April 2, 2025 • 27 mins
Episode 137 - The Journey of a Seasoned Filmmaker
In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast, your host Geoffrey Whitt 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,...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Geoff (00:00):
Hey there.
Welcome to the Faith andFamily Filmmakers podcast.
I'm Jeff, and today I'm excitedto have with us Joth Riggs.
Joth (00:07):
Alright, thanks Jeff.
Thanks for having me.
Geoff (00:09):
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.
After graduating with a degree in filmproduction, Joth got his start on the set of Pet Cemetery two before going on to work on the universal back lot.
Then ultimately landing at StevenSpielberg's Amblin Entertainment.
(00:30):
After being accepted into the PrestigiousDirector'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.
(00:58):
Welcome, JTH.
It's great to have you.
Joth (01:00):
Thanks, Jeff.
I appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.
Geoff (01:03):
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 (01:25):
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 (01:33):
Yeah, that's for sure.
For sure.
And, some of those are, arevery, significant films.
Indeed.
Uh, I noticed birthright Outlaw.
Uh, we had Aaron Burns as a guest
just a little while back
Joth (01:44):
yeah.
That was a fun one.
Geoff (01:46):
yeah.
And Kevin, Boen as well.
Uh, he would've been onthat project with you, I
Joth (01:49):
Yeah, yeah.
That was a great shoot.
Geoff (01:52):
So, um, let's go back and tell us how you got started.
where did your love for filmmaking begin?
Joth (01:58):
Well, I, in high school, in my high school church youth group, actually, I was in a
band and I. Being the
eighties, our band had to have music
videos, and so we made music videosand I had so much fun making those.
I had more fun than Ieven did in the band.
and so we, we just made a bunch ofthose and then started making little short films with all the same guys, all my buddies, and I loved it.
(02:23):
And I, happened to be from Los Angeles.
I was in high school at that time.
I was in Massachusetts, but.
Given where I was from, and given
that I always intended to move backthere, uh, I knew that I actually had an opportunity to do this as a career.
you know, in the eightiesyou pretty much had to be in
LA or New York.
and I actually have a couple of familymembers in the business, so I, you know, I, I know of the business.
(02:46):
I knew of it and, and I said,Hey, man, that, that's exciting.
I wanna do that.
Geoff (02:51):
yeah.
Sometimes, having peoplein the business is, um,
Joth (02:54):
Makes it real.
Geoff (02:55):
It, it makes it feel like something you can do.
And it's for, for many people, thewhole film industry is something that's kind of outta reach.
It's, you know, elite orwhatever the case may be.
Joth (03:04):
Yeah.
So I mean, I'm, fortunate justgeographically 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.
I.
Was from my cousin who was thecinematographer on that film.
So, you know, obviously thoseconnections helped, but I worked for free on that project.
(03:24):
I worked for almost three monthswith zero income and slept on someone's couch and worked long hours and loved every second of It
It was an amazing experience.
I learned a ton.
Geoff (03:37):
Yeah.
Joth (03:38):
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 (03:48):
Oh yeah,
Joth (03:49):
by a long, shot.
Geoff (03:50):
Uhhuh.
Joth (03:50):
Now there's no substitute for actually being on a film set.
Geoff (03:53):
That's what I keep hearing over and over.
Our guests, constantly are givingus wisdom, and that's one of the things they say, just get on a set.
no matter what you're learning orwhere you are in your, uh, whatever stage you are in your learning,
Joth (04:05):
Yeah.
You know, and, and one thing II wanna mention too is there's a lot of talk in general, um, about people knowing their worth
and, you know, don't work for free.
Well, you know what, working for freewas the best thing I did for my career.
Um, and I think if you're juststarting out, yeah, you should be willing to work for free.
(04:27):
because a, when you say know yourworth, it's like, well, if you have no experience, your worth is
zero.
Um, and so do what you gotta do to geton a film set, gain that experience.
Then you can go to the next
one
with some experience, a littlesomething on your resume, and then you can start asking for pay.
But be willing to do that.
Geoff (04:46):
Yeah.
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.
So if you're getting free education,
Joth (04:56):
That's right.
Look at it.
Geoff (04:57):
know.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
And, uh, you mentioned of course,that at the time there was a benefit to, having, LA as your home.
I would say, uh, the majority ofour listeners don't live in LA and, uh, you well, tell me, how do you feel about that today?
Joth (05:15):
Oh, totally.
Not necessary anymore.
No, it's a differentenvironment now entirely.
So, you know, so when I startedit was actual film, 35 millimeter celluloid, shot on Panavision cameras, which are very hard to get ahold of
back then I. But of course thebarrier to entry now is so low.
You know, we shoot on digital cameras.
(05:36):
I mean, you can shoot on iPhone,you know, in high def nowadays.
and of course, you know, youdon't need to have all the elaborate equipment to edit it.
You can edit it on a laptop and you don'tneed a distribution deal from a studio.
You can upload it to YouTube.
So really, there's no excuseif you're an actual filmmaker and you just wanna make films.
(05:57):
Then you have all the toolsnecessary at your disposal.
You don't have to go to LA or New York.
