Jacob Pratt only launched his company Skoden Entertainment in September, but already he landed a pretty big client.
“We just recently started the company and landed our very first client who is the Disney Channel who hired us to come on board and start producing some content for them for a series called Use Your Voice.”
Pratt says the Disney series will give Indigenous youth the chance to see someone like them on the popular network.
“The use your voice campaign is a series that runs on the Disney Channel and on all their social media where they are featuring young people who are making a difference in their communities in some kind of way and they wanted to start featuring indigenous young Native American talent young people that are doing things and they needed an indigenous company to help bring that to life.”
Pratt is from the Cote First Nation in southern Saskatchewan and lived on the George Gordon First Nation.
He’s now living in Los Angeles after finishing his business degree at the First Nations University of Canada.
Pratt moved to Los Angles in 2015 to continue his studies.
“I moved down here and started my masters degree at the University of Southern California masters of science and social entrepreneurship with an emphasis on the entertainment industry,” says Pratt.
Pratt got his start back home in Canada and can be found on several APTN shows.
“Currently have three shows on APTN; Wild Archeology, Louis Says and a self produced show called Land Wandered.“
Pratt says it’s time to break the Hollywood stereotypes about Indigenous people.
He says it’s important that people like him teach Hollywood the proper way to portray First Nations Peoples on the silver screen.
“The stereotypes and the pan Indianism that plagued us for so many years I understand all those because I am very rooted in my culture,” he says. “I am a dancer, I am a singer, I am not a person who is quote unquote ‘an apple.’
“I am some one who’s grown up in my culture and anyone who knows me knows that and my goal is to preserve and protect our culture, but also make sure we are being portrayed without being bastardized being misappropriated.”
