Latest / Bulletproof Screenwriting™ Podcast / BPS 377: I Almost Died Making My Indie Film with Josh David Jordan

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BPS 377: I Almost Died Making My Indie Film with Josh David Jordan · Bulletproof Screenwriting™ Podcast

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You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more amazing filmmaking and screenwriting
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podcasts, just go to ifahpodcastnetwork dot com. Welcome to the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast,
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episode number three seventy seven For me with Me, Making a film is
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always about humanity, Ryan Coogler broadcasting from a dark, windowless room in Hollywood
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when we really should be working on that next draft. It's the Bulletproof Screenwriting
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Podcast, showing you the craft and business of screenwriting while teaching you how to
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make your screenplay bulletproof. And here's your host, Alex Ferrari. Welcome,
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Welcome to another episode of the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast. I am your humble host
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Alex Ferrari. Now, today's show is sponsored by Bulletproof Script Coverage. Now.
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Unlike other script coverage services, Bulletproof Script Coverage actually focuses on the kind
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of project you are in the goals of the project you are, so we
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actually break it down by three categories micro budget, indie film, market,
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and studio film. There's no reason to get coverage from a reader that's used
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to reading temp pole movies when your movie is gonna be done for one hundred
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thousand dollars and we wanted to focus on that at Bulletproof Script Coverage, our
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readers have worked with Marvel Studios, CIA, w MEE, NBC, HBO,
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Disney, Scott Free, Warner Brothers, The Blacklist, and many many
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more. So if you need your screenplay or TV script covered by professional readers,
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head on over to covermiscreenplay dot com. Now, so many of us
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know how difficult it is to make an independent film, and today's guest has
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taken it one step I think too far when it was about making his film.
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We have on the show today filmmaker Josh David Jordan. And Josh's new
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film is called This World Won't Break, And you know, he went through
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the process of what we all go through trying to make an independent film.
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Some crazy stuff that happened. Locations, lost money, dropped out at the
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last minute, so many things, but not many of us have literally had
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a heart attack on the red carpet of the premiere of your film, and
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Josh did just that. He literally almost died to make this film. His
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story is quite remarkable and inspirational and a warning to all of us on what
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we're getting into as independent filmmakers. So without any further Ado, please enjoy
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my conversation with Josh David Jordan. I'd like to welcome to the show,
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Jos Jordan. How you doing, Josh Man, I'm doing fantastic. I'm
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been so excited to be on the show. I was like, whenever I
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wake up and I'm going to go on a bike ride, and I check
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my to see what apps to see what podcasts have you know? The newest
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I see yours, I get super pumped because it's the perfect bike ride.
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It's an hour around my lake, and I listen to it every single time.
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It's like it's the most inspiring thing to be riding your bike and listening
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to this this podcast. Oh, I appreciate that very much, man,
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and I do put out a couple of them a week. I know why.
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I love it, love it. It's been my insanity for seven years,
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just continuously putting out just a lot of them. But I appreciate it,
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and I'm glad. It's always nice to hear that because, like I
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said many times before in the show, I just talk into a mic in
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a room and you just really don't know the impact that makes some people out
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there. So I appreciate you reaching out and telling me about your story about
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your movie, which is, you know, it's it's an interesting it's an
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interesting journey, man, I'll be honest with you. So I get pitched
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daily for filmmakers to come on the show, and it's it's it's always got
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to be something special for me. Because at this point, where on like
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episode six hundred and thirty or something like that, I've heard a lot and
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a lot of things have been on the show. So if they call me
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up and they go, hey, man, I'm in a movie for five
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grand, I'm like, I two movies for five gra it doesn't matter,
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Like like that's no I need. It's not nineteen ninety one anymore. Your
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story was really interesting to me is the budget that you did, some of
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the interesting things that happened behind the scenes, which we'll talk about, and
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and the quality. And it looks so gorgeous, man, So congrats on
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the look of that film, man, because it it just I I don't
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see it often. I see I see indie films at your budget range,
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and I'll be honest, they look like crap. They might be stories,
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it might be fun, but they don't look good. Yours looks six figures
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plus easy. So that was one of the things that I caught my eye.
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So that was that was the combination of a bunch of stuff that got
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you on the show. Yeah, that's that's the film. That's the film.
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This World Won't Break. You just described it in a nutshell and it
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was really hard. Alex. I would go to as I'm pitching for our
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you know, our next film, and people were like, you know,
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we loved your movie. It was gorgeous, and I was like, yeah,
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they said, what do you need for this one? Another two three
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mil? And I'm like million, and I'm like, oh, we did
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this for thirty six k. And they kind of shut down and they're like
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oh, and they're not really interested. I'm like, it's so bizarre in
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this world that we live in of like indie film. If you can do
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it, I'm like, imagine what I could do for five hundred thousand dollars.
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But it seems like it doesn't work that way for some reason, as
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in as for me for right now, it hasn't worked out that way,
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so me too. When you talk to investors, tell them yes, two
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million, please, Yes, that's exactly how much it cost. Yeah,
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I need two million, exactly what I have budgeted, two million cash.
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When can we start? Don't ever tell them the budget if you can help
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it. I know I've learned my lesson. Believe me, I've learned a
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lot of lessons, a lot of lessons I would have I would have I
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would have if I was coaching you, I would have told you, listen,
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tell everybody it costs quarter a million, half mil. Yeah, that
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put that in the revis of your book, because that that's gold right there,
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already already when I have five minutes in, you already get in gold.
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But it's but it's so true because again, when investors are looking at
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you're like, oh, he only made it for thirty six, they don't
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look at it like look at the value. They look at it as like,
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oh, they're not real, they're not a serious situation. And that's
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just short sightedness. Yeah, I mean, look at Robert Rodriguez. He
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you know, imagine if they would have been shortsighted with him. That's the
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thing. It's a different we live in a different world now. So ooh
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and then some don't get me started, don't get me started on that.
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It's just so the nineties was a great time, and it's ruined us,
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all ruined it had. I'm a kid of the nineties for sure. So
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how did it? So? First the first question, brother, how did
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you get and started in the business. Yeah, so, my you know,
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going way back, my dad was a traveling evangelist. He still isn't
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He still is a preacher. And me and my brother were on the road
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with him, uh three piece suits. We would open up these white tent
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revivals. And so, I mean I grew up in the South and the
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Midwest, and so like La and New York were so so foreign, right,
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I mean that was this is pre internet, this is pre everything.
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It's just blockbusters. And you know, I wasn't even watching foreign films because
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how could you, you know, especially traveling. We were homeschooled on the
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road. But my dad was a centophile, and so he made sure that
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when we were going to these little small towns we would go see movies,
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and the motels that we stayed in we'd stay up late and watch TV.
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And that got me going. And then his favorite film is It's a Wonderful
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Life, and I remember like the way it make him feel. I was
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like, I want to do that. I want to I want to.
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I want to make that, but you know, being a sixteen year old
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kid in uh in the South, you know, it's impossible pre internet,
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pre like digital cameras. Just so I'd go to the library and I would
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get books on like Alfred Hitchcock or whoever it was, and just it just
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seemed like a fable to me. And then I knew that acting they were
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doing school plays. That's as close as I could get, and maybe I
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could be an actor and then go off to Hollywood. So I did acting.
