October 5, 2023 • 24 mins
Nolwen Cifuentes and Dyan Jong had an idea. An independent digital platform celebrating the cinematic achievements of actors, screenwriters, and filmmakers with a focus on diverse voices and perspectives. But as they saw the very people they aimed to uplift locked in a grueling labor struggle, they dedicated their first two issues to highlighting the stories, challenges, and concerns of SAG-AFTRA and WGA union members during the current strikes.
Join us in the booth as we talk with Nolwen and Dyan about their inspiration for creating JULY Magazine and how they've pivoted to show support for the artists they aim to celebrate. From inception to publication, we follow their creative journey and hear how they hope to make Hollywood a happier place!
#WGAStrong #SAGAFTRAStrong #UnionStrong
@july_mag
Connect with us:
Check out some of our favorite shows:
- Screenwriters' Rant Room
- Screaming into the Hollywood Abyss
- It Happened in Hollywood
- The Secret History of Hollywood
Hollywood Confessional is a Ninth Way Media production, produced by Meagan Daine and J.R. Zamora-Thal.
Sound Effects and Music provided by Zapsplat and Pixabay.
Keywords: filmmaking podcast, film podcast, screenwriting podcast, entertainment podcast, Hollywood, filmmaking, writerslife, actorslife, setlife
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Inoumine Sinema e TV Espiritu Streaming.
Amen.
Hello Hollywood, faithfulWelcome back to another episode
of the Hollywood Confessional.
I'm your podcast priest, JerzMorithal.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
And I'm Megan Dane, and we are so happy to be back
here with this particular news.
As everybody knows, the WritersGuild of America got their
tentative deal with the A&P TPlast week and we have just
basically been celebratingnonstop.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's been amazing.
We were both at idle hour whenthe news broke and it just felt
so good.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, it's like your team won the World Series, but
it's like it also saved theworld.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's like your team won the World Series and your
Parley bet hit at the same time.
What's Parley?
We're all getting paid.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh, yes, okay, yes, I like this.
Yeah, you know, my mom, ofcourse, was like oh, so this
means you automatically have ajob?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
And I was like no, but if I get a job, I will be
paid.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yes, that's exactly what I told her.
I wish it could just be ahappily ever after.
I mean, you know, the strugglecontinues or the marathon or
whatever, but we're writers.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
That's what we signed up for, that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We need to suffer in order to create our art.
And and yeah, there'sdefinitely been such an
interesting I meantransformation, I think, in
everyone that I've talked to whohas been a part of this labor
movement and continues to bepart of it, by the way, because
SAG-AFTRA is still workingtowards their deal and we are
(01:45):
fully supporting them and stillout on the picket lines to show
our solidarity with them.
And you know also, labor, hotlabor, summer continues.
I guess it's turning into coollabor fall Because, like, there
are still many unions on strikethat we are also standing in
solidarity with.
And yet I think this is a hugemoment for us all to celebrate
(02:06):
as we have.
You know, come together to makethis thing happen.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I mean to go back to the sports metaphor.
You know, you celebrate the winand then the next day the work
continues.
You go back and we are still aunion in solidarity with the
other unions, with SAG, with theUnited Auto Workers, with IOTC
next year, that's still part ofour responsibility to stand with
them.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
That's right.
One of the things that we'reworking on right now is is
building that community,continuing to build that sense
of community in the days to come.
So more on that.
And you know, in this spirit ofbuilding community, we are so
excited to introduce you guystoday to July Magazine.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
July Magazine is an independent, digital-only
magazine that celebrates thestories and achievements of
talents in film and television.
With a focus on diverse voicesand perspectives, they aim to
amplify actors and filmmakers,shedding light on their creative
processes, challenges andaccomplishments.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
The first issue of July Magazine was a series of
conversations between actors andwriters who were involved in
the strikes, which was reallyfascinating.
I ended up doing an interviewwith a super cool actress from
Toronto and just thatconversation.
It opened my eyes to all kindsof things about how like labor
(03:24):
works and the impact that it hason the act of creating.
And so they're doing a secondissue as well, also featuring
stories from the strike frompeople who have been really
involved on the picket lines andbeyond.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And we have the creators here this week with us
Nolan Cifuentes and Diane Jong.
Are you ready to get into this?
Let's step into theconfessional.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Bless me, Father, for I have amplified the voices of
striking filmmakers.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Thank you so much for coming on the show and we're
super excited to share who youare and your project with
everyone.
Thank, you?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, for our nice photographer.
I've been shooting for the lasteight years.
I shoot all kinds of stuffadvertising, editorial and I've
been working with magazines forthe last eight years.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Tell me about how you got your first camera.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I got my first camera when I was 12 years old, and
then mom bought me a camera.
That is not when I startedshooting at all.
It came very much later, butthat is when I got my first
camera.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Marino Valley,which is in the Inland Empire in
Southern California.
