Episode 137

The Journey of a Seasoned Filmmaker

Episode 137 - The Journey of a Seasoned Filmmaker

In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast, Geoff interviews award-winning filmmaker Joth Riggs. With a career that spans over 30 years and includes work on well over a hundred movies and TV shows, Joth shares his journey from working on 'Pet Sematary II' to his time at Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and eventually becoming an assistant director and then transitioning to director. Joth shares his transition into faith and family projects, where he has worked on familiar films such as God’s Not Dead, Jesus Revolution, and  more.  He talks about  differences between large studio sets and indie films, and the importance of continuous learning in filmmaking. Joth also introduces his online course on directing, aimed to guide aspiring filmmakers from concept to premiere. 

Highlights Include:

  • Welcome and Introduction
  • Transition to Faith and Family Films
  • Early Filmmaking Experiences
  • Working for Free
  • Low Barrier to Entry
  • Developing your Rolodex
  • Assistant Directors
  • Large Studio vs. Independent Sets
  • Joth's Favorite Roles
  • Transition to Directing and Current Projects
  • Directing Your Movie Course
  • Final Advice for Aspiring Filmmakers

Bio: 

Joth Riggs is an award-winning filmmaker whose career spans more than 30 years on over a hundred movies and t.v. shows for all the major Hollywood studios. After graduating with a degree in Film Production, Joth got his start on the set of Pet Sematary II. From there he went on to work on the sitcom Coach on the Universal lot before ultimately landing at Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. It was only after being accepted into the prestigious Director's Guild Training Program that Joth left Amblin to become a DGA Assistant Director.

After years as a sought out A.D. on everything from Starship Troopers, End of Days with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Suicide Kings with Christopher Walken, to series' such as CSI, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and Baywatch among others, Joth made the move to the director's chair.

 Joth's latest film, Night of the Sicario, starring Natasha Henstridge, was released theatrically by Paramount Pictures and Saban Films.

Joth is currently working on his next feature, the action/thriller Coyote Dawn.

Joth’s Directing Your Movie Course: 

https://www.faffassociation.com/directing-your-movie

Joth’s Links:

https://www.whitestoneentertainment.com/

https://www.facebook.com/jothriggs

FAFF Association Online Meetups: https://faffassociation.com/#faff-meetings

Screenwriters Retreat - Mexico: https://www.faffassociation.com/writers-retreat

Jaclyn's Book - In the Beginning, Middle and End: A Screenwriter’s Observations of LIfe, Character, and God: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9R7XS9V

The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, to film scorers,  talent agents, and distributors. 

It is produced and hosted by Geoffrey Whitt and Jaclyn Whitt , and is brought to you by the Faith & Family Filmmakers Association

Support Faith & Family Filmmakers Our mission is to help filmmakers who share a Christian Worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. If you would like to assist with the costs of producing this podcast, you can help by leaving a tip.

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Faith and Family Screenwriting Academy: https://www.faffassociation.com/

Script Notes and Coaching: https://www.faffassociation.com/script-services


Copyright 2024 Ivan Ann Productions

Transcript
Geoff:

Hey there.

Geoff:

Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast.

Geoff:

I'm Jeff, and today I'm excited to have with us Joth Riggs.

Joth:

Alright, thanks Jeff.

Joth:

Thanks for having me.

Geoff:

Joth Riggs is an award-winning filmmaker whose career spans more than 30 years on well over a hundred movies and TV shows for all the major Hollywood studios.

Geoff:

After graduating with a degree in film production, Joth got his start on the set of Pet Cemetery two before going on to work on the universal back lot.

Geoff:

Then ultimately landing at Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.

Geoff:

After being accepted into the Prestigious Director's Guild training program, Joth left Amlin to become a DGA Assistant Director after years as a sought out ad on Films such as Starship Troopers and End Of Days with Arnold Schwarzenegger and television series such as CSI and Dr. Quinn, medicine Woman, among others, Joth made the move to the director's chair with films like Heart Fall and Night of the Sicario starring Natasha Tretch, which was released theatrically by Paramount Pitchers.