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I still do acting. And I was in University of Missouri and I
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was doing theater and I was miserable because I wasn't making films. I just
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didn't know what that. I wanted to create and tell the story, not
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really just be a day player, you know, a day or two and
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then you go home and you're not really your hands aren't in it. And
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I went to Dallas, Texas and started going to Katie Acting Studio, which
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was for film and television. And they walked in one day, It's one
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of my first days there. They were like, hey, how tall are
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you? I said, I'm six to two. They go come with us.
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So at the time Barney was a pretty big deal the Dinosaur, and
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he was going through contract negotiations and they were trying to frazzle him. So
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I got to do one episode of Barney, and I thought, this is
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it. I'm in the TV world. Well, he renegotiated his contract and
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he went off and did his own thing. Oh it's like when you say
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you did Barney, what did you do on Barney? I was the character.
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I could do the voice, and I could be inside. Oh you
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with a voice, and but you actually were inside the Barney outfit I wore.
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I wore the costume, and they filmed it at Katie's studio this episode,
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so I was right next door, and I thought, this is my
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big break. Man, You're not I'm going to be Barney. I mean,
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and I'll take anything. At this point. Money is money catches.
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I mean, I mean everyone loves Barney. Nah. They actually just really
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the documentary that they're I hate Barney or why do you hate me? Or
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something like that. And when, by the way, my daughter saw that
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walk by and they're like, why did people hate Barney? I go,
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don't don't sing the song, don'tye, don't don't don't sing this and I'm
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not gonna Please don't do it now, because I'm not going to do it
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to our listeners because once it gets in the ear, it's an earworm and
9:45
it's done. It's over. So crazy, that's a story. Yeah,
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so that didn't work out. We'll be right back after a word from our
9:56
sponsor, and now back to the show. But I kept pursuing it,
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and I was going on commercials. I was in a commercial for Wingstop with
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a chimpanzee and Troy Aikman. I thought maybe I can do this, and
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I only did like two or three of those, and then I got the
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call that I got a part on Scrubs, the TV show. So I
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fly to la and I'm in the episode of my Choosiest Choice of All.
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I had a bunch of lines and I was like, well, this is
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it, you know, cause that day I was coming in, Michael J.
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Fox was leaving. So I got to meet Michael J. Fox and
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it was you know, I was in Hollywood. I mean I was in
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Hollywood on that day, on those two days, and then you know,
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the pumpkin happens and I fly back to Dallas, Texas and then here I
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am bartending when my episode airs in a bar bartending watching my episode, and
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I was like, I don't think this is working out. I don't think
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this is good. I don't know what's happening, but it's not really working
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out. There is a disconnect here. Yeah, and so yeah. So
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I'm a part of the Oprah House Theater here in Dallas, which has Matthew
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Posey as the artistic director, and he's been in Magnificent seven, No Country
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for Old Men, True Lies with Pierce Brazen on Sons, and I've been
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there for ten years and a little more satisfying, there's no auditions. Matt
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calls you on the phone and says, do you want to be in this
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next play? I'm writing it for you. And I took that to heart
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and I was like, wait a minute. I'm surrounded by actors, I'm
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surrounded by people who have cameras. What if I write for everyone and we
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just make this film? And so that's how that part started. Wow,
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man, So I have to I always like asking this question because there's so
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many people listening who are in your boat, because not everyone's in LA or
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New York or Atlanta or in any of these big hubs where a lot of
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production's going on. I wasn't when I started. I was in Miami,
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you know, And I remember I would have killed for a podcast like this.
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I'm killed to have this kind of information back in the nineties, Are
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you kidding? The closest thing I got was Entourage and Project Groenlighte, which
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is true. All that is so true. I think we're the same age.
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Yeah, we're the same. Yeah, the same vintage as they say,
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yea, the same vintage as they say. So it's pretty remarkable.
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But the question I have is, as especially as an actor, I'm assuming
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there was a couple of nose along the way. How did you or did
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you not get any nose? Oh? No, my gosh, it was
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all nose. I mean. I drove to Austin. I had bartended one
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night and my agent was like, she was just sending me on stuff and
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God bless her soul, she was doing the best she could. And I
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drove. I left it four in the morning from the bar, drove to
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Austin, Texas. I had an eight am call time. I walked in
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and I was the only non Asian male in the room and there was like
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fifty in there. It was for a Dell commercial and she didn't read the
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notes, and it was basically they were looking for an Asian male for this,
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and so like, I didn't just take nose, So I went and
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I said, hey, can I still read? Because I was thinking to
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myself, either I'm not this at all, or I'm one getting this role.
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So I've always yeah, I've always looked at it like that. I've
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always looked at it like there's something on the other side. And the thing
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is, I mean, you can't learn that stuff in a bug. You
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can't learn how to how to have thick skin like that, or to just
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be like, look at yourself in the mirror, be like, I am
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crazy for doing this, but so is everyone else who has made it before
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me. They just kept up with the crazy, and so I just kept
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up. I thought I was gonna make it in my twenties, when I
13:31
had a full head of hair and no gray in my beard. But you
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know, instead, I made my first feature when I was forty two years
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old. And you know what, I'll take it, you know, because
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I'm making my next one when I'm forty five. So that's a pretty good
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The windows are getting closer, I think, Hey, listen, brother.
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I made my first feature of forty one, so I you know, and
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I could have done it, and there's a whole conversation about how why I
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didn't do it before. But but yeah, I mean it's okay. It
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is what it is. The question I was gonna ask you is how do
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you keep going? Like when you keep getting the nose? And I think
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you answered it to a certain extent, like, yeah, you had a
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positive attitude about the whole thing, just like there's something on the other end.
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I got to keep just keep going. Yeah. For me, it's
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like cinema and film and just the that's why, you know. In the
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meantime, I make a lot of music videos and I just have to create.
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I don't mean, I don't know what that is. I wish there
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were times I would tell my wife, I wish there was a switch I
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could turn it off. I could turn it off. I don't want to
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create switch. But you know what I can't, you know, and you
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just gotta deal with it, you know. And luckily, you know,
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for me, is like having your podcast and your book and people who are
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putting things out it's you now you can hear it from others. Is you're
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not necessarily failing. You just haven't hit the right stride or it hasn't.
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You know, a lot of it is hard work, and a lot of
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it's luck. A lot of it's timing. And if you're gonna make it,
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you just you're gonna have to measure all those things and hopefully it all
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hits at some point, you know, right, And it's just this constant,
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just relentlessness of you have to keep going, trust me, dude.
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Like I try to quit so many times, so many times I try to
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quit, and I couldn't. I just I'd always come back to it in
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one way, shape or form. And it is it is the beautiful illness,
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as I call it. It is. It's an illness that you just
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can't get rid of. You just can't get rid of it. I mean,
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I don't have a film with the Dallas or National Film Festival, but
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I'm there because I have to be around it. I have to sit there
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and watch all the shorts, and I have to talk to these filmmakers.