It's about 90 minutes, 60 miles, outside of LA.
(04:48):
That's where I grew up, but myfamily's from my mom's from
France, my father's fromColumbia, they somehow ended up
in the arena of LA.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So if you didn't start shooting when your mom got
you your first camera, how didyou make the jump to actually
working as an editorialphotographer?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I mean, basically I started building a portfolio
using, yeah, just like going andmodeling him and shooting
people on my own.
I remember like I went to FYSS.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Oh, hell yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Maybe you can use the data, and I brought this little
camera and I just took a bunchof photos there and I don't know
the photos and they're beingreally cool and I was like whoa,
I feel like make a website forseason.
I also, like went to Paris.
I had family with her and Iwent to see my grandmother this
is like a couple of years beforeshe passed away and I just
(05:38):
spent like a few weeks with herat her house, just like us two,
and I took like so many photosof like the house and her and
the house Kind of just startedtaking photos of things that I
liked more.
I guess that I was like moredrawn to I did all kinds of
weird.
I did another photo series where, like I just photographed a
(05:59):
bunch of naked men.
Like I just kind of spoiled, Ijust like went to her house for
myself and then they would getnaked and I would take photos of
them, or they would come overto my place and I would take
photos of them.
I was just like shooting allkinds of stuff.
But basically I built aportfolio and like made a
website based on that and thenjust started reaching out to
photo editors and eventually gotone job, another job and, yeah,
(06:23):
just kind of built from there.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
It sounds like you've got a really wide range of
interests.
How did you settle on actorsfor July?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Basically.
Yeah, so this is all of thesephoto series that I just
mentioned.
This is probably back in like2015 or something like that, and
I was more just experimentingand like finding my own voice
and understanding what I like todo and shoot.
So it was a lot more than whatI'm doing now, which is a lot
(06:54):
more honed in and focused.
I don't know.
I mean, part of it was I waslike I well, I always been
fascinated by I still am.
I'm actually writing ascreenplay right now one and
getting into directing as well,and that's just something I've
always been into.
I'm married to a cinematographerand we always talk about like
(07:16):
movies and watching moviestogether.
It's just something I've alwaysbeen fascinated in since I was
a kid.
And then, in terms ofphotography, I just started
shooting more entertainment.
I was like, wait, I loveshooting and I love just meeting
these actors, like people thatI'm a fan of, and like working
with actors and shooting actors.
I feel like there's just moreof more of like an artistic
(07:37):
collaboration there.
I just feel like you can pushthe talent more in certain
directions that feel good to me.
So, yeah, I just kind of nicheinto like, okay, I want you know
what I want to do?
Celebrity and advertisement.
I do a lot of advertising too,because it makes a lot of money
within the community as well,it's always good.
(08:01):
So basically, kind of throughthe last few years, just honed
in a lot more on my style,understood like, okay, this is
there's so much that you can doin photography, there's so much
we can shoot, but like, what isit that I actually enjoy?
Like what is it that I like,that I'm like having fun doing,
and it just felt a lot more likeokay, it feels more like just
stylized, something where I havea lot more control.
(08:22):
Oh, another thing I did forlike a couple years was unit
stills I worked on.
I've worked on a lot of indiemovies and do a ton of unit
stills, which I also was like Idon't really like it was cool,
it was really cool to be on set,but I didn't like doing it
actually because I just want tobe in control of the set, like I
want to be able to light thingsmy way.
I want to have like a moreintimate connection with the
(08:43):
talent, kind of honed in andrealized like this is what I'm
into is and not onlyentertainment.
I mean I really like shootingactors and celebrities because I
watch some of the movies that Istand girl on a lot of people.
So I basically just decidedthere's a lot of actors that I
wanted to photograph and I wouldreach out to different
(09:04):
magazines and pitch these peopleto them and it would take
forever either they would passon it or it would take so long
to get anything done.
And I was like I could just bedoing this myself, like I could
just be pitching.
I could just like you know,it's really easy to find actor
(09:25):
PRs on like IMDbPro Like I couldjust be emailing these people
and like shooting them myself ifI had my own magazine to do it.
And also, I just know so manytalented people.
I know so many other talentedphotographers.
I'm like I want to collaboratewith them and I know so many
like stylists and hair andmakeup and set designers and
just so many people that I'vecollaborated with throughout the
(09:46):
years and I'm like I just wantto bring all these people
together.
So originally, as I mentioned,the idea behind July was like
okay, let me make like a veryneat magazine where it's just
about actors, a little bit offilmmakers too, but like mostly
actors.
You know, a lot of othermagazines feature like fashion
and music too, but I'm like, forme, my, I'm not super into
(10:08):
music.
I mean I like music but I'm notlike.
Just my passion has always beenlike cinema and filmmaking and
television and the piece,especially like the actors that
are in it and filmmakers thatmake that.