Geoff:

Welcome, JTH.

Geoff:

It's great to have you.

Joth:

Thanks, Jeff.

Joth:

I appreciate it.

Joth:

Thanks for having me.

Geoff:

Well, you know, that was quite a bio and, uh, if anyone were to take a look at your IMDB, we can see there's tons of stuff there, but, Most of our listeners might actually recognize some of your work such as Jesus Revolution, the shift, bringing back Christmas birthright, outlaw God's not Dead Church people, Some of those are some of your more recent projects that you've worked on, if I'm not mistaken.

Joth:

Yeah, I made a shift about a decade or so ago to more faith in family films, which is why I'm on this podcast.

Geoff:

Yeah, that's for sure.

Geoff:

For sure.

Geoff:

And, some of those are, are very, significant films.

Geoff:

Indeed.

Geoff:

Uh, I noticed birthright Outlaw.

Geoff:

Uh, we had Aaron Burns as a guest

Geoff:

just a little while back

Joth:

yeah.

Joth:

That was a fun one.

Geoff:

yeah.

Geoff:

And Kevin, Boen as well.

Geoff:

Uh, he would've been on that project with you, I

Joth:

Yeah, yeah.

Joth:

That was a great shoot.

Geoff:

So, um, let's go back and tell us how you got started.

Geoff:

where did your love for filmmaking begin?

Joth:

Well, I, in high school, in my high school church youth group, actually, I was in a

Joth:

band and I. Being the

Joth:

eighties, our band had to have music

Joth:

videos, and so we made music videos and I had so much fun making those.

Joth:

I had more fun than I even did in the band.

Joth:

and so we, we just made a bunch of those and then started making little short films with all the same guys, all my buddies, and I loved it.

Joth:

And I, happened to be from Los Angeles.

Joth:

I was in high school at that time.

Joth:

I was in Massachusetts, but.

Joth:

Given where I was from, and given

Joth:

that I always intended to move back there, uh, I knew that I actually had an opportunity to do this as a career.

Joth:

you know, in the eighties you pretty much had to be in

Joth:

LA or New York.

Joth:

and I actually have a couple of family members in the business, so I, you know, I, I know of the business.

Joth:

I knew of it and, and I said, Hey, man, that, that's exciting.

Joth:

I wanna do that.

Geoff:

yeah.

Geoff:

Sometimes, having people in the business is, um,

Joth:

Makes it real.

Geoff:

It, it makes it feel like something you can do.

Geoff:

And it's for, for many people, the whole film industry is something that's kind of outta reach.

Geoff:

It's, you know, elite or whatever the case may be.

Joth:

Yeah.

Joth:

So I mean, I'm, fortunate just geographically being from that area and, um, but, and also they, they did help me because, uh, I got an internship on my first feature film.

Joth:

I.

Joth:

Was from my cousin who was the cinematographer on that film.

Joth:

So, you know, obviously those connections helped, but I worked for free on that project.

Joth:

I worked for almost three months with zero income and slept on someone's couch and worked long hours and loved every second of It

Joth:

It was an amazing experience.

Joth:

I learned a ton.

Geoff:

Yeah.

Joth:

I also went to film school, and then the last semester of my college experience, I did this internship and I learned more in three months than I learned in four years of film school

Geoff:

Oh yeah,

Joth:

by a long, shot.

Geoff:

Uhhuh.

Joth:

Now there's no substitute for actually being on a film set.

Geoff:

That's what I keep hearing over and over.

Geoff:

Our guests, constantly are giving us wisdom, and that's one of the things they say, just get on a set.

Geoff:

no matter what you're learning or where you are in your, uh, whatever stage you are in your learning,

Joth:

Yeah.

Joth:

You know, and, and one thing I I wanna mention too is there's a lot of talk in general, um, about people knowing their worth

Joth:

and, you know, don't work for free.