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And I love q and as I love film festivals, and so that's one
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of the reasons I love making films. Is like man once our last film
15:39
all around the world and I was like, oh, great, another addiction
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with film. Great. Now I love film festivals, you know, I
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love it. Yeah, I mean I I used to. I used to
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go to so many of them, which a guy just can't anymore. I'm
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like exhausted, but yeah, but I agree. But I feel you,
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brother, No, I feel you, especially that first few times you walk
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the red carpet, you see an audience with your film in it, and
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and then you see other cool films And have you been to Sundance yet?
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I have not been to Sundance. I've been to south By Southwest, but
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yeah, go to Sundance. Man. It is just it is a magical
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experience just to go to Park City and just be there. It's it's part
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of one of the most magical I made a movie there because of that,
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because it's just such a magical experience as a film festival. But anyway,
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I think there's that crazy part of me. It's like I think that I'm
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gonna go because I'm gonna go with a film, but maybe I won't.
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So I'm gonna keep I'm gonna keep hacking at it just for half a second,
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and hopefully I can bring one there that's I've heard that a couple of
16:37
times, I know, but uh, just a case you might not enjoy
16:42
it. Yeah, while you can still go up that hill. It's true
16:48
because trust me, it ain't easy. Brother. In my thirties, it
16:53
was not easy because you're so damn high up you can't breathe. But that's
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a whole other conversation. So tell me about your film, The World Won't
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Break. Yeah, so this World Won't Break. I was writing several things
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and I was trying to find something on Netflix. One night. My wife
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was like, what are you doing. I spend like two hours trying to
17:14
find trailers, you know, and she's like, we haven't even watched anything
17:17
yet. And it's almost eleven, and she goes, what do you want
17:18
to see? And I was like, well, I kind of want to
17:21
see a movie about a country singer who doesn't make it. Like we see
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the ones of the guy who falls from grace and it gets old, and
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you know, we see the young guy who makes it and he sells out
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the stadium, and I was like, how about the forty year old who
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doesn't make it? Like, what do you do at that point when you're
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and I was writing from my own personal like struggle. All my friends here
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in Dallas, Texas, you know, in Austin, they're all country singers,
17:45
and I'm into friend rock, which I go to all my friend shows.
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And I was like, man, I have a friend who one night
17:52
at a barber were having a whiskey and he was like telling me the exact
17:56
same thing. He's like, what do I do? He's like, I
17:57
can't quit because I've just put in twenty five years of my life. But
18:04
I can't really keep going because I'm getting old in it. It's not happening.
18:08
And thirdly, what do I do. He's been a you know,
18:12
a singer songwriter his whole entire life, and it, you know, it
18:17
does pay the bills, but no, it's not on the marquee. He's
18:19
not selling out the big shows. And I was like, oh, I
18:22
can write that because I was in you know, I hustle here as a
18:26
bartender and also in the photo and video world. So I was like starting
18:30
to put it all together and realize, well, I got the people,
18:36
I got the actors from our our acting studio. I have all these great
18:41
locations that I bartend at, and I can start calling on favors for the
18:45
last fifteen twenty years, I've been in the photo video world and staying late
18:48
and taking care of things, and so I just started asking for kinds for
18:53
favors. And so when you see my actual budget, it's like three hundred
18:57
and eighty six thousand dollars, but when you take out all the end kinds,
19:03
it's thirty six k. Because I got locations that were five six grand
19:08
a day. I was getting the main guy who owns Bolt Productions call me
19:14
one day because hey, I want to help out with your movie. And
19:15
I was thinking, you know, monetarily with money, and he goes put
19:18
a list together and whenever you need that stuff, it's yours. So I
19:22
mean I had a grip truck, you know, I had all of this
19:26
stuff, and I had all of these talented people who were sort of the
19:30
same boat as me, as like they want to create something commercial works great,
19:33
to pay your rent and to pay your bills, but like it's not
19:36
feeding that thing inside you. That's not why everyone went to film school.
19:40
I didn't go to film school. This Won't Break was my film school.
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Man. It's insane. So like that was the whole premise of how to
19:47
get started and I had one guy who was going to give me twenty five
19:51
thousand dollars thirty five thousand dollars excuse me, so that was going to be
19:56
sixty grand ISHU. And I was like, we can do this. I
19:59
can pay everybody little bit. We'll be right back after a word from our
20:03
sponsor, and now back to the show. We can shoot this, you
20:11
know, in fifteen days. And I drove to go pick up the money.
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He takes me out to lunch and basically he tells me, no,
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I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna do I'm gonna put this money somewhere
20:22
else. He's like, sorry, this guy's a multi millionaire. And I
20:26
didn't know what to do. I literally freaked out. I paid for our
20:30
meal, tried to leave, then realized he drove us there, so I
20:33
had to ride back in the car with this guy. I get in my
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car. As I drive off, I throw up because I'm so freaked out
20:40
because we're supposed to start in three days. I run a red light.
20:44
I call everyone and I say, hey, guys, it's off. We're
20:45
not gonna film the movie. And it got quiet, and then one person
20:51
goes, well, I'll see you in a couple of days, and everyone
20:52
said, I'll see a couple of days, Josh. We had to make
20:55
this film, and I had been I'd put so much work into it because
21:00
I didn't have the money for locations. But I would drive every weekend and
21:04
scout and take pictures of time of day. I would go to thrift stores.
21:07
I got all the clothes, and whenever we would start shooting, I
21:12
would actually be the wardrobe guy. There's a car in the movie that is
21:18
really prominent in the film, and I would have to drive that to set,
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get an uber, go back, get the grip truck, drive back
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on the way, grab coffee and breakfast stuff and bring snacks. And I
21:30
had to do that for the entirety of the film. I mean, I
21:33
was sleeping two or three hours, but man, I was getting to do
21:37
it. And I don't know what that thing that clicks inside my head.
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I'm sure other creatives is like, dude, you're on fire. You're at
21:44
a ten, and there's no stopping you at that point because it's like that
21:48
thing, if you stop, you feel like it's all going to go away.
21:51
So that was how I got it going, man, you see,
21:56
and that's the insanity. It's in insanity that we go through. Yeah,
22:00
and then the crazy part we were gonna start six months before that, and
22:04
we had a play that night and Matthew Posey left the theater. He's one
22:11
of the leads in the movie. And someone opened up his door and shot
22:15
him there six times and shot him in the face. And so I'm getting
22:19
phone calls at three in the morning of everyone's saying, were you with Matt
22:23
or you with Matt? I'm like, what will happen? They said,
22:26
Josh, he's in Baylor. They're not sure if he's gonna make it.
22:29
And he knocked out all six of his teeth, he almost lost his tongue,
22:34
and he's one of my best friends, and I'm freaked out. But
22:38
I'm also like, man, I'm never gonna be able to create anything Matt's
22:44
you know, he's the creative director of this theater. Yeah, so that
22:48
was how it all started. So just the fact that that happened and we
22:53
kept rallying around. It's pretty insane because everything after that wasn't shot in the
22:59
face, but it felt like it at times. It felt like shots in
23:02
the face of all the things that were falling apart you know, it's really
23:06
interesting because you did a autobiographical film. My first movie was a little bit
23:11
like that, but the second movie was definitely semi autobiographical, which is on
23:15
the corner of egan desire. And I think all three films talk about the
23:22
same thing, which is not only chasing your dream. But I think as
23:29
you get older you start to define success differently. What you define success as
23:33
a twenty year old is not how you define success as a forty year old.
