Jacob Pechenik

Jacob Pechenik was born on June 16, 1972 in San Antonio, Texas. Little to no information is available on his family or early life. When he was a youth, he was more interested in science than in films and eventually received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Pechenik began dating Deschanel sometime in 2014. In January 2015, they announced that they were expecting their first child. They got engaged later that month and married in June 2015. Their first child, a daughter whom they named Elsie Otter Pechenik, was born in July that year. In May 2017, Deschanel gave birth to a son named Charlie Wolf Pechenik. Prior to their wedding, Deschanel converted to Pechenik’s faith, Judaism.

Shortly after graduating from college, Jacob Pechenik, with the help of fellow MIT graduates, launched the start-up TechTrader. His first start-up, this was designed to facilitate business-to-business enterprise software for public and private trading exchanges catering to the direct materials markets. He served as its CEO for a considerable period.

In 2003, he set up YellowJacket Software with an aim to provide a better method of the trade of over-the-counter products. Intercontinental Exchange eventually purchased the company. Subsequently, he took the decision to leave the technology sector and set up a film production company.

In 2010, Venture Forth Productions was founded with the goal to produce and finance independent films. In 2011, ‘Terri’, the first film he served as an executive producer of, was released. It was followed by ‘Kiss of the Damned’, which was released in 2012 and starred Joséphine de La Baume, Roxane Mesquida, and Milo Ventimiglia.

Venture Forth Productions started off 2013 with the release of ‘We Are What We Are’. He then served as the executive producer of ‘Before Midnight’, the third film in the trilogy after ‘Before Sunrise’ (1995) and ‘Before Sunset’ (2004). Directed by Richard Linklater, it received near universal critical acclaim. In 2013, Pechenik and his production company also produced seven other films. They are ‘The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete’, ‘Jobs’, ‘The Immigrant’, ‘Hateship Loveship’, ‘Devil’s Knot’, ‘Life of Crime’, and ‘Cold Comes the Night’.

He served as the producer for the first time on the comedy-drama ‘The Skeleton Twins’ (2014). That year, he collaborated with actress Anne Hathaway in the musical drama ‘Song One’. He also served as the executive producer of ‘Electric Slide’, a biographical film about real-life furniture salesman turned bank robber Eddie Dodson. In ‘Black or White’, Pechenik got the chance to work with industry veteran Kevin Costner.