Joth:

Well, you know what, working for free was the best thing I did for my career.

Joth:

Um, and I think if you're just starting out, yeah, you should be willing to work for free.

Joth:

because a, when you say know your worth, it's like, well, if you have no experience, your worth is

Joth:

zero.

Joth:

Um, and so do what you gotta do to get on a film set, gain that experience.

Joth:

Then you can go to the next

Joth:

one

Joth:

with some experience, a little something on your resume, and then you can start asking for pay.

Joth:

But be willing to do that.

Geoff:

Yeah.

Geoff:

And the other thing to consider is, um, well consider it education and basically you don't get paid for education, usually you pay for it.

Geoff:

So if you're getting free education,

Joth:

That's right.

Joth:

Look at it.

Geoff:

know.

Geoff:

Yeah, exactly.

Geoff:

Exactly.

Geoff:

And, uh, you mentioned of course, that at the time there was a benefit to, having, LA as your home.

Geoff:

I would say, uh, the majority of our listeners don't live in LA and, uh, you well, tell me, how do you feel about that today?

Joth:

Oh, totally.

Joth:

Not necessary anymore.

Joth:

No, it's a different environment now entirely.

Joth:

So, you know, so when I started it was actual film, 35 millimeter celluloid, shot on Panavision cameras, which are very hard to get ahold of

Joth:

back then I. But of course the barrier to entry now is so low.

Joth:

You know, we shoot on digital cameras.

Joth:

I mean, you can shoot on iPhone, you know, in high def nowadays.

Joth:

and of course, you know, you don't need to have all the elaborate equipment to edit it.

Joth:

You can edit it on a laptop and you don't need a distribution deal from a studio.

Joth:

You can upload it to YouTube.

Joth:

So really, there's no excuse if you're an actual filmmaker and you just wanna make films.

Joth:

Then you have all the tools necessary at your disposal.

Joth:

You don't have to go to LA or New York.

Joth:

Now granted, that's a certain level, obviously, if you wanna get to the, the more professional level, um, then what you need to do is you need to keep working at those small projects to get good and build your chops and get experience.

Joth:

Then you can start to expand your horizons and look at where films are being made.

Joth:

Um, it's not necessarily everywhere, but it's in a lot of different places.

Joth:

Atlanta, of course, is a huge hub.

Joth:

Tennessee, of course, other countries as

Joth:

well.

Joth:

There's a lot of different places.

Joth:

The most important thing isn't where you are.

Joth:

It's frankly who you

Joth:

know.

Geoff:

Yeah.

Joth:

Nobody's gonna call you if they don't know who

Joth:

you are.

Joth:

Um, so it's really about developing and building what we used to call your Rolodex.

Joth:

You know, it's getting to know people in the business that you can reach out to and that maybe would be willing to bring you on a project.

Geoff:

Yeah.

Geoff:

And having people get to know you

Joth:

Yeah,

Geoff:

the, the key point in that.

Joth:

yeah.

Joth:

Now there's two things.

Joth:

A, it's who you know, but then closely followed on in second place is can you deliver?

Joth:

You know, 'cause if somebody's gonna go out on a limb because they know you or any curry any kind of favor, then you've gotta back that up by actually doing a great job,

Geoff:

Of course.

Geoff:

Mm-hmm.

Geoff:

So you mentioned the internship opportunity that you started with and film school, which came first

Joth:

I went to film school first.

Joth:

Um, mainly 'cause I, not 'cause I necessarily thought film school was gonna be that valuable, but I just wanted a college degree.

Joth:

Um, the, there weren't very many in my family.

Joth:

I was one of the first.

Joth:

So, um, I just wanted that regardless.

Joth:

The other thing is I really wanted to get into the Director's Guild training program, which I can talk about in a moment, but it requires a, college degree to even apply.

Joth:

Um, so I knew I couldn't put the cart before the horse.