23:37
Is that a fair statement? Oh, one hundred right, exactly.
23:41
So the character in your film, he's like, I'm forty, or a
23:47
friend of yours at the bar he's like, I'm forty. It's not working
23:48
out, but I'm making a living doing some singing, songwriting. But you
23:52
know, I'm not a huge star. But the question is do you need
23:57
to be a huge star? Right? And that's the point and the cool
24:03
thing about it is the guy at the bar who was telling me that story
24:07
is the guy who plays the lead in my movie. He'd never been in
24:08
that movie, but his music is so I was like, how does not
24:12
how does the world not hear your music? So it's kind of a little
24:17
bonus there that I got to like put him on the big screen, on
24:21
the biggest screens, and he's great. Yeah, he's yeah, he's Greg's
24:25
phenomenal. He's phenomenal. Uh So it's kind of like it was a it
24:27
was a really cool moment for me and him to be like, we both
24:30
just did it. That's insane, right, we both we both kind of
24:36
fulfill the dream together. Uh in a different way. We helped each other
24:41
fulfill our dreams in a certain way. But I think in everyone listening,
24:45
I think it's something that really needs to be asked, because I know a
24:48
lot of people listening, like yourself and other people, you know, before
24:51
your major movie, we're figuring out. Man, it's not working for me.
24:55
Man, it's I'm not making it. I'm not I'm not Chris Nolan
24:56
yet, I'm not David Fincher yet, I'm not Tarantino yet, and I'm
25:02
and I always Suddenly, you're not gonna be those guys. Those guys are
25:04
those guys. You've got to be the best of you that you can be.
25:07
And at the end of the day, there's only going to be a
25:11
handful of people who are gonna get the opportunity to work in those in those
25:15
sandboxes. Oh for sure. It's just it's just numbers, the amount of
25:19
people who want to do it, and then there's out of those people who
25:23
want to do it, how many are really even capable if given the opportunity
25:27
to do it. You talking about the top of the top. Yeah,
25:30
And I pretty much saw that sandbox and knew I couldn't get in it yet,
25:33
so I brought my own sand and poured it beside it, and I
25:37
played with like I was playing with these guys in the sandbox. And that
25:40
can give you a lot of like when you're at a film festival and your
25:45
movie trailer is playing before like blockbuster movies, because they'll do that, they'll
25:48
program things like that. And I was one of the very few people to
25:55
make a trailer pre going to festivals, like a really good trailer, because
26:00
we were at the Glasgow Film Festival and our movie played the theater that the
26:04
trailer played before every single event in every single movie. And that that alone
26:12
will keep you going just seeing right exactly, it's just how you define your
26:18
success and if you can make a living doing what you're loving to do and
26:22
you really just love the process and not the outcome. That's when you because
26:26
it sounds like you enjoy I mean, I know, we'll go deeper in
26:30
the headaches of the insanity of this film, but at the end of the
26:34
day, you enjoyed this process and did you have an outcome? I mean,
26:38
we all dream of getting into a big festival or we get you know,
26:41
getting found, or getting you know, picked out of the crowd,
26:45
all the ninety stories that we heard, But were you happy? Were you
26:48
happy at the end of this were you're like, you know what, I'm
26:51
good, I'm solid. If it doesn't make a billion dollars, I'm okay
26:53
with that. I'm gonna make my next movie. Is that kind of yah?
26:56
Yeah? I mean for sure for me, it was like always dream
27:00
really big. Like I always say, like, go ahead and practice your
27:03
Academy Awards speech in the mirror because you never know and it can give you
27:07
a little bit of but you know in the back of your head that you're
27:08
crazy and that's insane. So that we are opening red carpet event was actually
27:15
at the Dallas International Film Festival and we ended up winning Best Feature. That
27:19
was our first showing, and then we got into the Australia Film Festival,
27:26
we got into the Glasgow Film Festival, and I got to travel to all
27:30
these places and a lot of the places put us up in really nice places.
27:33
And so the fact that it was really cool because overseas a Texas film
27:38
about a country singer is just like it's so for huge. So the Q
27:42
and a's and the people coming up to us, you know, when you
27:47
play mebe like that. Here in Dallas, Texas, it's like we'll open
27:48
the front door, bro, you know what I mean. Over there it
27:52
was like Australia especially, that was that was a trip for sure. So
27:56
you know, and I don't know if we talk about what happened with the
27:59
film them after that or if we get into that later. Okay, cool,
28:02
yeah I can, I can talk about that. But yeah, you're
28:07
right, and it's you see, but that's a different level. That's probably
28:10
something you didn't expect, No, right, you didn't expect that. That
28:15
thing. So it's it's just interesting the way the universe works, that's all.
28:18
It's just really fascinating how it works. And and again for every all
28:21
the young the young ends listening, you know, from a couple of old
28:25
fogies who've been doing this for a few years, you know, you will
28:30
redefine success for yourself, you know. And and it's not giving up on
28:33
the dream. You always always hope and you keep going. But if you
28:37
just enjoy the process and not attach yourself so much that that's where all the
28:41
pain comes in. Is when you attach your outcome, then you're like,
28:44
I'm doing this movie to get discovered or to blow up or to make money.
28:48
You're done, You're done. You got to like, I love doing
28:52
what I'm doing, and I don't care what happens at the end. I
28:55
hope and let's position ourselves the best we can to be successful. But at
29:00
the end of the day, it's still just about the process. And that's
29:03
it's kind of like a painter that way. Like you know, painters generally
29:06
don't paint to like I'm going to sell this for one hundred million dollars,
29:08
like Van Go just painted and never made a dime. I was telling my
29:12
wife just that I'm gonna touch on that. I was telling my wife.
29:15
She was we're talking about she goes, what do you want out of the
29:18
film besides freak to blow up and the soundtrack to blow up? And we
29:22
become the new Once you know that's you know, when we went an Academy
29:25
Award. But you know, I said, what I really want is a
29:29
kid in a German library or an old bookstore to pull off the shelf that
29:33
this role won't break DVD watch it and his mind be blown that there's a
29:38
place like that. It happened, Alex. Someone emailed me and talked about
29:44
the film he saw in somewhere in northern Canada. This kid and he talked
29:48
about this fictional place called Deep Elam in Dallas, Texas where this guy plays
29:52
country music and he wrote the greatest review. I think he was like sixteen
29:55
or seventeen, we'll be right back after a word from our sponsor, and
30:03
now back to the show. And I was like, man, you know
30:08
I didn't conjure up the fame and the money that I conjured up a kid
30:12
pulling off a DVD and another in another country. So that was really special
30:17
to me. I was like, Okay, that's that's a way of me.