So I was like, let me, I'mgoing to make like a nice
magazine about that.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Tell us about the mission of July.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I mean, it's basically the profile actors and
filmmakers mostly actors, butalso directors, writers, people
who are in film and televisionto give them a place to
celebrate what they're doing, tolearn more about their
background and their process andwhat excites them.
And also, you know, I obviouslyI'm a photographer, that's my
(10:48):
background.
So just creating reallybeautiful imagery with them that
feels intimate and retentive,being like an intimate portrait
of these people that I'mpersonally so fascinated by and
for an audience that feels thesame way about film and
television.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
That's awesome, and so what are you going to talk
about in this first issue ofJuly?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
This is not our original goal.
For the first issue.
We actually had a wholedifferent group of talent lined
up originally and you know wewere just going to do you know
kind of what I said, just likelearning about the background
and the process and like whatthey're working on.
And so then the strike happenedand I mentioned that I was
working on this to Diane and Ikind of thought, well, I guess
(11:33):
I'm not going to do it there.
I mean I'm going to do it butlike not until next year.
I'm also like having a baby ina couple months.
So I guess I kind of just tookthis on pause for a while.
And Diane was when she was likewhy don't you do an issue about
the strikes and like, reallyshow support?
You know these are the peopleyou want to profile and you want
(11:54):
to talk about it.
You know, learn about theirvoices, like don't pause.
Right now.
This is the time to, like youknow, support them and see this
is like a huge, pivotal,historic moment and like this is
a moment that we could be apart of and profile and talk
about.
So that is genius and let's dothat.
That's pretty much the goalbehind the pre launches and we
(12:16):
have six talent now that we'regoing to be launching list and
we'll see.
We'll kind of see what the dealwith the strike throw once we
launch.
If it's still going on for awhile, we might do a second
issue with more people.
So, yeah, we kind of justtaking the day by day at this
point.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
That's awesome.
Now, Diane, what opportunitydid you see?
What did you want to get out ofthis first issue by pivoting to
talk about the strike?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I mean honestly, like I've been really pro later.
It's just really frustrating tosee people who love what they
do Like I'm included in that.
Like you know, I do photographyin clear direction and like you
feel like you're doing all thiscreative work to like make your
portfolio to get the commercialjobs and then, once you get the
(13:01):
commercial job, get the pizzajob and you're fairly making it
up to get by, and I can see thathappening like in all
industries everywhere.
Like you're similar to wholelabor movement across America
and you know, for me, like I'mpart of that, I was just like
tired of this shit, you know.
So it's kind of like like whyyou know pause now, and I think
(13:23):
the people need to be heard,like their stories need to be
heard, their experiences,especially since you know
there's so much like long radio,like independent media, like we
can talk about whatever we wantand there's no one here to you
know edit it out.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yes, we love that.
So then, can you talk a littlebit about what the process was?
I mean, you decided to pivot.
You're like, okay, we're gonnado this.
And then what?
Like what?
How did you decide on how youwere gonna approach the issue?
And then how has the processbeen working out?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
We kind of worked on it together.
Like no one and I do a lot ofthese like work days at like a
you know community work space.
We called our spaces days.
That was where we had theoriginal conversation.
Well, she was telling me aboutyou know, our magazine and how
she might have to postpone itand then, on the spot, like I
(14:22):
kind of just like brought up the, I brought up a question and we
ripped on it and kind ofdeveloped the whole idea for an
issue together, right there.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Oh, that's awesome.
And what?
How would you like characterizethe idea in a nutshell?
Could you like pitch it the waythat you pitched it to her?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, basically what no one said, which is you know,
this is a magazine that's meantto uplift actors and filmmakers,
like isn't this like theliteral definition of uplifting?
You know, just like it was kindof hard to like pick the idea
at first, it was hard to explainlike we're not doing crap, for
you know you're right, movinganymore.
(15:01):
So you know, we're reallyfocused on the strikes, we ended
up getting six whole new talent.
A lot of them were through wordof mouth, like friends of
friends, people we shot beforewe actually met.
We went to the strikes and wemet a manager out there who she
managed a couple actors.
She brought a few actors for us.
(15:22):
So it's a lot of the new issue.
A lot of it's just been throughkind of bringing on work,
people from word of mouth.
But yeah, I mean the ideabehind the new issue is just
talking about concerns in theirindustry, talking about how the
industry has changed.
We have people actors that arenewer in their career.
We have actors that are like 30years into their career and
(15:43):
it's really interesting to hearthe different perspectives of
how this is affecting them.
We have the actors from Canada.
That may be an interview thatwill be on the issue as well and
just hearing, like all, howit's affecting so many different
people across the board interms of the film industry.
You know not just how thestrike is affecting them, but
(16:06):
just how all of these issuesthat are being brought up in the
strike is affecting andchanging the industry a lot.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Have you learned anything that surprised you
about what actors are goingthrough during the strike?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
I learned something really interesting that I didn't
know.