Joth:

I had to get that

Joth:

degree.

Joth:

Might as well be in film.

Joth:

And,

Joth:

uh,

Joth:

so

Joth:

me being in school got me access to equipment, which was extremely valuable.

Joth:

'cause again, that was back in the film days in the early nineties, so I had access to film cameras.

Joth:

It also got me an opportunity to do this internship because I required an internship and it also fulfilled my requirement to be eligible for the DGA training program.

Geoff:

mm-hmm.

Geoff:

So did you, um, have a lot of projects you worked on in between there from the internship to the time when you, entered the DGA program?

Joth:

well,

Joth:

right

Joth:

after the internship, um, I was supposed to go

Joth:

and

Joth:

I was supposed to do two films back to back to

Joth:

fill that, whole semester and the other

Joth:

one pushed, which

Joth:

happens all the time in the film industry.

Joth:

So, um, I actually

Joth:

found myself with a

Joth:

gap

Joth:

year.

Joth:

and I

Joth:

ended

Joth:

up,

Joth:

and

Joth:

I

Joth:

mean

Joth:

just a quick little side note, my

Joth:

wife, my, at the time fiance had one more year of college after me.

Joth:

And we were in Massachusetts, so I

Joth:

had a year before we were gonna get

Joth:

married

Joth:

and move to California.

Joth:

And so what ended up

Joth:

doing is taking a

Joth:

job, a corporate job where I made training videos.

Joth:

so I did that for a year.

Joth:

We got married, we moved out to la.

Joth:

Then I was fortunate to get a position answering the phone on the stage at Universal for a sitcom.

Joth:

So I got myself on the lot, I got myself in that environment.

Joth:

And then because of my proximity at that time, I was in a position to hear about an opening at Amlin Entertainment, which was also on the Universal back lot.

Joth:

so I was fortunate to get that position at Amlin.

Joth:

And then

Joth:

while working

Joth:

at Amlin, I took the exams to get into the DGA training program and was accepted.

Joth:

So I left Amlin and joined the DGA and became an assistant director.

Geoff:

cool.

Geoff:

So, Tell us a little bit about, we're gonna get more into this in the second part of our interview, but tell us a little bit about, your role and your jobs as an assistant, director and how that led to, or, added to your career as it leads to becoming a director.

Joth:

It's interesting.

Joth:

A lot of people assume that an assistant director is.

Joth:

Sort of a stepping stone toward directing?

Geoff:

I kind of just implied that, didn't I?

Joth:

Well, I mean, everybody does.

Joth:

I mean, even it's built into the title.

Joth:

Uh, to be honest with you, an assistant director should probably be called an assistant producer, because it's more about logistics and

Joth:

planning than it

Joth:

is the creative really.

Joth:

An assistant director, particularly the first assistant director, who is the, head of

Joth:

that

Joth:

department.

Joth:

Is

Joth:

responsible for all the little nuance and, and things on set that a director should,

Joth:

frankly

Joth:

never

Joth:

have to think about all the planning and preparation that goes into getting

Joth:

what

Joth:

they need, which are making sure the crew

Joth:

knows where to

Joth:

be, when to be, what they're shooting,

Joth:

what, what they're shooting next.

Joth:

Who needs to be in that scene?

Joth:

What actors need to be in that scene, when they need to

Joth:

come in and

Joth:

get

Joth:

ready?

Joth:

What props need to be ready,

Joth:

what effects, what stunts, all of those elements are, you know, I mean, it's a myriad of, of, things that all have to come together for the director call action.

Joth:

and the director should be focusing on the visuals and most importantly, the performances.

Joth:

So the director, ideally, is so focused on their actors and their performances and oblivious to the whirlwind of, uh, the choreography that goes on around them with sometimes as many as 80 to a hundred people.

Joth:

but that's also overarching what the producer's responsible for at the higher level.

Joth:

So the producer's got a 30,000 foot view of the production.