30:19
I feel like I made it right. I felt like I actually was
30:23
at our library and I was scanning it to see if, like Emay checked
30:26
it out, and it was like, this role won't break. And then
30:27
thor and I was like, I'm cool with that. I'm okay with that.
30:32
If you remember what you said at the beginning of our conversation is when
30:36
your dad saw it's a wonderful life and how it made it feel, and
30:38
you're like, I want to do that. Well, you just succeeded.
30:42
Yeah, I mean you won. You won. That was the goal you
30:48
wanted. You wanted to affect people with your work, and you did that
30:52
not only once, probably multiple times. But that's the one that you that
30:55
picked out, so that I just I want people to listen to that.
30:59
That like, it's not always about the Oscar. It's not always because I've
31:03
talked to Oscar winners and it's not all it's cracked up to be. Don't
31:04
get me wrong. We all want one, and I wouldn't mind one.
31:07
I put it right behind me on this, I'd put it right there right
31:11
of course, exactly. It'd be funny if that kid, if in fact,
31:14
that kid's name was Oscar, but it wasn't, that would be amazing.
31:18
When you tell the story again, the names the kids name these are
31:22
gold gold tips. Yeah. But all right, So there was a few
31:29
other things that happened in this this film before before we get into the really
31:34
crazy story that happened to you. I always like asking this question, what
31:38
is the worst day on production and how did you overcome it? And that
31:42
that pre production, that post produce, yeah, production, what was like
31:45
that crazy day you thought the whole world was coming cratching down? I'll tell
31:49
three real quick. Day one, I'm going into the oldest gymnasium in the
31:55
world with the oldest owner. It's in Dallas, Texas. The guys eighty.
32:00
He just turned ninety, and I had a monologue for him, and
32:05
I'm carrying all this gear up, I mean huge sea stands and rollers and
32:07
huge lights, and he smoke, he smoked cigars, and he goes,
32:13
Josh, come in here. I was like yeah. He goes, I'm
32:15
not doing the monologue and he left and I was like what And it comes
32:21
back in he goes, you can still shoot here. I'm just not doing
32:23
it. And he was the chunk of the of that scene. He was
32:28
the old guy. And so I walked in and I said, here's the
32:32
deal, Doug, can you just say this one line which is a line
32:37
that you hear two more times in the movie. So I had to have
32:40
that one line and he looked at me as said it'll be a close up,
32:44
and he goes, I'll do it, and he does the line and
32:49
so so what that was the worst thing that was happening on day one,
32:52
and then we still we irked out of it. Okay, day two,
32:55
I thought it'd be a good idea to have these boat scenes where he's fishing
32:59
on the on this lake. Well, I don't really have a huge crew,
33:01
but we had three boats and it was like ninety mile an hour wins
33:07
and I said action and all of our boats go away and they all go
33:10
in different directions and I was like, what am I thinking. It's my
33:15
first feature film and I'm gonna shoot on a lake. I don't know what
33:17
I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing, And there was self doubt.
33:21
Wow, and all of a sudden, two boats come over. It
33:24
was a friend of mine, she worked for the rowing team, and she
33:28
was like, do you guys need help driving some of this around? So
33:30
she helped out and the rest of the day was stellar. Was stellar,
33:37
I guess you know. The third one would have to be when we had
33:42
just picked up the new El Camino. Okay, so the day before we
33:45
shoot our well a week the El Camino in the car the engine blew and
33:51
I was like, the whole point of this is this guy doesn't have a
33:53
truck. He has an El Camino. You know it all it's old and
33:58
rusty. We put the word out like we need an El Camino. What
34:01
a crazy thing to ask for in the world. And somebody on Facebook said
34:06
their mom's new husband had one in the garage, but it was old,
34:10
rusty and brown. I was like, what, So I haul over there
34:15
and grabbed this thing. He gives it to me for the whole entire shoot.
34:19
It gives me the keys as y'all have fun. And as I'm driving
34:22
down the road, I'm like, dude, I'm back in a thousand,
34:25
even though I'm kind of whiffing in the first two pitches. And then as
34:29
I'm going up the hill, smoke starts coming out of this El Camino.
34:32
But it was just a water pump and we fixed it in the in the
34:36
cars in the whole movie so I could go on and go on and go
34:40
on. You know, Alex, every single day something was going on,
34:45
And something happened on our last week and a half, our last week and
34:50
a half of filming. It was perfect, and I mean, I'm telling
34:53
you it was like summer camp and we all had a blast. We're pulling
34:58
rabbits out of the hat, special effects that we were doing in camera.
35:02
Everything was happening, and we ended on that high note. But the first
35:08
half, I mean, it was every single day something was happening that I
35:15
had to fix on the fly for sure. I mean, going back to
35:21
the lake shots, did you not see Jaws? Yeah? Not here?
35:25
What Steelburg said, don't the water at least Lisa listen to Steven at least
35:30
right. It's like a funny side story. I was talking to Kevin Reynolds,
35:37
who did water World, and he called up Stephen and he's like,
35:40
what should I do. He's like, don't shoot in the ocean. He's
35:44
like, nah, I'll be fine. Hey, I got a soft spot
35:46
in my heart for water World. I love water World. I listen Peter
35:51
who wrote it, who's a good friend of mine, who's on the show,
35:53
and Kevin was on the show. And it's oddly one of the most
35:59
successful piece the Universal's ever had. Oh wow, I didn't know if you
36:04
know that or not. They've made so much money off of water World.
36:08
Oh good for them, then a little bit. No, no, no,
36:12
everyone always like, oh water Worlds like that. Yeah, no,
36:14
it is it Nicks. You know what. I don't know if you've been
36:17
to Universal Studios and in Florida or in LA but there's a water World ride
36:23
that's still there twenty years later. They still are there and they're still one
36:30
of the most popular attractions, and they've made so much money with the water
36:35
World ipe. It's inane. That's another thing, a disaster turns into a
36:38
profit. I love I love that story. I love it. That's positivity
36:44
for now. You mentioned to me and your email pitch that you there's something
36:50
happened at the Alamo draft House. What okay? So you know making the
36:55
film was insane. We know we shot for twenty six days over over a
37:01
year and a half because I had to keep giving the gear back and luckily
37:06
Greg didn't accidentally shave his beard off or rock Santa didn't get pregnant like I
37:09
was. I mean, I was walking on thin ice by doing that.
37:14
I was just every day thankful that we were getting another day. And they
37:19
always say, like, you know, don't have a lot of locations when
37:21
you have no money for a film when we shot in forty two locations.
