The J-Cut Podcast

RECORDED OCTOBER 2019

Alex Bird is an upcoming Canadian Jazz singer who is intent on writing a new chapter of the Great American Songbook. Born in Romania and adopted at just a few weeks old, he grew up in Canada under a new name, and found his passion in creative arts.

In this episode we discuss the challenges of creating jazz music, details of Alex's birth in Romania, and his experience working with Bill Hader briefly on It Cha...

Scott and I discuss how he practiced voices while working the Starbucks drive through, being a network voice for Showcase television at 25 years old, dealing with the rejection when you fail at 95% of your auditions and how Scott found the repetitive nature of film too soul crushing, prompting his head-first dive into voiceover work.

But we deduce that hard work does pay off, and now Scott has an action figure of a character he play...

Sydney and I have a lot in common with both of us working in post-production so predominantly. We talked the DGC, editing independent feature length films when she was 21 years old, how to manage client expectations, Sydney's adventures biking across Canada and down to the United States.

Other topics include how creatives work ourselves so much we can get sick, and how it led to her having panic attacks and thinking she might be...

Welcome to The J-Cut Podcast hosted by me - independent filmmaker Mike Chantaj. I have been successfully self-employed and pursuing my creative passions as a career for the past 6 years, and now I'm sitting down with other creative professionals to see how they're doing the same thing. You can expect weekly episodes dropping on Tuesdays.

This podcast gives you a real look at people working in the creative media industry, why...

Prionnsias (Pronch) Murphy provides some serious, valuable information you need to hear if you’re ready to jump into the world of freelance film and television.Prionnsias was a gainfully employed producer and manager at a small production house - and lost his job suddenly several years ago - and couldn't be happier now. We discuss how losing his job and going freelance was one of the best career moves he's ever experienced....

Paige Locke is a woman of many talents - she’s an actor, artist, photographer, singer, and producer. Her most recent creation is “Misfit M.” - short film where she stars as Marilyn Monroe - which happens to be the third time playing her. Since this episode was recorded “Misfit M.” has been accepted into several film festivals. She was also recently in an episode of “What We Do in the Shadows” (If you haven’t seen the movie or TV se...

Faran Moradi secured funding from Telefilm in 2018 after writing the script in one month while still working full time as a first assistant editor at Sinking Ship Entertainment. We chat about the wild world of creating art including securing locations, the variety of jobs on set, working with ACTRA actors, and what it takes to create a feature film while still working full time. Other topics include the unconventional ways to get i...

With realistic dreams of going to the Rio Olympics for the Canadian women’s soccer team, Caroline Szwed experienced a career ending knee injury while playing for West Virginia University. As a result, she shifted her career to sports journalism, ultimately landing an on-camera role for Toronto Football Club (TFC), and then later becoming a host on Sportsnet in Toronto. She hosts multiple shows including Misplays of the Month, Plays...

Andy Ingram is a Toronto-based actor for stage and screen. He's not really just an actor - but more of an overall performer. He and I chatted extensively about what it's like being an actor in today's industry, his time spent traveling with Evil Dead: The Musical, the importance of intimacy coaches for both stage combat and for more sensitive scenes, and more.

Other topics include being open to acting and performing oppo...

Sports Cinematographer Josh Laszlo and I discuss how Josh discovered his dream job, traveling for work, gear, the difficulties of getting the shot in the 60 seconds you have with the players and trying to make it feel fresh every time. He and I catch up on projects we ran into each other on, and how sometimes you need to ditch perfection and having proper work life balance.

Other topics include the chaos of working in sports media, ...

Taylor has worked on a long list of television shows, commercials, and films including “The Nut Job 2”, Netflix’s “The Silence” and the Academy Award nominated film for Best Animated Feature “The Breadwinner”.

We talk about spending your money wisely on gear to make your work flow more efficient, what the process and hierarchy of post production audio work is, how Taylor’s life is a series of putting out fires and he likes it that ...

If you want info on what it's like to start a music career, look no further than Del Hartley. Del is a Canadian R&B Singer & Songwriter, who has recently been featured on CTV's The Launch. We discuss what it's like being an indie musician in today's industry, the grind in and out, the types of gigs you can take to make money, and more on this episode of the J-Cut Podcast!

Del Hartley Instagram - @delhartl...