So I have, like my husband'sbrother he's in 728, he does
lighting, so I know a lot ofpeople who are in IOC and I know
that they get paid for theirgames.
I didn't know.
I learned this in one of theinterviews that actors and
(16:40):
writers get paid for episodes,which is kind of wild to me.
They were one of the writerswho was saying, yeah, like he's
been working for writing for 30over 3 years and he was like
when I was writing fortelevision at the beginning of
my career, you get 26 episodesand there's just more writers in
the room and that now theseshows are 6 episodes and they're
(17:03):
also way longer.
Each episode is 45 minutes anhour long, sometimes even some
of these shows are longer thanan hour and you're getting paid
the exact same amount and thatwas really so.
You're actually doing a lotmore work, you get less episodes
and so less pay.
That was really surprising tome.
I did not know that at all.
(17:26):
It also tells that they're nowtrying to outsource the cost of
casting onto actors by doingthose self-paced like.
I didn't realize that.
I think self-paced was such acostly endeavor and you know it
definitely doesn't even theplaying field the way that
casting does, you know, byproviding the same environment
for all the actors to perform in.
(17:48):
Now there's a lot of externalfactors that could play a role,
like lighting and sound, and now, you know, actors might have to
rent those self-tape studiosand it's just like yet one more
thing for studios to kind oflike offset the cost in their
own pockets.
I also learned about thepractice of, you know, re-naming
or rebooting shows, like aroundthe third season, so that they
(18:10):
don't have to pay residual.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, there's so many little things and I am really,
really excited to see this firstepisode, this first issue of
July, just even having had theopportunity to interview one of
the actors, which was super fun.
And also I learned somethingthere, which was the extent to
(18:34):
which people from othercountries are impacted by the
strikes that are going on here.
So Carolina, the actress that Iinterviewed was not she, you
know, pointed out, I'm not evena member of SAG-AFTRA because
I'm Canadian, but because it wasan American production that I
was working on that went awaywith the strikes.
(18:57):
And you know, she talked abouthow closely people in Canada are
following every little momentof the news of what's unfolding
here, because it impacts themand they can't really influence
it, and that was something I hadnever thought about before.
So, thank you guys for doingthis project.
(19:17):
I mean it's going to be, Ithink, really interesting and
enlightening, and I mean I'veseen, we've seen your
photography, so we know it'sgoing to be beautiful, so we're
really excited to see it.
When is it going to come outand how can we find it?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Well, I'm hoping so.
We just talked today actuallythe last two of our talents.
We're getting an interview soon, so I'm trying to get it out as
fast as I can because it's sorelevant right now.
So I'm hoping in the next, likebasically by the end of the
month.
It's the goal.
You can find it.
It's a digital magazine, soit's all free online.
(19:53):
It's just july-magazinecom.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And are you guys on socials?
Should people be following you?
Speaker 3 (20:01):
We have Instagram.
It's july-mag.
So far we just had Instagram,but eventually we're going to
get TikTok.
Oh, we've got threads too,which I think you can just go to
the Instagram and click thethread and oh yeah, diane is a
big TikTok work, so feelprobably good to do TikTok work.
(20:21):
Yeah, I was thinking a lot ofthe strikes of sports on TikTok
actually.
Well, that was kind of why Ihad the idea ready to go.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Oh, that's so funny.
Yeah, that is great to know.
Okay, so, july-mag, I justfollowed you.
Yay, can't wait to see thefirst issue.
God, can I not say the wordissue?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
We can even call it an episode.
That's what we should call it.
That would be cool.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And then you know.
One last thought.
I'm really curious.
Thank you so much foreverything that you guys are
doing.
It's really awesome.
And how do you feel aboutproceeding after the strike is
over?
You know, hopefully this firstissue will be the only one that
comes out, and then it will bedone.
(21:13):
And yeah, we get to all move onwith our creative lives.
How are you feeling about that?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I'm facing it day by day.
I mean, I've heard peoplesaying you know all the strikes
will be over in September.
Someone recently told me no, itcan be over in May.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Like you know, it's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Oh no, who's that person?
Stop.
I'm like, oh wow, Stop them.
My hope is that, yeah, it cango with tune and that you know,
the action could occurno-transcript and that the
industry moves forward in a verypositive way when this is over,
and then we'll go back to ouroriginal idea, which is, you
(21:51):
know, we're going to talk toactors about what they're
working on, we're going to talkto them about the background,
the process, and kind of getmore into the craft of it.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Hey you guys.
This was awesome.
Thanks for taking the time toshare with us and we are really
excited about your magazine andthank you for doing everything
that you've done to makeHollywood a happier place and,
yeah, we'll be looking forwardto it, Hopefully at the end of
(22:20):
this month.
That's all we've got for youthis week, guys.
Thank you again so much forjoining us.
Make sure that you check outJuly magazine.