37:24
That's why it has the grand the grandness of it. But I was always
37:29
sleeping three hours a night. And then when I was given some dailies to
37:35
some different programmers around south By Southwest wanted it. This is the previous year
37:42
and we were still filming. We still had you know, half the movie
37:45
to film. So I was rushing and rushing and rushing. And my son,
37:47
who's now twenty one, he co edited the film with me, and
37:51
so he would work on it when I was at work, and I would
37:52
work on it with him when I got home. And I was still working
37:57
a full time job and getting this film film, and I was driving back
38:02
and forth to Austin getting the color done because it wasn't working out and I
38:07
wasn't sleeping. It was like a it was a deadline to have the DCP
38:13
in the hands of the festivals, and it was before you know, the
38:16
next morning, before seven. Well, I stayed up for like three days
38:21
maybe and got the DCP and the Blu ray, which was a gift actually
38:28
from diff They provided that if you've got another festival, they would provide you
38:30
a DCP and a Blu ray, which was huge, and I'm driving back
38:35
from Austin. I drop it off in the mailbox for the programmer to upload
38:39
it, and I eat some breakfast and my wife goes, we should go
38:45
celebrate you just your film is done. You're done. It's blocked. It's
38:51
a DCP. And so we go to the Alamo Draft House and we're watching
38:54
a movie and I'm like, why are the trailers all vignetted. I couldn't
38:59
figure out why they're vignetted, and I started to like sweat, and I
39:02
started and I for half a second, I didn't know where I was.
39:06
I didn't know I was in a movie theater. And the lady asked if
39:08
I wanted a margarita, and I said no, and my wife turned to
39:13
me, like, whoa, he must not be feeling good if he has
39:15
turned out of Margarita. And I stood up. I walked out into the
39:19
Alamo Draft House parking lot. We're there, it's like a ten thirty showing
39:22
or eleven am showing because we had, you know, we had just finished.
39:25
And I'm walking around and I know I need to I need I need
39:30
to sit down, but I can't sit down, and all of a sudden,
39:32
I can't feel my left hand, and then pain starts going up and
39:37
I can't really my heart, I can't really control and I'm walking to My
39:43
wife has no idea where I'm at. Well, she follows me in the
39:45
parking lot. I walk in the Allenmud draft house. I'm on my hands
39:49
and knees, and I look at the guy Jorge, who I've known.
39:52
He's at the front desk, and I'm trying to say, call an aimless
39:57
because I'm dying. We'll be right ba after a word from our sponsor,
40:05
and now back to the show. I mean, this is it. And
40:09
then my last thought, when I was trying to see the ambulance, I
40:14
realized, well, I'm not going to be in the memorandum. I'm not
40:16
going to be in the memory of in my own film, and I go
40:20
I start to pass out, and I go I think death's pretty peaceful,
40:23
and I'm out. I wake up and my wife's over me. She's on
40:29
the phone. She's called our doctor and she goes, I could hear I'm
40:31
coming back in like it was just a ringing noise, and he goes.
40:35
She goes, you're having a panic attack. It's not a heart attack.
40:38
And what happened was all the adrenaline that I had built up over those past
40:43
month and weeks and the year prior making the film. When I dropped off
40:47
the DCP, my brain goes and we're done, and we can't go any
40:53
farther. We're done, We've completed, job well done. And then my
40:59
body goes, see ya. And if you look up Wikipedia a panic attack,
41:06
it says symptoms, and it says it feels like you're going to die.
41:10
And I had to like go to a functional medicine doctor for a long
41:16
long time and build up my immune system, and he said, you just
41:21
have to take it easy, man, because you will have a heart attack
41:23
and it won't be a panic attack. So yeah, I almost died on
41:29
the album, which would have been a perfect place if you really think about
41:32
I mean, come on right right smack dab in the middle of it too.
41:37
I was on. I was right there. If you're watching the movie
41:40
of your life, Josh me, I mean, it's pretty like it's like
41:45
the it's the point of what is it? The point of no not the
41:49
point of no return, but the all all is lost moment in the screenplay
41:52
in the movie. You're like, oh, he's made the movie. Wait,
41:57
he's dying at the movie. Why his movie all is lost? That
42:02
is the I mean, you can't so poetic. Yes, that's how,
42:07
and that's how Bob Fosse did. I found out at a premiere he had
42:09
worked so hard and he dropped dead in front of the marquee. I was
42:15
like, poetics, that's poetic for sure. I mean it's a poet.
42:20
Well, I'm glad you I'm glad it worked out. They're still here with
42:22
us. I just so you know, just as a side note, my
42:28
first film Broken, I had a pan at attack on set. Oh,
42:32
I had a full blown panic attack. I had to actually go I'm like,
42:35
guys, I got to give me a minute. I went to the
42:37
bathroom and I had to give me like ten or fifteen minutes. Guys set
42:40
up the lights or something like that. Because it was so overwhelming to me,
42:43
because I had never done it was just it was just something. It
42:47
was. It was a huge project for me at the time. It was
42:50
all this stuff and I literally just started to try to meditate and breathing in
42:53
and out, and there was nobody going to help me, and I was
42:57
just like, yeah, it sucks, dude. I've had probably two three
43:01
panic attacks, all based around the film industry. I have too, one
43:07
was recently. But the cool thing is, I tell myself, you know,
43:10
I have a lot of methods now to where I'm like, you're not
43:13
having a panic attack. You just need to chill out for a little bit.
43:15
And so once you've had it. But man, you've never had it.
43:20
They say, most ambulance rides people thinking they're having a heart attack.
43:23
It's a panic attack. And by the time they get them to the hospital,
43:28
they're like, oh, I think I'm good because they get them the
43:30
IDA and and calm them down. But everyone thinks that's a panic a heart
43:35
attack for sure, or stroke or something. Good. Lord, I mean,
43:37
that's an amazing story. But well, I'm glad you made it,
43:39
brother, I'm glad you And that's a warning for all filmmakers. You know,
43:45
you're still human and there's a lot of stress, especially when trying to
43:49
get a movie together and things happen. And how many heart attacks and panic
43:53
attacks has happened to filmmakers in the course of the last fifty one hundred years.
43:59
Yeah, all movies something and it may be your heavy house, it
44:04
might be you. Now, how did you get now, how did you
44:07
because you've mentioned a couple of times you read my book, how did you
44:09
decide to go with distribution? Yeah? So, look, the timing of
44:14
your book was great because we were coming back from Scotland with the movie the
44:19
Glasgow Film Festival, and we were things were starting to really happen with the
44:24
buzz of the film, and we funny enough, we were talking to Alamo
44:30
draft House and they were going to put it in all the Alamo draft houses.
44:36
Uh, like a little short deal and have Greg play like a little
44:40
and we could sell the merchandise the soundtrack. So I was working that out
44:45
when we were in Scotland. I'm on the airplane and we had gotten word
44:51
that south By Southwest, even though we weren't in the competition. They were
44:53
like, you know, maybe we can work something out where you can premiere
44:57
it in Austin, you can do a festival thing. And all our phones
45:01
went off and said south By Southwest, hancils. This was like early early
45:07
early covid Andy, a time we landed everything. All the other film festivals
45:14
we were part of, everything else shut down. So I'm back to I
45:20
mean in theaters, I mean ALBUMO draft House especially closed its doors, and
45:24
so it was like, oh, well I just made a movie. What
45:30
I do with this? And I, you know, I am still thankful
45:34
that we were able to at least do that huge run of festivals, get
45:37
the movie in the can, because I knew a lot of friends who like
45:40
were shooting a film with had like kids in it, you know, the
45:44
age of ten, and then COVID done gone because those kids they don't look
45:51
the same. They have half a movie in a can. I mean,
45:52
it breaks my heart to think about it. A lot of people lost a
45:55
lot of things. We were very lucky that we still walked away, you
46:00
know. So I'm you know, I'm depressed, and I'm like, okay,
46:05
well I'm just gonna make the DVD myself. And so I figured out
46:08
how to do all that. I told people, if you want to signed
46:13
autograph, I'm only doing one hundred. If you want to signed autograph of
46:15
the DVD, it's thirty bucks. And we threw in some stickers. We
46:19
sold out like that three grand I have three grand I make a thousand DVDs.