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.
Then you can start to expand your horizonsand look at where films are being made.
(06:20):
Um, it's not necessarily everywhere,but it's in a lot of different places.
Atlanta, of course, is a huge hub.
Tennessee, of course, other countries as
well.
There's a lot of different places.
The most important thingisn't where you are.
It's frankly who you
know.
Geoff (06:37):
Yeah.
Joth (06:38):
Nobody's gonna call you if they don't know who
you are.
Um, so it's really aboutdeveloping and building what we used to call your Rolodex.
You know, it's getting to knowpeople in the business that you can reach out to and that maybe would be willing to bring you on a project.
Geoff (06:53):
Yeah.
And having people get to know you
Joth (06:55):
Yeah,
Geoff (06:56):
the, the key point in that.
Joth (06:57):
yeah.
Now there's two things.
A, it's who you know, but thenclosely followed on in second place is can you deliver?
You know, 'cause if somebody'sgonna 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 (07:13):
Of course.
Mm-hmm.
So you mentioned the internshipopportunity that you started with and film school, which came first
Joth (07:22):
I went to film school first.
Um, mainly 'cause I, not 'causeI necessarily thought film school was gonna be that valuable, but I just wanted a college degree.
Um, the, there weren'tvery many in my family.
I was one of the first.
So, um, I just wanted that regardless.
The other thing is I really wantedto 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.
(07:47):
Um, so I knew I couldn't putthe cart before the horse.
I had to get that
degree.
Might as well be in film.
And,
uh,
so
me being in school got me access toequipment, which was extremely valuable.
'cause again, that was back in thefilm days in the early nineties, so I had access to film cameras.
It also got me an opportunity to dothis internship because I required an internship and it also fulfilled my requirement to be eligible for the DGA training program.
Geoff (08:14):
mm-hmm.
So did you, um, have a lot ofprojects you worked on in between there from the internship to the time when you, entered the DGA program?
Joth (08:23):
well,
right
after the internship,um, I was supposed to go
and
I was supposed to do twofilms back to back to
fill that, whole semester and the other
one pushed, which
happens all the time in the film industry.
So, um, I actually
found myself with a
gap
year.
and I
ended
up,
and
I
mean
just a quick little side note, my
(08:43):
wife, my, at the time fiance hadone more year of college after me.
And we were in Massachusetts, so I
had a year before we were gonna get
married
and move to California.
And so what ended up
doing is taking a
job, a corporate job whereI made training videos.
so I did that for a year.
We got married, we moved out to la.
(09:04):
Then I was fortunate to get aposition answering the phone on the stage at Universal for a sitcom.
So I got myself on the lot, Igot myself in that environment.
And then because of my proximity at thattime, I was in a position to hear about an opening at Amlin Entertainment, which was also on the Universal back lot.
(09:26):
so I was fortunate to getthat position at Amlin.
And then
while working
at Amlin, I took the exams to get into theDGA training program and was accepted.
So I left Amlin and joined the DGAand became an assistant director.
Geoff (09:40):
cool.
So, Tell us a little bit about, we'regonna 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 (09:59):
It's interesting.
A lot of people assume thatan assistant director is.
Sort of a stepping stone toward directing?
Geoff (10:06):
I kind of just implied that, didn't I?
Joth (10:07):
Well, I mean, everybody does.
I mean, even it's built into the title.
Uh, to be honest with you, anassistant director should probably be called an assistant producer, because it's more about logistics and
planning than it
is the creative really.
An assistant director,particularly the first assistant director, who is the, head of
that
department.
(10:28):
Is
responsible for all the little nuance and,and things on set that a director should,
frankly
never
have to think about all the planningand preparation that goes into getting
what
they need, which are making sure the crew
knows where to
be, when to be, what they're shooting,
what, what they're shooting next.
Who needs to be in that scene?
(10:49):
What actors need to be inthat scene, when they need to
come in and
get
ready?
What props need to be ready,
what effects, what stunts, all ofthose elements are, you know, I mean, it's a myriad of, of, things that all have to come together for the director call action.
and the director should befocusing on the visuals and most importantly, the performances.
(11:10):
So the director, ideally, is sofocused 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.
but that's also overarchingwhat the producer's responsible for at the higher level.
So the producer's got a 30,000foot view of the production.
(11:33):
The
first ad
has the boots
on the ground
right
next to the
director
view of what goes on on the
production.
So the first ad's are theones calling the shots.
The first ad's are the ones managing andcontrolling the set, keeping it efficient,
uh,
making sure
a, that we're
on
schedule.
Um, also
(11:54):
the first idea is responsible
primarily for safety.
and
just to make sure thatit's as smooth, a running
set
as possible, and thatultimately the director gets everything that they're hoping
for, you know, so there'sa lot that goes into that.
Geoff (12:08):
taking care of all of those logistics, so that the director just doesn't have to think about them.
Joth (12:12):
Yeah.
And you know,
given that
I,
I've
worked on
really big,
highly
professional studio sets, also reallysmall, low budget kind of amateur sets.
have seen a, how it should be done in
the most efficient manner, and b, some
of
the things that
don't work.