It's July dash magazinecom.
We're also on social mediabeautiful posts on Instagram so
check that out and we will beback in a couple of weeks, and
(22:44):
we are really looking forward togetting back to our usual
format of having some behind thescenes confessions with amazing
voice actors who are like waycooler to listen to than me and
JR.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
And as soon as SAG-AFTRA has a deal, we're
going to bring those voiceactors back with open arms.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
So we will hopefully be seeing that happen very soon.
In the meantime, you guys hitus up on Twitter, instagram or
whatever.
X, you know that thing.
We should probably set up ablue sky, too At FESUP Hollywood
, and let us know if you have ashout out, a story to share.
We would love to connect withyou.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
But until then, go create in peace.
The Hollywood Confessional isproduced by Megan Dane and JR
Zemorethal, special effectsprovided by Zapp Splat and
Pixabay.
Hollywood Confessional is aninth way media production.
(23:46):
Follow us on socials at FESUPHollywood.
Inoumine Sinema e TV Espiritu Streaming.
Amen.
Hello Hollywood, faithfulWelcome back to another episode
of the Hollywood Confessional.
I'm your podcast priest, JerzMorithal.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
And I'm Megan Dane, and we are so happy to be back
here with this particular news.
As everybody knows, the WritersGuild of America got their
tentative deal with the A&P TPlast week and we have just
basically been celebratingnonstop.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's been amazing.
We were both at idle hour whenthe news broke and it just felt
so good.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, it's like your team won the World Series, but
it's like it also saved theworld.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's like your team won the World Series and your
Parley bet hit at the same time.
What's Parley?
We're all getting paid.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh, yes, okay, yes, I like this.
Yeah, you know, my mom, ofcourse, was like oh, so this
means you automatically have ajob?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
And I was like no, but if I get a job, I will be
paid.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yes, that's exactly what I told her.
I wish it could just be ahappily ever after.
I mean, you know, the strugglecontinues or the marathon or
whatever, but we're writers.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
That's what we signed up for, that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We need to suffer in order to create our art.
And and yeah, there'sdefinitely been such an
interesting I meantransformation, I think, in
everyone that I've talked to whohas been a part of this labor
movement and continues to bepart of it, by the way, because
SAG-AFTRA is still workingtowards their deal and we are
(01:45):
fully supporting them and stillout on the picket lines to show
our solidarity with them.
And you know also, labor, hotlabor, summer continues.
I guess it's turning into coollabor fall Because, like, there
are still many unions on strikethat we are also standing in
solidarity with.
And yet I think this is a hugemoment for us all to celebrate
(02:06):
as we have.
You know, come together to makethis thing happen.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I mean to go back to the sports metaphor.
You know, you celebrate the winand then the next day the work
continues.
You go back and we are still aunion in solidarity with the
other unions, with SAG, with theUnited Auto Workers, with IOTC
next year, that's still part ofour responsibility to stand with
them.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
That's right.
One of the things that we'reworking on right now is is
building that community,continuing to build that sense
of community in the days to come.
So more on that.
And you know, in this spirit ofbuilding community, we are so
excited to introduce you guystoday to July Magazine.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
July Magazine is an independent, digital-only
magazine that celebrates thestories and achievements of
talents in film and television.
With a focus on diverse voicesand perspectives, they aim to
amplify actors and filmmakers,shedding light on their creative
processes, challenges andaccomplishments.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
The first issue of July Magazine was a series of
conversations between actors andwriters who were involved in
the strikes, which was reallyfascinating.
I ended up doing an interviewwith a super cool actress from
Toronto and just thatconversation.
It opened my eyes to all kindsof things about how like labor
(03:24):
works and the impact that it hason the act of creating.
And so they're doing a secondissue as well, also featuring
stories from the strike frompeople who have been really
involved on the picket lines andbeyond.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And we have the creators here this week with us
Nolan Cifuentes and Diane Jong.
Are you ready to get into this?
Let's step into theconfessional.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Bless me, Father, for I have amplified the voices of
striking filmmakers.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Thank you so much for coming on the show and we're
super excited to share who youare and your project with
everyone.
Thank, you?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, for our nice photographer.
I've been shooting for the lasteight years.
I shoot all kinds of stuffadvertising, editorial and I've
been working with magazines forthe last eight years.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Tell me about how you got your first camera.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I got my first camera when I was 12 years old, and
then mom bought me a camera.
That is not when I startedshooting at all.
It came very much later, butthat is when I got my first
camera.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Marino Valley,which is in the Inland Empire in
Southern California.
It's about 90 minutes, 60 miles, outside of LA.
(04:48):
That's where I grew up, but myfamily's from my mom's from
France, my father's fromColumbia, they somehow ended up
in the arena of LA.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So if you didn't start shooting when your mom got
you your first camera, how didyou make the jump to actually
working as an editorialphotographer?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I mean, basically I started building a portfolio
using, yeah, just like going andmodeling him and shooting
people on my own.