46:23
So they're in my garage and I'm like, well, what do I
46:25
do with this, And I did the whole like stuff before, in all
46:30
the different menus, and because of COVID and because of so many film festivals
46:36
that shut down that didn't have films come out, they're cutting half what movies
46:42
are for distribution content. Everyone's at home, everyone needs to be watching something,
46:46
and people are running out of content. Well, my phone starts to
46:50
blow up, like literally, And I was talking to a lot of different
46:53
U distribution companies, I mean some and you know, I love how you
46:59
talk the truth about how some of these are predatory. I mean, Alex,
47:04
it was so sickening, you know, especially like I've almost died.
47:07
You know, I'm not going to give you my film. I'm gonna give
47:10
you this. You know. It was like for twenty years, no g
47:20
Yeah, and then like, but we're gonna redo your posters. If you've
47:22
seen our poster. Our guy who did our poster did a phenomenal job,
47:27
and it's like they wanted to redo the poster, redo the trailer, and
47:30
they just wanted to spend the money that would be coming in. And then
47:34
we got a phone call for the one that we went to with who was
47:37
can I say their name on that to you. Yeah. So this little
47:40
company called Passion River Films reached out and I looked them up and they worked
47:46
with libraries. I was like, okay, they don't really do theatrical,
47:51
but they were like, you can keep your theatrical and you keep DVD rights
47:54
and all these things. And I was like, this sounds too good to
47:57
be true. So I reached out to Ben and uh Jim Cummings over at
48:00
Vanished an Angle and uh Ben wasner I think it's Ben's name, could be
48:05
saying that wrong. I said, hey, do you know about Passionate River
48:07
and they go and Jim was like, yeah, thunder Road, they have
48:13
Amazon and DVD sales. We signed out with them because they're phenomenal and they'll
48:16
put it in every library in North America, including Canada and the US.
48:21
And so they sent over the paperwork and they like, we love the trailer.
48:24
We love And it was a two year deal. I'll say it.
48:28
It was a two year deal for twenty percent. I mean, and they're
48:32
gonna and they're gonna put it into every library and they're gonna buy all all
48:37
the DVDs that I had. They said, we'll sell those for you and
48:39
we'll take a percentage by putting them into libraries, and so some libraries,
48:44
if there's a big enough metroplex, they'll buy ten fifteen. And so then
48:50
they set us up and worked so well with us, and they put us
48:52
through. Obviously, we did the t VOD the transactional, and then I
48:59
still had theatric right, so I was going around once COVID was over with,
49:01
and we were showing we're selling out here in the Dallas Fort Worth area
49:05
six hundred seat theaters and that's just for us. And then they said,
49:09
hey, there's this new thing called Toob he goes and this is pretty this
49:15
is they're pretty new. This is two thousand and twenty the beginning of twenty
49:20
twenty and two. B needed content and they loved our run time. They
49:22
loved that it was country music and that they could advertise with like Chevy Miller,
49:28
Lie Bud Light Wrangler. Perfect. So as of now, besides the
49:32
DVD sales, which sounds crazy, Twob's right there. Oh yeah, oh
49:37
yeah, you know, I mean, and you talk about it on the
49:39
show, and you know, I remember, like I always feel like I
49:43
was chasing daylight when you would talk on the show, because you were speaking
49:46
the truth and then a month later, you know, tug is gone.
49:51
I'm like, you know, that was my plan, and it's just like
49:53
something pops and something goes away. And you were talking about a VOD and
49:58
I remember you talking about it, and I was like, what advertising video
50:01
and demand there's We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor, and
50:09
now back to the show. I feel like I'm gonna make it on Amazon
50:15
and iTunes, and dude, iTunes is the lowest. Oh, it's horrible.
50:20
You know. Then we got some good Vimeo stuff because like in Australia,
50:22
that's one of their platforms is Vimeo for uh, for certain films that
50:28
aren't rated. And yeah, so I one percent as of today owned the
50:34
film VOD DVD theatrical. I own one hundred percent of the of the rights
50:39
of the film. It's amazing. We had a great We had a great
50:43
probably the best kind of run you can do. Like right now, it's
50:46
on Amazon Prime for free, and we're gonna keep it on there because it's
50:51
a nice calling card because we're making our new film for people to like go
50:54
watch that and watch it for free, and then once the next film happen.
51:00
We'll take that down. You can rent it, and then I'll start
51:02
to build a collection you know, Blu, Ray, DBD and UH and
51:07
have it through our own website. Dude, I'm so happy that the book
51:12
helped you with that, and and the show helped you with a lot of
51:14
this stuff that you're talking. And I always tell people the three things that
51:19
every if you're if you're a filmmaker, or if you want to be a
51:22
filmmaker, or if you're needing to go level up in a different area,
51:25
the three books that you have to have on your shelf is Indie Film House,
51:30
a filentrepreneur, uh Reuble without a Crew. And then I really like
51:37
Dan's book The Submersive Guide, and people should get your audio book because it's
51:44
really it's really stellar. It was really listen to and for some reason,
51:49
I learned a lot of new things. I've just re listened to it on
51:51
a drive and I was like, Oh, that's really that's really solid if
51:53
you listen to it, because sometimes I read and I kind of blank out.
51:58
So I listened to it and then went back and thumbed thumbnails some stuff
52:00
in your buck for the next film that's coming up. That I didn't do
52:05
in the last one. And then the audiobook two also has extra stuff that
52:07
I just stopped in the middle and I'll just start like real quick, yeah
52:12
great, it's like Gary Bee, I love it. That's where I got
52:14
it from. Gary did. I'm like, oh, I'm doing that when
52:17
I have an when I do an audiobook, that's all. Yeah, that's
52:21
brilliant. It's brilliant. It's it's it's great. No, I'm so happy
52:23
that that is the case. And that's a real great success story and distribution,
52:27
because I'm sure you were getting predatory stuff left and right and all over
52:32
the place. It's yeah, making this it's it's really gross, and it's
52:37
you know, for a filmmaker. I think if maybe if I wouldn't have
52:43
almost died, I would have just been exhausted enough to give it away.
52:46
And I think what happened was I was exhausted, I almost died. That
52:51
was pissed, and I was like, I'm taking this thing. I'm alive
52:53
again. I have come back. I've come back, and I will sell
52:59
these dv I was that's that's genius. That's really a genius way of looking
53:04
about. Yeah, libraries are a big thing that people don't don't understand,
53:07
you know. Also cruise lines and airlines too for certain movies you can get
53:12
it. There's so many airlines. Yeah, it's so many revenue streams that
53:17
you can create and go after distributors who just focus on those kind of things
53:22
and getting you into those places. Yeah. And because of your show,
53:27
someone was talking about we funder and so we, uh, we're going that
53:31
route for the next film, and then we got film Independent to support us.
