About

Quixote Founders Jordan Kitaen & Mikel Elliott (circa 1995)
Founders Jordan Kitaen & Mikel Elliott (circa 1995)

Handed down from generation to generation, these are the inconceivable origins of a premium studio services company. Read on, and tremble at the merciless takeover of Los Angeles media production by two UCLA English majors. And discover, if you dare, the dubious inspiration behind and mystifying pronunciation of the name Quixote (kee-HO-tay).

 

 

How did Quixote become one of the most trusted and successful media production studios in L.A. and other fictional universes?

Mikel & Jordan at the building of the North Valley Studios (August 2018)
Mikel & Jordan at the building of the North Valley Studios
(August 2018)
It began countless ages ago in 1992 when Mikel Elliott began driving commercial photographers from shoot to shoot in a big, comfy motorhome. Growing demand for his transport services inspired Mikel to purchase another rig and enlist his old college buddy, Jordan Kitaen, to take the helm of the other half of his massive dual-vehicle fleet.

By the time they began customizing their third motorhome, the two impetuous Los Angeles natives realized that beyond just offering basic transportation, their business could change the face of film and production services.

But that business would need a name. A name that inspired confidence. One synonymous with crystal-clear thinking and efficiency.

Instead, they chose the moniker of an insane farmer from a 17th-century novel. In the story Don Quixote de la Mancha, Don Quixote reads so many novels about knights in shining armor, he starts to believe he is one. And so he sets off, with rusty sword and battered shield in hand, to fight for the honor of his fair lady, Dulcinea, a manly-looking peasant girl. Despite the fact that Quixote promptly loses several altercations with windmills, it is his relentless optimism and dogged refusal to accept the limits of reality that makes him the perfect model for Mikel and Jordan’s business.

Quixote Studios’ commitment and ideals are equally unwavering and unquestionable, although generally not to a point that requires heavy medication.

That’s why, to this day, Quixote employees think of themselves as soldiers of fortune, trained to disregard the limits of reality—or pains of inconvenience—when it comes to supplying stages, equipment, and vehicles to the entertainment industry. Some might call that crazy. We prefer to call it Quixote.

Timeline