I remember like I went to FYSS.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Oh, hell yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Maybe you can use the data, and I brought this little
camera and I just took a bunchof photos there and I don't know
the photos and they're beingreally cool and I was like whoa,
I feel like make a website forseason.
I also, like went to Paris.
I had family with her and Iwent to see my grandmother this
is like a couple of years beforeshe passed away and I just
(05:38):
spent like a few weeks with herat her house, just like us two,
and I took like so many photosof like the house and her and
the house Kind of just startedtaking photos of things that I
liked more.
I guess that I was like moredrawn to I did all kinds of
weird.
I did another photo series where, like I just photographed a
(05:59):
bunch of naked men.
Like I just kind of spoiled, Ijust like went to her house for
myself and then they would getnaked and I would take photos of
them, or they would come overto my place and I would take
photos of them.
I was just like shooting allkinds of stuff.
But basically I built aportfolio and like made a
website based on that and thenjust started reaching out to
photo editors and eventually gotone job, another job and, yeah,
(06:23):
just kind of built from there.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
It sounds like you've got a really wide range of
interests.
How did you settle on actorsfor July?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Basically.
Yeah, so this is all of thesephoto series that I just
mentioned.
This is probably back in like2015 or something like that, and
I was more just experimentingand like finding my own voice
and understanding what I like todo and shoot.
So it was a lot more than whatI'm doing now, which is a lot
(06:54):
more honed in and focused.
I don't know.
I mean, part of it was I waslike I well, I always been
fascinated by I still am.
I'm actually writing ascreenplay right now one and
getting into directing as well,and that's just something I've
always been into.
I'm married to a cinematographerand we always talk about like
(07:16):
movies and watching moviestogether.
It's just something I've alwaysbeen fascinated in since I was
a kid.
And then, in terms ofphotography, I just started
shooting more entertainment.
I was like, wait, I loveshooting and I love just meeting
these actors, like people thatI'm a fan of, and like working
with actors and shooting actors.
I feel like there's just moreof more of like an artistic
(07:37):
collaboration there.
I just feel like you can pushthe talent more in certain
directions that feel good to me.
So, yeah, I just kind of nicheinto like, okay, I want you know
what I want to do?
Celebrity and advertisement.
I do a lot of advertising too,because it makes a lot of money
within the community as well,it's always good.
(08:01):
So basically, kind of throughthe last few years, just honed
in a lot more on my style,understood like, okay, this is
there's so much that you can doin photography, there's so much
we can shoot, but like, what isit that I actually enjoy?
Like what is it that I like,that I'm like having fun doing,
and it just felt a lot more likeokay, it feels more like just
stylized, something where I havea lot more control.
(08:22):
Oh, another thing I did forlike a couple years was unit
stills I worked on.
I've worked on a lot of indiemovies and do a ton of unit
stills, which I also was like Idon't really like it was cool,
it was really cool to be on set,but I didn't like doing it
actually because I just want tobe in control of the set, like I
want to be able to light thingsmy way.
I want to have like a moreintimate connection with the
(08:43):
talent, kind of honed in andrealized like this is what I'm
into is and not onlyentertainment.
I mean I really like shootingactors and celebrities because I
watch some of the movies that Istand girl on a lot of people.
So I basically just decidedthere's a lot of actors that I
wanted to photograph and I wouldreach out to different
(09:04):
magazines and pitch these peopleto them and it would take
forever either they would passon it or it would take so long
to get anything done.
And I was like I could just bedoing this myself, like I could
just be pitching.
I could just like you know,it's really easy to find actor
(09:25):
PRs on like IMDbPro Like I couldjust be emailing these people
and like shooting them myself ifI had my own magazine to do it.
And also, I just know so manytalented people.
I know so many other talentedphotographers.
I'm like I want to collaboratewith them and I know so many
like stylists and hair andmakeup and set designers and
just so many people that I'vecollaborated with throughout the
(09:46):
years and I'm like I just wantto bring all these people
together.
So originally, as I mentioned,the idea behind July was like
okay, let me make like a veryneat magazine where it's just
about actors, a little bit offilmmakers too, but like mostly
actors.
You know, a lot of othermagazines feature like fashion
and music too, but I'm like, forme, my, I'm not super into
(10:08):
music.
I mean I like music but I'm notlike.
Just my passion has always beenlike cinema and filmmaking and
television and the piece,especially like the actors that
are in it and filmmakers thatmake that.
So I was like, let me, I'mgoing to make like a nice
magazine about that.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Tell us about the mission of July.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I mean, it's basically the profile actors and
filmmakers mostly actors, butalso directors, writers, people
who are in film and televisionto give them a place to
celebrate what they're doing, tolearn more about their
background and their process andwhat excites them.
And also, you know, I obviouslyI'm a photographer, that's my
(10:48):
background.
