He is the son of television director Michael Robison and his mother, who was a set director.[5][6] His early aspirations were to become an athlete but while still in high school he began to seriously pursue filmmaking as a career by enrolling in a TV production class and spending his downtime reading Final Cut Pro manuals.[5]
Education
He enrolled in Ryerson University's filmmaking program where he made a short film "BLINK" which won the TIFF Student Showcase. A year later he went on to direct 2012's Carly's Cafe, an interactive film intended to help viewers relate to a young autistic girl's experience, Carly Fleischmann.[7] The film was later used by the President of Poland in a presentation to the United Nations to support the Convention of Rights of People with Disabilities.[6]
Jay went onto make a short film which won the Best Student Film at the Toronto International Film Festival and a music video that was short-listed for the Young Director award in Cannes.[5]
He went onto win numerous other awards, including Best Director & Best Film at the Air Canada Film Festival,[6] the Jury Award at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival for "The Statistical Analysis of Your Failing Relationship."[8] and a Directors Guild of America nomination for Best Commercial Directors in 2016.
In 2015, he signed with production company Smuggler for international representation.[12]
A seven-minute music video for Leon Bridges' "River" was nominated for the best music video Grammy Award, though it lost to Beyonce's "Formation". The music video is mostly a fictional interpretation of scenes Jay witnessed while visiting Baltimore in the aftermath of protests over the death of Freddie Gray.[13] In an interview with The Canadian Press he said, "I was much more interested in what people did when they left the riots."[13]
"River" was shot mostly with a Canadian crew, including cinematographer Chayse Irvin, who also worked on Beyonce's Grammy-nominated music film "Lemonade."[13]