You know, I've seen, smaller crewsor or less experienced crews that make mistakes that cost them.
(12:36):
So one example of that on
an
amateur set, a lot of people tend togo to the director with every question
they
have.
And they assume, uh, thedirector is, I'm here to
work for the director.
Yes.
Technically,
everybody
on the crew works forthe director, but that
doesn't
mean they
all answer directly to thedirector because then the director can't focus on the performance.
(12:59):
and so the
ad
really
should
field a lot of
those kind of questions.
The director, ideally, is onlyhaving to deal with creative choices in, in a perfect world.
And so all of the myriad of otherquestions that come up really should get filtered through the first ad, if not the production manager or the
(13:19):
producer.
Geoff (13:20):
Mm-hmm.
tell me more about the transition and thedifferences between, again, those very large studio sets and an independent set.
how much of it is transferable?
How much is different?
Joth (13:34):
Well, so there's a couple of things on a low budget set.
They tend to be, uh, smallercrews obviously, so you do tend to have to take on more.
Um, the expression of wearing manyhats is not uncommon at all on a
smaller project, as you get
onto the
bigger
projects, not
(13:55):
only do
you
not
have to
wear many
hats, you
really need to
not
wear
many hats.
You need to
focus
on
what
your
specialty is.
And
in some cases that can feel a
little
silly.
for
example,
if you're standing
right
next to
some a cable plugged into a
wall
that needs to
get unplugged, doesn't it
(14:17):
seem to
make sense that you can justreach down and unplug it, but.
what you don't realize is the biggerpicture, you don't necessarily know,
is that plugged into house power?
Is
that
plugged into a tow
plant generator?
Will that
cause a surge in the system?
is
something else plugged into that,that that could cause a problem?
You don't know that
(14:37):
and
it could cause problems.
So
when
you're
on a
$200
million
movie,
that can be a very costly mistake ifyou were to unplug the wrong thing.
So there are specialists,there are electricians in the
union, and that
is their entire world, right?
They know more
about
amps and surges than anybodyelse, and so you stay in your lane.
(15:03):
Now,
I. It's
a little annoying when you're on a
small
project and you're like,
oh,
but
it'll
just
take me a second.
But when you
get to the bigger
projects and,
you know, the details are just immense.
It's really
great
when people know
their jobs so well,
they know it
better
than anyone in every
category,
and that's how you getcrews that are hundreds
(15:24):
of people to work
like a
well-oiled
machine.
They focus like a laser beam on beingamazing in that singular position.
And then you get people at the topof their game at every touch point of the entire process of making a movie.
Geoff (15:40):
Mm-hmm.
Well, let me ask you, I knowfrom looking at your credits that you have many first ad credits,
Joth (15:47):
Over a hundred
Geoff (15:48):
just as first a.
Joth (15:49):
as well, first and second ad.
Geoff (15:51):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
and others of course, asproducer, co-producer, credits, uh, writer director credits.
What is your favorite role?
Joth (16:00):
Oh, that's a great question.
Um, I,
I would probably
say directing, but I alsolove assistant directing.
They're very different, so they,they scratch different itches, if you
will.
Um, you know, one's very left brain, one's
very
right brain, and I
love
(16:20):
flexing both muscles.
uh,
I love directing when I
am really passionate
about the material.
If there's a story I really wannatell, I can't wait to go and
tell it.
Um, now that's being said.
Whether I I love the material ornot is, Ironically immaterial for me as an assistant director.
(16:43):
Um, then for me it becomes about, uh, howgood it feels to help create a well-oiled machine, you know, and to help lift
up
other
creatives and visionaries.
I mean, I have some
great
friends
in this business thatare directors, and I
love,
Hey man, how can I help you make this,you know, the best movie it can be.
Geoff (17:04):
Yeah.
So if I'm correct, most ofyour director, credits have been in, in more recent years,
Joth (17:10):
Yeah, I
transitioned to directing.
Geoff (17:12):
but your ad credits have continued during that time as well.
Joth (17:15):
that's right.
Yeah.
I, I'd ad in between directing.
Yeah.
I, I still ADing.
I love it.
first ADing, I, I don't loveas much the second ADing.
Those are different roles.
Um, but no, I love first ADing.
The other thing is, you know,directing my own projects also requires a lot more ramp up time.
(17:37):
because it, it requiresdeveloping the material,
developing the source, you know,this, working on the script.
And so there's often plenty oftime for me while I'm gearing.
Like, for example, I'm in pre-productionon a feature right now, but it's, taken a long time to get through these phases.
I could go and ad projects in between.
(17:58):
As I continue to develop andwork on, on different elements.
Geoff (18:02):
So the project that you are ramping up for right now is that with Whitestone Entertainment.
Joth (18:07):
That is, yeah, so that's my own, yeah, that's a, it's an action thriller called Coyote Dawn,
Geoff (18:13):
Uh.
Joth (18:13):
and, uh, I wrote it.
am producing it as well, but Ihave a producing team on board and uh, and I'm directing it.
It's been a script that I've been workingon for a long time, and at one point we were, we were actually all geared up and ready to film when, um, COVID happened.