Joth:

The

Joth:

first ad

Joth:

has the boots

Joth:

on the ground

Joth:

right

Joth:

next to the

Joth:

director

Joth:

view of what goes on on the

Joth:

production.

Joth:

So the first ad's are the ones calling the shots.

Joth:

The first ad's are the ones managing and controlling the set, keeping it efficient,

Joth:

uh,

Joth:

making sure

Joth:

a, that we're

Joth:

on

Joth:

schedule.

Joth:

Um, also

Joth:

the first idea is responsible

Joth:

primarily for safety.

Joth:

and

Joth:

just to make sure that it's as smooth, a running

Joth:

set

Joth:

as possible, and that ultimately the director gets everything that they're hoping

Joth:

for, you know, so there's a lot that goes into that.

Geoff:

taking care of all of those logistics, so that the director just doesn't have to think about them.

Joth:

Yeah.

Joth:

And you know,

Joth:

given that

Joth:

I,

Joth:

I've

Joth:

worked on

Joth:

really big,

Joth:

highly

Joth:

professional studio sets, also really small, low budget kind of amateur sets.

Joth:

have seen a, how it should be done in

Joth:

the most efficient manner, and b, some

Joth:

of

Joth:

the things that

Joth:

don't work.

Joth:

You know, I've seen, smaller crews or or less experienced crews that make mistakes that cost them.

Joth:

So one example of that on

Joth:

an

Joth:

amateur set, a lot of people tend to go to the director with every question

Joth:

they

Joth:

have.

Joth:

And they assume, uh, the director is, I'm here to

Joth:

work for the director.

Joth:

Yes.

Joth:

Technically,

Joth:

everybody

Joth:

on the crew works for the director, but that

Joth:

doesn't

Joth:

mean they

Joth:

all answer directly to the director because then the director can't focus on the performance.

Joth:

and so the

Joth:

ad

Joth:

really

Joth:

should

Joth:

field a lot of

Joth:

those kind of questions.

Joth:

The director, ideally, is only having to deal with creative choices in, in a perfect world.

Joth:

And so all of the myriad of other questions that come up really should get filtered through the first ad, if not the production manager or the

Joth:

producer.

Geoff:

Mm-hmm.

Geoff:

tell me more about the transition and the differences between, again, those very large studio sets and an independent set.

Geoff:

how much of it is transferable?

Geoff:

How much is different?

Joth:

Well, so there's a couple of things on a low budget set.

Joth:

They tend to be, uh, smaller crews obviously, so you do tend to have to take on more.

Joth:

Um, the expression of wearing many hats is not uncommon at all on a

Joth:

smaller project, as you get

Joth:

onto the

Joth:

bigger

Joth:

projects, not

Joth:

only do

Joth:

you

Joth:

not

Joth:

have to

Joth:

wear many

Joth:

hats, you

Joth:

really need to

Joth:

not

Joth:

wear

Joth:

many hats.

Joth:

You need to

Joth:

focus

Joth:

on

Joth:

what

Joth:

your

Joth:

specialty is.

Joth:

And

Joth:

in some cases that can feel a

Joth:

little

Joth:

silly.

Joth:

for

Joth:

example,

Joth:

if you're standing

Joth:

right

Joth:

next to

Joth:

some a cable plugged into a

Joth:

wall

Joth:

that needs to

Joth:

get unplugged, doesn't it

Joth:

seem to

Joth:

make sense that you can just reach down and unplug it, but.

Joth:

what you don't realize is the bigger picture, you don't necessarily know,

Joth:

is that plugged into house power?

Joth:

Is

Joth:

that

Joth:

plugged into a tow

Joth:

plant generator?

Joth:

Will that

Joth:

cause a surge in the system?

Joth:

is

Joth:

something else plugged into that, that that could cause a problem?

Joth:

You don't know that

Joth:

and

Joth:

it could cause problems.

