Filmmaker hopes 2 days can change his career
Johnson happy with short film cast
Jayson Johnson likes to come up short. As in length of his films. It forces the former Vallejoan to get to the point rather quickly. And, bottom line, less chance the 46-year-old takes it in the shorts.
Hard to lose a few million on a film if it doesn’t cost that much to make.
Take his last film, “Reddress,” released four years ago. It cost about 10 grand — and was screened at 18 film festivals, Johnson said proudly.
While “Reddress” was a socially-relevant story about racism, “I got a lot of comments about it being a ‘dark’ film,” Johnson said. “It was not light subject matter.”
Still, 18 film festivals isn’t bad. Not the ultimate hope, but not bad.
“I think every filmmaker wants their film project to get sold and then appear on HBO or something in that capacity,” Johnson said. “That didn’t happen. That’s OK. It was the first film I solicited funds for.”
“Reddress” did, continued Johnson by phone, “really open a lot of doors and gave me confidence to keep going. I think that’s the life of a filmmaker. You have to be resilient.”
Johnson said he’s secured the actors and the script for “T.H.O.T.,” with the scheduled two-day shoot Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
“It’s much more of a positive film,” Johnson said, describing the 15-minute short as “a love letter to women that are mischaracterized. This puts them in a positive light.” Johnson said he and a friend, 44-year-old Kareem Gedra of Vallejo, hashed out the film’s details during the last year.
“It just sat for a long time,” Johnson said.
Out of nowhere, Johnson was approached “from a guy on LinkedIn” about producing the film while “paying for a portion of it.”
“To a filmmaker, that’s always win-win when you have an idea and have someone pay for it,” Johnson said. “We still need to find some funds to finish it.”
It helped tremendously, added Johnson, that Upper Playground, “an awesome street culture store in San Francisco,” donated all the clothes worn in “T.H.O.T.”
“I might keep something for myself. A director should have something good,” Johnson said.
Though the filmmaker lives alone in Richmond, he gets emotional support from a girlfriend living in her native Mexico that he met at a wedding.
“I was in a long-term relationship and told my then-girlfriend I wanted to be a filmmaker and she said, ‘You’ll never make a dime.’ We broke up,” Johnson said.
Trying to learn some Spanish every day, Johnson said he’ll either end up in Mexico or his girlfriend will relocate here if it’s going to work out.
For now, his focus is on the film that’s expected to run six, maybe seven minutes.
Again, reiterated Johnson, it’s about the subject matter.
“This is a Black and Brown story. We’re talking about what it’s like in a barbershop and how women get wrongly depicted. It’s about women empowerment,” he said.
The story clicks “because I feel like a lot of men and women can relate to it,” said Gedra, a 1994 Vallejo High School graduate.
Gedra said he came up with the “bones” of the script while Johnson and Sara Anders did the finetuning.
“This is my first narrative film and I’m really excited. It’s awesome working with Jayson,” Gedra said, adding that he met Johnson years ago “and we forged a friendship and stayed in contact.”
This likely won’t be the last film the two friends collaborate on, Gedra said.
“I think we will probably be working on plenty of projects in the future,” he said. “We’re such good friends.”
Beyond the joy of working with his friend, Johnson said he’s scored a stellar cast, including Grammywinning Adrian Marcel, “the star of the project.”
“That’s huge for me,” Johnson said. “When you’re starting out, it’s rare that you can get a talent that has a name.”
Johnson figure it’s his 10th film he’s written while he’s produced 20 film projects. It’s the eighth film he’s directed.
Before writing and directing, Johnson produced. However, “I was tired of working on other people’s films,” he said. “When all is said and done, you get a pat on the back and it’s ‘see you in another three years.’ I had ideas that I wanted to do. I was a little bit nervous taking a leap of faith. I think I’m a much better filmmaker now. I know what I want.”
Hey, if he failed, “At least when I laid my head on the pillow I could say I gave it a try,” Johnson said.
He’s done better than that, estimating that his films have screened in nearly 50 festivals.
“I learned a lot just being a DIY (do it yourself) filmmaker,” Johnson said. “And I believe at some point I’m going to get a chance to make a feature film.”
It’s unknown when that “some point” will be. For now, it’s going to be short films, a genre that’s “picking up steam,” said Johnson. “Ultimately, I think a lot of filmmakers see it as making a business card that you can take into an interview. When you’re asked, ‘Why should we give you $3 million to make a film,’ they can look at your body of (short film) work. It gets your foot in the door.”