And, uh,
Geoff (18:32):
hear that word in a lot of stories.
It's a, yeah,
Joth (18:35):
yeah.
So unfortunately a lot of it fellapart and we had to start all over.
I was like, Sisyphus, I hadto start rolling that boulder back up the hill again.
Uh, but right now we are incasting and, uh, hopefully shooting next, uh, probably next summer.
Geoff (18:49):
Okay.
Sounds good.
Um.
when we get to the next half, we'regonna talk more about, the actual production process, from the perspective of first ad, second ad, how it relates to the director, and so on.
But before we move on to that,I'd like you to tell us about your training and your, consulting.
Joth (19:10):
yeah.
Actually, one of the things I didduring Covid when, you know, we were all sitting around is I decided to put some
of
my
30 plus years of experience into acourse, an online course on directing.
I
am
a
student
of
filmmaking.
Always
have been.
Uh,
I,
I
often say,
know
enough
to know you don't
(19:31):
know enough.
we
should always continue to be striving
to
get
better
at
our
craft.
you know, when I
was working for Steven Spielberg,I remember him saying that
He
continually studied the Masters of
Film
and
didn't
consider
himself one of them.
I
found
that ironic because
he is certainly one of them, but
I loved that, that evensomebody at the top
(19:52):
of the game
continues to try and improve and
so.
I have had
experience
working for
a-list
top high
level
directors,
and
I've had
experience
working
with
amateurs
and
I have
learned
greatly
from
both of them because not
only can
you learn
things
from a
master, but what you learnfrom people who aren't that experience is what doesn't work
(20:17):
in a lot of cases.
And it's, uh, it's ironic I learned
more
on
those
because when you're watching somebodywho's been doing it so long that they can do it in their sleep.
They make it look easy and you don'treally know what's underneath the surface.
Geoff (20:31):
You don't sometimes even notice what it is that's,
Joth (20:34):
Yeah,
Geoff (20:35):
It just, It
just is
Joth (20:36):
It's almost like slight a hand.
It's, they're so deft at it thatit's like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
How, how come that went so
well,
you don't even realize.
Um, whereas,
you
know,
when
people make mistakes, it's
usually
pretty obvious and it'slike, well, okay, that,
that didn't work
so
well.
I'm gonna make
sure
I don't
do that.
So I took
all of
those
lessons
of the,
(20:57):
I mean, in total
I've done about 120,
130
projects
and
almost
as
many directors.
So
I've taken all of that
experience
and,
I
boiled it down
into an
online course
where every step of the directing
process is addressed from
concept
to
(21:17):
premier.
One of the
things I've noticed in
particular about my
own
journey
of
learning directing is that so many peoplewho teach, directing or any material or
courses on directing, they're,
they're
very
broad
strokes.
They're very 30,000
foot
view.
I'll always remember specificallywatching Werner Herzog's Masterclass on directing and his, number one piece of
(21:41):
advice on becoming a great directorwas to read Icelandic poetry.
Geoff (21:46):
Oh,
Joth (21:47):
He wasn't being funny.
Now that's great.
I get it.
His point was it
puts you in a
certain frame of
mind.
It allows you to,
you know, tap
into your
creative
side.
I
get all that,
but what you
rarely
hear is, what do I do when I
first
arrive
on set On my
first
day
of making, of directing?
Nobody tells you that youknow what they tell you.
(22:08):
Even
less than that.
What's The second
thing
you do?
When you
arrive on set, you know,
and so
I'd have
worked
with a lot of
first time directors and a lot Of
times they show up on a
film set
with a
crew just whizzing around them andthey're total deer in the headlights.
They just
don't
understand all of the thingsthat go into directing.
(22:28):
And so I address all of
that in
my
course.
Directing your From start to
finish,
It's like,
I
don't want you to be
left hanging.
I make sure that I cover all thedetails, every element, every aspect.
'cause there's a lot of them.
Geoff (22:41):
And, uh, Whitestone Entertainment.
They can find that is itwhitestone entertainment.com.
Joth (22:48):
Yes it is.
Yes, it's, yeah.
more importantly, uh, socialmedia is really easier to find me.
You can find me on Facebookor Instagram or LinkedIn
Geoff (22:56):
Mm-hmm.
Awesome.
We'll put a link to all of those in theshow notes, and give people an opportunity to find you and check out your training.
Anything you would like to add orfinal, advice that you would like to give our listeners before we finish up this portion of the interview?
Joth (23:13):
well, I'll just reiterate what I said, which is it is really important to study the craft.
It's a very demanding industry, andin order to succeed, you have to excel.
You, you just, honestly,you have to be good.
If you're not good, you'llfall by the wayside.
You won't get the yeses, youwon't get people returning your
calls.
Uh, Steve Martin, in myopinion, said it best.
(23:34):
He said, um, you need to be so good.
They just can't ignore you.
And so that, that's my callto action is for people to not forsake, really, truly studying and learning the craft of filmmaking.
Geoff (23:48):
Mm-hmm.
is good advice.
Well, thank you so much for talking withus today and we'll look forward to talking with you more in the next interview.