Joth:

So

Joth:

when

Joth:

you're

Joth:

on a

Joth:

$200

Joth:

million

Joth:

movie,

Joth:

that can be a very costly mistake if you were to unplug the wrong thing.

Joth:

So there are specialists, there are electricians in the

Joth:

union, and that

Joth:

is their entire world, right?

Joth:

They know more

Joth:

about

Joth:

amps and surges than anybody else, and so you stay in your lane.

Joth:

Now,

Joth:

I. It's

Joth:

a little annoying when you're on a

Joth:

small

Joth:

project and you're like,

Joth:

oh,

Joth:

but

Joth:

it'll

Joth:

just

Joth:

take me a second.

Joth:

But when you

Joth:

get to the bigger

Joth:

projects and,

Joth:

you know, the details are just immense.

Joth:

It's really

Joth:

great

Joth:

when people know

Joth:

their jobs so well,

Joth:

they know it

Joth:

better

Joth:

than anyone in every

Joth:

category,

Joth:

and that's how you get crews that are hundreds

Joth:

of people to work

Joth:

like a

Joth:

well-oiled

Joth:

machine.

Joth:

They focus like a laser beam on being amazing in that singular position.

Joth:

And then you get people at the top of their game at every touch point of the entire process of making a movie.

Geoff:

Mm-hmm.

Geoff:

Well, let me ask you, I know from looking at your credits that you have many first ad credits,

Joth:

Over a hundred

Geoff:

just as first a.

Joth:

as well, first and second ad.

Geoff:

Mm-hmm.

Geoff:

Yeah.

Geoff:

and others of course, as producer, co-producer, credits, uh, writer director credits.

Geoff:

What is your favorite role?

Joth:

Oh, that's a great question.

Joth:

Um, I,

Joth:

I would probably

Joth:

say directing, but I also love assistant directing.

Joth:

They're very different, so they, they scratch different itches, if you

Joth:

will.

Joth:

Um, you know, one's very left brain, one's

Joth:

very

Joth:

right brain, and I

Joth:

love

Joth:

flexing both muscles.

Joth:

uh,

Joth:

I love directing when I

Joth:

am really passionate

Joth:

about the material.

Joth:

If there's a story I really wanna tell, I can't wait to go and

Joth:

tell it.

Joth:

Um, now that's being said.

Joth:

Whether I I love the material or not is, Ironically immaterial for me as an assistant director.

Joth:

Um, then for me it becomes about, uh, how good it feels to help create a well-oiled machine, you know, and to help lift

Joth:

up

Joth:

other

Joth:

creatives and visionaries.

Joth:

I mean, I have some

Joth:

great

Joth:

friends

Joth:

in this business that are directors, and I

Joth:

love,

Joth:

Hey man, how can I help you make this, you know, the best movie it can be.

Geoff:

Yeah.

Geoff:

So if I'm correct, most of your director, credits have been in, in more recent years,

Joth:

Yeah, I

Joth:

transitioned to directing.

Geoff:

but your ad credits have continued during that time as well.

Joth:

that's right.

Joth:

Yeah.

Joth:

I, I'd ad in between directing.

Joth:

Yeah.

Joth:

I, I still ADing.

Joth:

I love it.

Joth:

first ADing, I, I don't love as much the second ADing.

Joth:

Those are different roles.

Joth:

Um, but no, I love first ADing.

Joth:

The other thing is, you know, directing my own projects also requires a lot more ramp up time.

Joth:

because it, it requires developing the material,

Joth:

developing the source, you know, this, working on the script.

Joth:

And so there's often plenty of time for me while I'm gearing.

Joth:

Like, for example, I'm in pre-production on a feature right now, but it's, taken a long time to get through these phases.

Joth:

I could go and ad projects in between.

Joth:

As I continue to develop and work on, on different elements.

Geoff:

So the project that you are ramping up for right now is that with Whitestone Entertainment.

Joth:

That is, yeah, so that's my own, yeah, that's a, it's an action thriller called Coyote Dawn,

Geoff:

Uh.