53:37
As a five oh one three C people can do tax right off.
53:39
So it's like I've learned so much in the past, and then, like
53:44
with your show and having people on, I'll listen to an hour and then
53:47
like five minutes someone says something that like changes the trajectory of the film,
53:55
you know, of the next film. I'm like, I'm listening to it.
53:58
I'm like, I get it, and I've been there. I've been
54:00
there, I've been there, I've been there, and then oh, I
54:01
haven't been there. I wrote that down and then it really you know,
54:07
there's so many things that our fingertips that I think, you know, if
54:09
people really want to do it, you can do it. It's out there
54:13
for you. And so the film has been a financial success for you.
54:16
I mean, like I said, I'm not like I'm not rich and famous,
54:21
but we're we're in the black. You've made your money back. You
54:24
made your money back. Yeah, like you are in the top one person
54:30
filmmakers. And the cool thing about it also is like it's still I still
54:35
get checks and it pays for all the stuff that we have on websites.
54:40
It pays for our CPA, our LLC. It's like, you know,
54:45
the film still and once we get the next film made, we're really going
54:49
to push this won't break again because a lot of people didn't get to see
54:52
it because of just all the content, and we can repackage that. It's
54:58
it's forever, you know. Yeah, you could put that movie out right,
55:00
you could re release it right now people. Yeah, we're doing Blu
55:05
ray and then vinyl. We're on a wedding list for a vinyl record,
55:07
so we're gonna package it with the blue ray because you said on one of
55:12
the beginning of one of your shows, he says, uh the niches and
55:15
is in the riches. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And
55:21
then the next film is about an orthodox monk on the coast of Texas.
55:23
So it doesn't get more niche than that. You know. Yes, the
55:27
name of that one is Tonto Lantost. Yes, so that means uh,
55:35
basically translated, if I am I am Latino, so uh, the full
55:40
for Christ essentially. Yes, that's exactly right. It's like, uh,
55:45
you know, it's not a Robert Eggers South film. Uh, it's not
55:49
scary, but it's gonna have that vibe. It'll have a neat. We're
55:52
shooting in black and white. I'm doing I'm breaking all the rules. I've
55:54
already broken rules. So we're shooting in one six six one and black and
55:59
white just but you're you're shooting color and taking the color, I mean the
56:04
black and white later, right, are you shooting white? Yeah, okay,
56:07
keep the color just in case. Oh believe me. Yeah. Technology
56:12
technology. We're using the newest red and it's like what this technology? If
56:16
we get in there, we're like, uh oh, it's like, just
56:21
just keep the color for distribution just in case. Like we love the film,
56:24
but you shot in black and white and I can't sell it, and
56:28
you've got no stars in it, so it's gonna be a tough sell.
56:30
Then you're like, well, you know, what I could just turn that
56:31
color right back on for you. Yeah, you know that's what it takes.
56:37
We got some b list. We have b less stars this time.
56:39
Good good. Always always get a face, man, Always get a face
56:43
if you can. Josh Man, I appreciate you coming on the show man
56:46
telling us your insane story. I'll ask you a few questions to ask all
56:50
my guests. Cool, what advice would you give a filmmaker trying to break
56:52
into the business today? You know, I think it's really quickly. It's
56:58
like a Chinese parable, but I it's heard about a man they had a
57:01
beat farm and the beats all dried up, and the kid was like,
57:06
what we're going to do. We're ruined. And then father was like,
57:08
maybe maybe not. And then all of a sudden, all these horses came
57:13
up the hill and he was like, oh my gosh, we're gonna be
57:15
rich. And his father said, maybe maybe not. We don't know.
57:19
Well he was trying to train the horses. The horses broke his leg,
57:22
both legs, and he said, son said, now I'm crippled. This
57:27
is the worst thing to ever happened. And his father said maybe maybe not.
57:30
And then the Chinese army came over the hill. He said, we
57:32
need your son for war, and he said he can's crippled, and they
57:37
left and all those men got slaughtered. So basically, when you're making an
57:40
indie film and your transmission blows up or someone gets shoot in the face,
57:45
it's not the end of the world. It's not maybe maybe not the guy
57:49
who got shot in the face. It could very definitely be the end of
57:52
the world. Oh or me or me and Alamo draft als for sure.
57:57
But I get, I get, I've heard that parable. It's a wonderful
58:00
parable. What is the lesson that took you the longest to learn, whether
58:02
in the film business or in life. You know, everyone always says this,
58:08
and it's the truth is like the whole cavalry is not showing up by
58:13
Mark Duplas. But I'll take it one step further and say, like,
58:16
sometimes you're gonna have to do everything because it's not gonna be just yours until
58:23
maybe one day you know, you are Wes Anderson and you can tell if
58:28
someone with colored pink you want, but right now, just do it yourself.
58:32
And if you don't find joy in that, this is not for you,
58:37
mm hmm. And three of your favorite films of all time. Oh,
58:39
man, I forgot about this one. I'm gonna say bad Lands.
58:45
Yeah, I'm gonna say It's a wonderful life. Now I'm George Bailey at
58:52
my age, I feel like I'm George Bailey. And number three it's a
58:58
tie because it's Point Break and Karate Kid. I mean because I shouldn't those
59:06
films like shouldn't be so shouldn't have worked, and they did and I love
59:12
I love rewatching them. I just saw a Point Break here in Dallas.
59:14
I'm thirty five millimeter. It was gorgeous. And I'm assuming you've seen Cobra
59:17
Kai. Oh yes, yes, of course, I mean it's it's awesome.
59:22
Yeah, brother, man, where can people find out more about you?
59:28
Your films, your and we're gonna watch your movies? Yeah, yeah,
59:30
you can ge to Josh David Jordan dot com and that's gonna have everything
59:34
about the new film. If you want to be if you want to invest
59:37
or, if you want to throw money our way, it'll have this World
59:39
Won't Break where you can buy that and then all my links. I'm on
59:43
Instagram and Twitter. Yeah, because when the pandemic happened, someone hacked my
59:47
Instagram and Facebook account and they deleted them all, so I just restarted them.
59:52
That really stinks. So go there, follow me there, and uh
59:57
yeah, that's it. Brother. I appreciate the story. I appreciate you
1:00:00
coming on. I appreciate all the support for what I do all these years.
1:00:05
And I'm glad you made it. I'm glad you're alive that this movie
1:00:08
didn't kill you, though it did try. Yeah, but I appreciate you,
1:00:13
brother. Thanks again. Welcome to Texas, and I hope I see
1:00:15
you in Austin. Man. I want to thank Josh so much for coming
1:00:17
on the show and sharing his journey with all of us. If you want
1:00:22
to get links to anything we spoke about in this episode, head over to
1:00:23
the show notes at Bulletproof Screenwriting dot tv. Forward slash three seventy seven.
1:00:29
Thank you so much for listening, guys, as always, keep on writing
1:00:31
no matter what. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to the
1:00:35
Bulletproof Screenwriting podcast at Bulletproof Screenwriting dot tv.