Joth (23:56):
Awesome.
Thanks Jeff.
Hey there.
Welcome to the Faith andFamily Filmmakers podcast.
I'm Jeff, and today I'm excitedto have with us Joth Riggs.
Joth (00:07):
Alright, thanks Jeff.
Thanks for having me.
Geoff (00:09):
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.
After graduating with a degree in filmproduction, Joth got his start on the set of Pet Cemetery two before going on to work on the universal back lot.
Then ultimately landing at StevenSpielberg's Amblin Entertainment.
(00:30):
After being accepted into the PrestigiousDirector'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.
(00:58):
Welcome, JTH.
It's great to have you.
Joth (01:00):
Thanks, Jeff.
I appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.
Geoff (01:03):
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 (01:25):
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 (01:33):
Yeah, that's for sure.
For sure.
And, some of those are, arevery, significant films.
Indeed.
Uh, I noticed birthright Outlaw.
Uh, we had Aaron Burns as a guest
just a little while back
Joth (01:44):
yeah.
That was a fun one.
Geoff (01:46):
yeah.
And Kevin, Boen as well.
Uh, he would've been onthat project with you, I
Joth (01:49):
Yeah, yeah.
That was a great shoot.
Geoff (01:52):
So, um, let's go back and tell us how you got started.
where did your love for filmmaking begin?
Joth (01:58):
Well, I, in high school, in my high school church youth group, actually, I was in a
band and I. Being the
eighties, our band had to have music
videos, and so we made music videosand I had so much fun making those.
I had more fun than Ieven did in the band.
and so we, we just made a bunch ofthose and then started making little short films with all the same guys, all my buddies, and I loved it.
(02:23):
And I, happened to be from Los Angeles.
I was in high school at that time.
I was in Massachusetts, but.
Given where I was from, and given
that I always intended to move backthere, uh, I knew that I actually had an opportunity to do this as a career.
you know, in the eightiesyou pretty much had to be in
LA or New York.
and I actually have a couple of familymembers in the business, so I, you know, I, I know of the business.
(02:46):
I knew of it and, and I said,Hey, man, that, that's exciting.
I wanna do that.
Geoff (02:51):
yeah.
Sometimes, having peoplein the business is, um,
Joth (02:54):
Makes it real.
Geoff (02:55):
It, it makes it feel like something you can do.
And it's for, for many people, thewhole film industry is something that's kind of outta reach.
It's, you know, elite orwhatever the case may be.
Joth (03:04):
Yeah.
So I mean, I'm, fortunate justgeographically 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.
I.
Was from my cousin who was thecinematographer on that film.
So, you know, obviously thoseconnections helped, but I worked for free on that project.
(03:24):
I worked for almost three monthswith zero income and slept on someone's couch and worked long hours and loved every second of It
It was an amazing experience.
I learned a ton.
Geoff (03:37):
Yeah.
Joth (03:38):
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 (03:48):
Oh yeah,
Joth (03:49):
by a long, shot.
Geoff (03:50):
Uhhuh.
Joth (03:50):
Now there's no substitute for actually being on a film set.
Geoff (03:53):
That's what I keep hearing over and over.
Our guests, constantly are givingus wisdom, and that's one of the things they say, just get on a set.
no matter what you're learning orwhere you are in your, uh, whatever stage you are in your learning,
Joth (04:05):
Yeah.
You know, and, and one thing II wanna mention too is there's a lot of talk in general, um, about people knowing their worth
and, you know, don't work for free.
Well, you know what, working for freewas the best thing I did for my career.
Um, and I think if you're juststarting out, yeah, you should be willing to work for free.
(04:27):
because a, when you say know yourworth, it's like, well, if you have no experience, your worth is
zero.
Um, and so do what you gotta do to geton a film set, gain that experience.
Then you can go to the next
one
with some experience, a littlesomething on your resume, and then you can start asking for pay.
But be willing to do that.
Geoff (04:46):
Yeah.
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.
So if you're getting free education,
Joth (04:56):
That's right.
Look at it.
Geoff (04:57):
know.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
And, uh, you mentioned of course,that at the time there was a benefit to, having, LA as your home.
I would say, uh, the majority ofour listeners don't live in LA and, uh, you well, tell me, how do you feel about that today?
Joth (05:15):
Oh, totally.
Not necessary anymore.
No, it's a differentenvironment now entirely.
So, you know, so when I startedit was actual film, 35 millimeter celluloid, shot on Panavision cameras, which are very hard to get ahold of
back then I. But of course thebarrier to entry now is so low.
You know, we shoot on digital cameras.
(05:36):
I mean, you can shoot on iPhone,you know, in high def nowadays.
and of course, you know, youdon't need to have all the elaborate equipment to edit it.
You can edit it on a laptop and you don'tneed a distribution deal from a studio.
You can upload it to YouTube.
So really, there's no excuseif you're an actual filmmaker and you just wanna make films.
(05:57):
Then you have all the toolsnecessary at your disposal.
You don't have to go to LA or New York.
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.
Then you can start to expand your horizonsand look at where films are being made.