So just creating reallybeautiful imagery with them that
feels intimate and retentive,being like an intimate portrait
of these people that I'mpersonally so fascinated by and
for an audience that feels thesame way about film and
television.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
That's awesome, and so what are you going to talk
about in this first issue ofJuly?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
This is not our original goal.
For the first issue.
We actually had a wholedifferent group of talent lined
up originally and you know wewere just going to do you know
kind of what I said, just likelearning about the background
and the process and like whatthey're working on.
And so then the strike happenedand I mentioned that I was
working on this to Diane and Ikind of thought, well, I guess
(11:33):
I'm not going to do it there.
I mean I'm going to do it butlike not until next year.
I'm also like having a baby ina couple months.
So I guess I kind of just tookthis on pause for a while.
And Diane was when she was likewhy don't you do an issue about
the strikes and like, reallyshow support?
You know these are the peopleyou want to profile and you want
(11:54):
to talk about it.
You know, learn about theirvoices, like don't pause.
Right now.
This is the time to, like youknow, support them and see this
is like a huge, pivotal,historic moment and like this is
a moment that we could be apart of and profile and talk
about.
So that is genius and let's dothat.
That's pretty much the goalbehind the pre launches and we
(12:16):
have six talent now that we'regoing to be launching list and
we'll see.
We'll kind of see what the dealwith the strike throw once we
launch.
If it's still going on for awhile, we might do a second
issue with more people.
So, yeah, we kind of justtaking the day by day at this
point.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
That's awesome.
Now, Diane, what opportunitydid you see?
What did you want to get out ofthis first issue by pivoting to
talk about the strike?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I mean honestly, like I've been really pro later.
It's just really frustrating tosee people who love what they
do Like I'm included in that.
Like you know, I do photographyin clear direction and like you
feel like you're doing all thiscreative work to like make your
portfolio to get the commercialjobs and then, once you get the
(13:01):
commercial job, get the pizzajob and you're fairly making it
up to get by, and I can see thathappening like in all
industries everywhere.
Like you're similar to wholelabor movement across America
and you know, for me, like I'mpart of that, I was just like
tired of this shit, you know.
So it's kind of like like whyyou know pause now, and I think
(13:23):
the people need to be heard,like their stories need to be
heard, their experiences,especially since you know
there's so much like long radio,like independent media, like we
can talk about whatever we wantand there's no one here to you
know edit it out.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yes, we love that.
So then, can you talk a littlebit about what the process was?
I mean, you decided to pivot.
You're like, okay, we're gonnado this.
And then what?
Like what?
How did you decide on how youwere gonna approach the issue?
And then how has the processbeen working out?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
We kind of worked on it together.
Like no one and I do a lot ofthese like work days at like a
you know community work space.
We called our spaces days.
That was where we had theoriginal conversation.
Well, she was telling me aboutyou know, our magazine and how
she might have to postpone itand then, on the spot, like I
(14:22):
kind of just like brought up the, I brought up a question and we
ripped on it and kind ofdeveloped the whole idea for an
issue together, right there.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Oh, that's awesome.
And what?
How would you like characterizethe idea in a nutshell?
Could you like pitch it the waythat you pitched it to her?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, basically what no one said, which is you know,
this is a magazine that's meantto uplift actors and filmmakers,
like isn't this like theliteral definition of uplifting?
You know, just like it was kindof hard to like pick the idea
at first, it was hard to explainlike we're not doing crap, for
you know you're right, movinganymore.
(15:01):
So you know, we're reallyfocused on the strikes, we ended
up getting six whole new talent.
A lot of them were through wordof mouth, like friends of
friends, people we shot beforewe actually met.
We went to the strikes and wemet a manager out there who she
managed a couple actors.
She brought a few actors for us.
(15:22):
So it's a lot of the new issue.
A lot of it's just been throughkind of bringing on work,
people from word of mouth.
But yeah, I mean the ideabehind the new issue is just
talking about concerns in theirindustry, talking about how the
industry has changed.
We have people actors that arenewer in their career.
We have actors that are like 30years into their career and
(15:43):
it's really interesting to hearthe different perspectives of
how this is affecting them.
We have the actors from Canada.
That may be an interview thatwill be on the issue as well and
just hearing, like all, howit's affecting so many different
people across the board interms of the film industry.
You know not just how thestrike is affecting them, but
(16:06):
just how all of these issuesthat are being brought up in the
strike is affecting andchanging the industry a lot.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Have you learned anything that surprised you
about what actors are goingthrough during the strike?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
I learned something really interesting that I didn't
know.
So I have, like my husband'sbrother he's in 728, he does
lighting, so I know a lot ofpeople who are in IOC and I know
that they get paid for theirgames.
I didn't know.
I learned this in one of theinterviews that actors and
(16:40):
writers get paid for episodes,which is kind of wild to me.