Joth:

and, uh, I wrote it.

Joth:

am producing it as well, but I have a producing team on board and uh, and I'm directing it.

Joth:

It's been a script that I've been working on for a long time, and at one point we were, we were actually all geared up and ready to film when, um, COVID happened.

Joth:

And, uh,

Geoff:

hear that word in a lot of stories.

Geoff:

It's a, yeah,

Joth:

yeah.

Joth:

So unfortunately a lot of it fell apart and we had to start all over.

Joth:

I was like, Sisyphus, I had to start rolling that boulder back up the hill again.

Joth:

Uh, but right now we are in casting and, uh, hopefully shooting next, uh, probably next summer.

Geoff:

Okay.

Geoff:

Sounds good.

Geoff:

Um.

Geoff:

when we get to the next half, we're gonna talk more about, the actual production process, from the perspective of first ad, second ad, how it relates to the director, and so on.

Geoff:

But before we move on to that, I'd like you to tell us about your training and your, consulting.

Joth:

yeah.

Joth:

Actually, one of the things I did during Covid when, you know, we were all sitting around is I decided to put some

Joth:

of

Joth:

my

Joth:

30 plus years of experience into a course, an online course on directing.

Joth:

I

Joth:

am

Joth:

a

Joth:

student

Joth:

of

Joth:

filmmaking.

Joth:

Always

Joth:

have been.

Joth:

Uh,

Joth:

I,

Joth:

I

Joth:

often say,

Joth:

know

Joth:

enough

Joth:

to know you don't

Joth:

know enough.

Joth:

we

Joth:

should always continue to be striving

Joth:

to

Joth:

get

Joth:

better

Joth:

at

Joth:

our

Joth:

craft.

Joth:

you know, when I

Joth:

was working for Steven Spielberg, I remember him saying that

Joth:

He

Joth:

continually studied the Masters of

Joth:

Film

Joth:

and

Joth:

didn't

Joth:

consider

Joth:

himself one of them.

Joth:

I

Joth:

found

Joth:

that ironic because

Joth:

he is certainly one of them, but

Joth:

I loved that, that even somebody at the top

Joth:

of the game

Joth:

continues to try and improve and

Joth:

so.

Joth:

I have had

Joth:

experience

Joth:

working for

Joth:

a-list

Joth:

top high

Joth:

level

Joth:

directors,

Joth:

and

Joth:

I've had

Joth:

experience

Joth:

working

Joth:

with

Joth:

amateurs

Joth:

and

Joth:

I have

Joth:

learned

Joth:

greatly

Joth:

from

Joth:

both of them because not

Joth:

only can

Joth:

you learn

Joth:

things

Joth:

from a

Joth:

master, but what you learn from people who aren't that experience is what doesn't work

Joth:

in a lot of cases.

Joth:

And it's, uh, it's ironic I learned

Joth:

more

Joth:

on

Joth:

those

Joth:

because when you're watching somebody who's been doing it so long that they can do it in their sleep.

Joth:

They make it look easy and you don't really know what's underneath the surface.

Geoff:

You don't sometimes even notice what it is that's,

Joth:

Yeah,

Geoff:

It just, It

Geoff:

just is

Joth:

It's almost like slight a hand.

Joth:

It's, they're so deft at it that it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Joth:

How, how come that went so

Joth:

well,

Joth:

you don't even realize.

Joth:

Um, whereas,

Joth:

you

Joth:

know,

Joth:

when

Joth:

people make mistakes, it's

Joth:

usually

Joth:

pretty obvious and it's like, well, okay, that,

Joth:

that didn't work

Joth:

so

Joth:

well.

Joth:

I'm gonna make

Joth:

sure

Joth:

I don't

Joth:

do that.

Joth:

So I took

Joth:

all of

Joth:

those

Joth:

lessons

Joth:

of the,

Joth:

I mean, in total

Joth:

I've done about 120,

Joth:

130

Joth:

projects

Joth:

and

Joth:

almost

Joth:

as

Joth:

many directors.