(06:20):
Um, it's not necessarily everywhere,but it's in a lot of different places.
Atlanta, of course, is a huge hub.
Tennessee, of course, other countries as
well.
There's a lot of different places.
The most important thingisn't where you are.
It's frankly who you
know.
Geoff (06:37):
Yeah.
Joth (06:38):
Nobody's gonna call you if they don't know who
you are.
Um, so it's really aboutdeveloping and building what we used to call your Rolodex.
You know, it's getting to knowpeople in the business that you can reach out to and that maybe would be willing to bring you on a project.
Geoff (06:53):
Yeah.
And having people get to know you
Joth (06:55):
Yeah,
Geoff (06:56):
the, the key point in that.
Joth (06:57):
yeah.
Now there's two things.
A, it's who you know, but thenclosely followed on in second place is can you deliver?
You know, 'cause if somebody'sgonna 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 (07:13):
Of course.
Mm-hmm.
So you mentioned the internshipopportunity that you started with and film school, which came first
Joth (07:22):
I went to film school first.
Um, mainly 'cause I, not 'causeI necessarily thought film school was gonna be that valuable, but I just wanted a college degree.
Um, the, there weren'tvery many in my family.
I was one of the first.
So, um, I just wanted that regardless.
The other thing is I really wantedto 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.
(07:47):
Um, so I knew I couldn't putthe cart before the horse.
I had to get that
degree.
Might as well be in film.
And,
uh,
so
me being in school got me access toequipment, which was extremely valuable.
'cause again, that was back in thefilm days in the early nineties, so I had access to film cameras.
It also got me an opportunity to dothis internship because I required an internship and it also fulfilled my requirement to be eligible for the DGA training program.
Geoff (08:14):
mm-hmm.
So did you, um, have a lot ofprojects you worked on in between there from the internship to the time when you, entered the DGA program?
Joth (08:23):
well,
right
after the internship,um, I was supposed to go
and
I was supposed to do twofilms back to back to
fill that, whole semester and the other
one pushed, which
happens all the time in the film industry.
So, um, I actually
found myself with a
gap
year.
and I
ended
up,
and
I
mean
just a quick little side note, my
(08:43):
wife, my, at the time fiance hadone more year of college after me.
And we were in Massachusetts, so I
had a year before we were gonna get
married
and move to California.
And so what ended up
doing is taking a
job, a corporate job whereI made training videos.
so I did that for a year.
We got married, we moved out to la.
(09:04):
Then I was fortunate to get aposition answering the phone on the stage at Universal for a sitcom.
So I got myself on the lot, Igot myself in that environment.
And then because of my proximity at thattime, I was in a position to hear about an opening at Amlin Entertainment, which was also on the Universal back lot.
(09:26):
so I was fortunate to getthat position at Amlin.
And then
while working
at Amlin, I took the exams to get into theDGA training program and was accepted.
So I left Amlin and joined the DGAand became an assistant director.
Geoff (09:40):
cool.
So, Tell us a little bit about, we'regonna 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 (09:59):
It's interesting.
A lot of people assume thatan assistant director is.
Sort of a stepping stone toward directing?
Geoff (10:06):
I kind of just implied that, didn't I?
Joth (10:07):
Well, I mean, everybody does.
I mean, even it's built into the title.
Uh, to be honest with you, anassistant director should probably be called an assistant producer, because it's more about logistics and
planning than it
is the creative really.
An assistant director,particularly the first assistant director, who is the, head of
that
department.
(10:28):
Is
responsible for all the little nuance and,and things on set that a director should,
frankly
never
have to think about all the planningand preparation that goes into getting
what
they need, which are making sure the crew
knows where to
be, when to be, what they're shooting,
what, what they're shooting next.
Who needs to be in that scene?
(10:49):
What actors need to be inthat scene, when they need to
come in and
get
ready?
What props need to be ready,
what effects, what stunts, all ofthose elements are, you know, I mean, it's a myriad of, of, things that all have to come together for the director call action.
and the director should befocusing on the visuals and most importantly, the performances.
(11:10):
So the director, ideally, is sofocused 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.
but that's also overarchingwhat the producer's responsible for at the higher level.
So the producer's got a 30,000foot view of the production.
(11:33):
The
first ad
has the boots
on the ground
right
next to the
director
view of what goes on on the
production.
So the first ad's are theones calling the shots.
The first ad's are the ones managing andcontrolling the set, keeping it efficient,
uh,
making sure
a, that we're
on
schedule.
Um, also
(11:54):
the first idea is responsible
primarily for safety.
and
just to make sure thatit's as smooth, a running
set
as possible, and thatultimately the director gets everything that they're hoping
for, you know, so there'sa lot that goes into that.
Geoff (12:08):
taking care of all of those logistics, so that the director just doesn't have to think about them.
Joth (12:12):
Yeah.
And you know,
given that
I,
I've
worked on
really big,
highly
professional studio sets, also reallysmall, low budget kind of amateur sets.
have seen a, how it should be done in
the most efficient manner, and b, some
of
the things that
don't work.
You know, I've seen, smaller crewsor or less experienced crews that make mistakes that cost them.
