect. It’s an art and science that’s truly limitless and constantly developing. Researching and staying on top of the industry’s latest and greatest fills my time. Technical is just as important as the creative. Being able to capture a robust image, throwing the required amount of light on a camera’s sensor or film plane to be able to leverage every bit of detail for post processing makes deep technical lighting knowledge essential.

Moving from New Delhi to Chicago was pivotal to my career providing me with a fresh perspective, cultivating a versatile skillset, explore various paths within the film industry, growing my network, and eventually my collaboration with Lake Forest Studios. Being a contributor to the final frame means the world to me. Everything that goes into it plays a crucial role in conveying the narrative of a film, the story's emotion, it’s characters, and thematic elements. Translating a great script into visual language is where I’m happiest. Selecting the appropriate camera gear, specific lights, grip, and electrical equipment to capture scenes effectively, efficiently, and safely fuels my creativity and drive. Working with framing, composition, and movement of the camera deciding where lights should go, spots to sneak them in, rigs to build and place equipment safely is a process that’s rigorous, detailed, and ever changing, but it’s what it takes to create a desired mood, atmosphere, and achieve the final look. It’s worth it every time. Seeing client’s smile as they watch as everything comes together, observing talent walk onto set lighting immediately taking to the atmosphere, working with the team figuring out micro adjustments to get it just right, brings me a tremendous amount of satisfaction. It reminds me every time how important and impactful visuals are. Eric and Jason creates and nurture this type of environment. Fostering and encouraging new ideas, expanding our creative language, furthering skillsets, being able to think outside the box, implement new techniques, is what makes our projects different. It’s more than creating, it’s partnership, kinship, it’s a team that wants you to succeed, take ownership as an artist, and grow as an individual. Lake Forest Studios is never stressed or rushed, they adhere to the process, leading the team to new heights, allowing creativity to take place and flourish. That’s why I continue collaborating here and look forward to every new project we take on.

People come first and are the most important.

Peter Nyiri

Originally from Budapest Hungary, my journey in the world of filmmaking began when I started my career as a camera trainee while pursuing my studies at New York Film Academy. Shortly after, I met Eric and Jason on my first job! Working with them felt surreal, and after came the realization that this chance encounter would influence my entire life trajectory. The collaboration with Eric and Jason not only enhanced my technical skills but also fueled my understanding of storytelling in ways I hadn't imagined. As the projects multiplied, so did our friendship, turning a professional connection into a lasting bond. Lake Forest Studios puts people first, focusing on building and maintaining relationships with every person we meet a long the way. Be it agencies, eps, talent, rental houses, or crew. People come first and are the most important. Every project I can always have absolute faith everyone is being treated with the utmost respect and care from top to bottom, no matter how big of a day we’re having. Supporting and watching out for each other are the building blocks of collaboration and pushes a good film into being a great one. That’s why I love working and will continue to work with Lake Forest Studios.

In addition to my professional pursuits, I find joy in hobbies that reflect my passion for precision and innovation. I love gear, specs, and knowing what’s coming down the pipeline. I find tremendous value in staying informed with top of the line equipment and brands. Being leaders in this industry is very important to us and myself. Racing cars satisfies my love for speed and competition, providing an escape. When I'm not strapped into a car, I'm immersed in the world of automotive cinematography, camera cars, and being able to move the camera fast and pushing the limits of what’s possible be it on ground, on or under water, or in the air. My obsession with motorsports and adrenaline has seamlessly merged with my love for filmmaking. Inspiring me to explore new ways of constantly pushing the boundaries of my craft and cinema. Whether I'm driving the camera car, building and maintaining camera packages, pulling focus, operating, flying around with gimbals and drones, or supporting in post-production, my journey is a blend of high-speed pursuits, technical proficiency, and creative exploration. I’m honored and blessed to be able to do this for a career, especially with Lake Forest Studios.

Creating projects that will stand the test of time, everyone involved can be forever proud of, and casting the largest net possible getting our stories out to the world.

Dan Green

Whether it’s being silly on Tik Tok, having a career in politics, or being able to play five different instruments, I’m a multi-talented creative who has dipped his hands in anything and everything. If I don’t find success, I’m at least laughing along the way and always learning. I help lead the outreach for Lake Forest Studios. I spend my time reaching out to investors, distribution companies, filmmakers, actors, creatives and artists alike, media and news outlets, doing everything I possibly can to establish and develop long lasting impactful relationships and get this unique, creative, grass roots team in front of the very best. I am not scared to reach out to anyone and everyone. I believe everyone has a story to tell and deserves to have it captured in the most authentic way with the highest fidelity. Creating projects that will stand the test of time, everyone involved can be forever proud of, and casting the largest net possible getting our stories out to a world wide audience. The world revolves around stories, and we participate in a story every moment of our lives. To be able to see each other’s view points, places we’ve been, what we’re facing day to day, our core and human spirit is what brings us together and furthering us as a culture. This is the beauty of cinema and filmmaking. Not only making entertainment but current, diverse, well represented, and culturally relevant films. Understanding this, being a part of a creative team that understands this, the agency, and the ability to capture the story with this in mind is absolutely essential. I’m so proud to be a part of this growing, ultra-creative, and industry leading company. We truly believe we will be one of the most known and respected studios in the country in the next decade. There’s no compromises each person, story, budget, and client deserves the absolute best. No matter what.

Beyond all, we just love working with people. We’re forever grateful for every project and for all the trust that’s been gifted our way. It’s been quite the journey and none of this works without the trust from our clients, writers, eps, our collaborators. Thank you for supporting us, letting us play apart, and believing in Lake Forest Studios.

Reach us at LakeForestStudios@gmail.com

Follow us at @LakeForestStudios