Joth:

So

Joth:

I've taken all of that

Joth:

experience

Joth:

and,

Joth:

I

Joth:

boiled it down

Joth:

into an

Joth:

online course

Joth:

where every step of the directing

Joth:

process is addressed from

Joth:

concept

Joth:

to

Joth:

premier.

Joth:

One of the

Joth:

things I've noticed in

Joth:

particular about my

Joth:

own

Joth:

journey

Joth:

of

Joth:

learning directing is that so many people who teach, directing or any material or

Joth:

courses on directing, they're,

Joth:

they're

Joth:

very

Joth:

broad

Joth:

strokes.

Joth:

They're very 30,000

Joth:

foot

Joth:

view.

Joth:

I'll always remember specifically watching Werner Herzog's Masterclass on directing and his, number one piece of

Joth:

advice on becoming a great director was to read Icelandic poetry.

Geoff:

Oh,

Joth:

He wasn't being funny.

Joth:

Now that's great.

Joth:

I get it.

Joth:

His point was it

Joth:

puts you in a

Joth:

certain frame of

Joth:

mind.

Joth:

It allows you to,

Joth:

you know, tap

Joth:

into your

Joth:

creative

Joth:

side.

Joth:

I

Joth:

get all that,

Joth:

but what you

Joth:

rarely

Joth:

hear is, what do I do when I

Joth:

first

Joth:

arrive

Joth:

on set On my

Joth:

first

Joth:

day

Joth:

of making, of directing?

Joth:

Nobody tells you that you know what they tell you.

Joth:

Even

Joth:

less than that.

Joth:

What's The second

Joth:

thing

Joth:

you do?

Joth:

When you

Joth:

arrive on set, you know,

Joth:

and so

Joth:

I'd have

Joth:

worked

Joth:

with a lot of

Joth:

first time directors and a lot Of

Joth:

times they show up on a

Joth:

film set

Joth:

with a

Joth:

crew just whizzing around them and they're total deer in the headlights.

Joth:

They just

Joth:

don't

Joth:

understand all of the things that go into directing.

Joth:

And so I address all of

Joth:

that in

Joth:

my

Joth:

course.

Joth:

Directing your From start to

Joth:

finish,

Joth:

It's like,

Joth:

I

Joth:

don't want you to be

Joth:

left hanging.

Joth:

I make sure that I cover all the details, every element, every aspect.

Joth:

'cause there's a lot of them.

Geoff:

And, uh, Whitestone Entertainment.

Geoff:

They can find that is it whitestone entertainment.com.

Joth:

Yes it is.

Joth:

Yes, it's, yeah.

Joth:

more importantly, uh, social media is really easier to find me.

Joth:

You can find me on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn

Geoff:

Mm-hmm.

Geoff:

Awesome.

Geoff:

We'll put a link to all of those in the show notes, and give people an opportunity to find you and check out your training.

Geoff:

Anything you would like to add or final, advice that you would like to give our listeners before we finish up this portion of the interview?

Joth:

well, I'll just reiterate what I said, which is it is really important to study the craft.

Joth:

It's a very demanding industry, and in order to succeed, you have to excel.

Joth:

You, you just, honestly, you have to be good.

Joth:

If you're not good, you'll fall by the wayside.

Joth:

You won't get the yeses, you won't get people returning your

Joth:

calls.

Joth:

Uh, Steve Martin, in my opinion, said it best.

Joth:

He said, um, you need to be so good.

Joth:

They just can't ignore you.

Joth:

And so that, that's my call to action is for people to not forsake, really, truly studying and learning the craft of filmmaking.

Geoff:

Mm-hmm.

Geoff:

is good advice.

Geoff:

Well, thank you so much for talking with us today and we'll look forward to talking with you more in the next interview.

Joth:

Awesome.

Joth:

Thanks Jeff.

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Geoffrey Whitt

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