(12:36):
So one example of that on
an
amateur set, a lot of people tend togo to the director with every question
they
have.
And they assume, uh, thedirector is, I'm here to
work for the director.
Yes.
Technically,
everybody
on the crew works forthe director, but that
doesn't
mean they
all answer directly to thedirector because then the director can't focus on the performance.
(12:59):
and so the
ad
really
should
field a lot of
those kind of questions.
The director, ideally, is onlyhaving to deal with creative choices in, in a perfect world.
And so all of the myriad of otherquestions that come up really should get filtered through the first ad, if not the production manager or the
(13:19):
producer.
Geoff (13:20):
Mm-hmm.
tell me more about the transition and thedifferences between, again, those very large studio sets and an independent set.
how much of it is transferable?
How much is different?
Joth (13:34):
Well, so there's a couple of things on a low budget set.
They tend to be, uh, smallercrews obviously, so you do tend to have to take on more.
Um, the expression of wearing manyhats is not uncommon at all on a
smaller project, as you get
onto the
bigger
projects, not
(13:55):
only do
you
not
have to
wear many
hats, you
really need to
not
wear
many hats.
You need to
focus
on
what
your
specialty is.
And
in some cases that can feel a
little
silly.
for
example,
if you're standing
right
next to
some a cable plugged into a
wall
that needs to
get unplugged, doesn't it
(14:17):
seem to
make sense that you can justreach down and unplug it, but.
what you don't realize is the biggerpicture, you don't necessarily know,
is that plugged into house power?
Is
that
plugged into a tow
plant generator?
Will that
cause a surge in the system?
is
something else plugged into that,that that could cause a problem?
You don't know that
(14:37):
and
it could cause problems.
So
when
you're
on a
$200
million
movie,
that can be a very costly mistake ifyou were to unplug the wrong thing.
So there are specialists,there are electricians in the
union, and that
is their entire world, right?
They know more
about
amps and surges than anybodyelse, and so you stay in your lane.
(15:03):
Now,
I. It's
a little annoying when you're on a
small
project and you're like,
oh,
but
it'll
just
take me a second.
But when you
get to the bigger
projects and,
you know, the details are just immense.
It's really
great
when people know
their jobs so well,
they know it
better
than anyone in every
category,
and that's how you getcrews that are hundreds
(15:24):
of people to work
like a
well-oiled
machine.
They focus like a laser beam on beingamazing in that singular position.
And then you get people at the topof their game at every touch point of the entire process of making a movie.
Geoff (15:40):
Mm-hmm.
Well, let me ask you, I knowfrom looking at your credits that you have many first ad credits,
Joth (15:47):
Over a hundred
Geoff (15:48):
just as first a.
Joth (15:49):
as well, first and second ad.
Geoff (15:51):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
and others of course, asproducer, co-producer, credits, uh, writer director credits.
What is your favorite role?
Joth (16:00):
Oh, that's a great question.
Um, I,
I would probably
say directing, but I alsolove assistant directing.
They're very different, so they,they scratch different itches, if you
will.
Um, you know, one's very left brain, one's
very
right brain, and I
love
(16:20):
flexing both muscles.
uh,
I love directing when I
am really passionate
about the material.
If there's a story I really wannatell, I can't wait to go and
tell it.
Um, now that's being said.
Whether I I love the material ornot is, Ironically immaterial for me as an assistant director.
(16:43):
Um, then for me it becomes about, uh, howgood it feels to help create a well-oiled machine, you know, and to help lift
up
other
creatives and visionaries.
I mean, I have some
great
friends
in this business thatare directors, and I
love,
Hey man, how can I help you make this,you know, the best movie it can be.
Geoff (17:04):
Yeah.
So if I'm correct, most ofyour director, credits have been in, in more recent years,
Joth (17:10):
Yeah, I
transitioned to directing.
Geoff (17:12):
but your ad credits have continued during that time as well.
Joth (17:15):
that's right.
Yeah.
I, I'd ad in between directing.
Yeah.
I, I still ADing.
I love it.
first ADing, I, I don't loveas much the second ADing.
Those are different roles.
Um, but no, I love first ADing.
The other thing is, you know,directing my own projects also requires a lot more ramp up time.
(17:37):
because it, it requiresdeveloping the material,
developing the source, you know,this, working on the script.
And so there's often plenty oftime for me while I'm gearing.
Like, for example, I'm in pre-productionon a feature right now, but it's, taken a long time to get through these phases.
I could go and ad projects in between.
(17:58):
As I continue to develop andwork on, on different elements.
Geoff (18:02):
So the project that you are ramping up for right now is that with Whitestone Entertainment.
Joth (18:07):
That is, yeah, so that's my own, yeah, that's a, it's an action thriller called Coyote Dawn,
Geoff (18:13):
Uh.
Joth (18:13):
and, uh, I wrote it.
am producing it as well, but Ihave a producing team on board and uh, and I'm directing it.
It's been a script that I've been workingon for a long time, and at one point we were, we were actually all geared up and ready to film when, um, COVID happened.
And, uh,
Geoff (18:32):
hear that word in a lot of stories.
It's a, yeah,
Joth (18:35):
yeah.
So unfortunately a lot of it fellapart and we had to start all over.
I was like, Sisyphus, I hadto start rolling that boulder back up the hill again.
Uh, but right now we are incasting and, uh, hopefully shooting next, uh, probably next summer.
Geoff (18:49):
Okay.
Sounds good.
Um.
when we get to the next half, we'regonna talk more about, the actual production process, from the perspective of first ad, second ad, how it relates to the director, and so on.
But before we move on to that,I'd like you to tell us about your training and your, consulting.
Joth (19:10):
yeah.
Actually, one of the things I didduring Covid when, you know, we were all sitting around is I decided to put some
of
my
30 plus years of experience into acourse, an online course on directing.
I
am
a
student
of
filmmaking.
Always
have been.
Uh,
I,
I
often say,
know
enough
to know you don't
(19:31):
know enough.
we
should always continue to be striving
to
get
better
at
our
craft.
you know, when I
was working for Steven Spielberg,I remember him saying that
He
continually studied the Masters of
Film
and
didn't
consider
himself one of them.
I
found
that ironic because
he is certainly one of them, but
I loved that, that evensomebody at the top
(19:52):
of the game
continues to try and improve and
so.
I have had
experience
working for
a-list
top high
level
directors,
and
I've had
experience
working
with
amateurs
and
I have
learned
greatly
from
both of them because not
only can
you learn
things
from a
master, but what you learnfrom people who aren't that experience is what doesn't work
(20:17):
in a lot of cases.
And it's, uh, it's ironic I learned
more
on
those
because when you're watching somebodywho's been doing it so long that they can do it in their sleep.
They make it look easy and you don'treally know what's underneath the surface.
Geoff (20:31):
You don't sometimes even notice what it is that's,
Joth (20:34):
Yeah,
Geoff (20:35):
It just, It
just is
Joth (20:36):
It's almost like slight a hand.
It's, they're so deft at it thatit's like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
How, how come that went so
well,
you don't even realize.
Um, whereas,
you
know,
when
people make mistakes, it's
usually
pretty obvious and it'slike, well, okay, that,
that didn't work
so
well.
I'm gonna make
sure
I don't
do that.
So I took
all of
those
lessons
of the,
(20:57):
I mean, in total
I've done about 120,
130
projects
and
almost
as
many directors.
So
I've taken all of that
experience
and,
I
boiled it down
into an
online course
where every step of the directing
process is addressed from
concept
to
(21:17):
premier.
One of the
things I've noticed in
particular about my
own
journey
of
learning directing is that so many peoplewho teach, directing or any material or
courses on directing, they're,
they're
very
broad
strokes.
They're very 30,000
foot
view.
I'll always remember specificallywatching Werner Herzog's Masterclass on directing and his, number one piece of
(21:41):
advice on becoming a great directorwas to read Icelandic poetry.
Geoff (21:46):
Oh,
Joth (21:47):
He wasn't being funny.
Now that's great.
I get it.
His point was it
puts you in a
certain frame of
mind.
It allows you to,
you know, tap
into your
creative
side.
I
get all that,
but what you
rarely
hear is, what do I do when I
first
arrive
on set On my
first
day
of making, of directing?
Nobody tells you that youknow what they tell you.
(22:08):
Even
less than that.
What's The second
thing
you do?
When you
arrive on set, you know,
and so
I'd have
worked
with a lot of
first time directors and a lot Of
times they show up on a
film set
with a
crew just whizzing around them andthey're total deer in the headlights.
They just
don't
understand all of the thingsthat go into directing.
(22:28):
And so I address all of
that in
my
course.
Directing your From start to
finish,
It's like,
I
don't want you to be
left hanging.
I make sure that I cover all thedetails, every element, every aspect.
'cause there's a lot of them.
Geoff (22:41):
And, uh, Whitestone Entertainment.
They can find that is itwhitestone entertainment.com.
Joth (22:48):
Yes it is.
Yes, it's, yeah.
more importantly, uh, socialmedia is really easier to find me.
You can find me on Facebookor Instagram or LinkedIn
Geoff (22:56):
Mm-hmm.
Awesome.
We'll put a link to all of those in theshow notes, and give people an opportunity to find you and check out your training.
Anything you would like to add orfinal, advice that you would like to give our listeners before we finish up this portion of the interview?
Joth (23:13):
well, I'll just reiterate what I said, which is it is really important to study the craft.
It's a very demanding industry, andin order to succeed, you have to excel.
You, you just, honestly,you have to be good.
If you're not good, you'llfall by the wayside.
You won't get the yeses, youwon't get people returning your
calls.
Uh, Steve Martin, in myopinion, said it best.
(23:34):
He said, um, you need to be so good.
They just can't ignore you.
And so that, that's my callto action is for people to not forsake, really, truly studying and learning the craft of filmmaking.
Geoff (23:48):
Mm-hmm.
is good advice.
Well, thank you so much for talking withus today and we'll look forward to talking with you more in the next interview.
Joth (23:56):
Awesome.
Thanks Jeff.
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