They were one of the writerswho was saying, yeah, like he's
been working for writing for 30over 3 years and he was like
when I was writing fortelevision at the beginning of
my career, you get 26 episodesand there's just more writers in
the room and that now theseshows are 6 episodes and they're
(17:03):
also way longer.
Each episode is 45 minutes anhour long, sometimes even some
of these shows are longer thanan hour and you're getting paid
the exact same amount and thatwas really so.
You're actually doing a lotmore work, you get less episodes
and so less pay.
That was really surprising tome.
I did not know that at all.
(17:26):
It also tells that they're nowtrying to outsource the cost of
casting onto actors by doingthose self-paced like.
I didn't realize that.
I think self-paced was such acostly endeavor and you know it
definitely doesn't even theplaying field the way that
casting does, you know, byproviding the same environment
for all the actors to perform in.
(17:48):
Now there's a lot of externalfactors that could play a role,
like lighting and sound, and now, you know, actors might have to
rent those self-tape studiosand it's just like yet one more
thing for studios to kind oflike offset the cost in their
own pockets.
I also learned about thepractice of, you know, re-naming
or rebooting shows, like aroundthe third season, so that they
(18:10):
don't have to pay residual.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, there's so many little things and I am really,
really excited to see this firstepisode, this first issue of
July, just even having had theopportunity to interview one of
the actors, which was super fun.
And also I learned somethingthere, which was the extent to
(18:34):
which people from othercountries are impacted by the
strikes that are going on here.
So Carolina, the actress that Iinterviewed was not she, you
know, pointed out, I'm not evena member of SAG-AFTRA because
I'm Canadian, but because it wasan American production that I
was working on that went awaywith the strikes.
(18:57):
And you know, she talked abouthow closely people in Canada are
following every little momentof the news of what's unfolding
here, because it impacts themand they can't really influence
it, and that was something I hadnever thought about before.
So, thank you guys for doingthis project.
(19:17):
I mean it's going to be, Ithink, really interesting and
enlightening, and I mean I'veseen, we've seen your
photography, so we know it'sgoing to be beautiful, so we're
really excited to see it.
When is it going to come outand how can we find it?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Well, I'm hoping so.
We just talked today actuallythe last two of our talents.
We're getting an interview soon, so I'm trying to get it out as
fast as I can because it's sorelevant right now.
So I'm hoping in the next, likebasically by the end of the
month.
It's the goal.
You can find it.
It's a digital magazine, soit's all free online.
(19:53):
It's just july-magazinecom.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And are you guys on socials?
Should people be following you?
Speaker 3 (20:01):
We have Instagram.
It's july-mag.
So far we just had Instagram,but eventually we're going to
get TikTok.
Oh, we've got threads too,which I think you can just go to
the Instagram and click thethread and oh yeah, diane is a
big TikTok work, so feelprobably good to do TikTok work.
(20:21):
Yeah, I was thinking a lot ofthe strikes of sports on TikTok
actually.
Well, that was kind of why Ihad the idea ready to go.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Oh, that's so funny.
Yeah, that is great to know.
Okay, so, july-mag, I justfollowed you.
Yay, can't wait to see thefirst issue.
God, can I not say the wordissue?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
We can even call it an episode.
That's what we should call it.
That would be cool.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And then you know.
One last thought.
I'm really curious.
Thank you so much foreverything that you guys are
doing.
It's really awesome.
And how do you feel aboutproceeding after the strike is
over?
You know, hopefully this firstissue will be the only one that
comes out, and then it will bedone.
(21:13):
And yeah, we get to all move onwith our creative lives.
How are you feeling about that?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I'm facing it day by day.
I mean, I've heard peoplesaying you know all the strikes
will be over in September.
Someone recently told me no, itcan be over in May.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Like you know, it's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Oh no, who's that person?
Stop.
I'm like, oh wow, Stop them.
My hope is that, yeah, it cango with tune and that you know,
the action could occurno-transcript and that the
industry moves forward in a verypositive way when this is over,
and then we'll go back to ouroriginal idea, which is, you
(21:51):
know, we're going to talk toactors about what they're
working on, we're going to talkto them about the background,
the process, and kind of getmore into the craft of it.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Hey you guys.
This was awesome.
Thanks for taking the time toshare with us and we are really
excited about your magazine andthank you for doing everything
that you've done to makeHollywood a happier place and,
yeah, we'll be looking forwardto it, Hopefully at the end of
(22:20):
this month.
That's all we've got for youthis week, guys.
Thank you again so much forjoining us.
Make sure that you check outJuly magazine.
It's July dash magazinecom.
We're also on social mediabeautiful posts on Instagram so
check that out and we will beback in a couple of weeks, and
(22:44):
we are really looking forward togetting back to our usual
format of having some behind thescenes confessions with amazing
voice actors who are like waycooler to listen to than me and
JR.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
And as soon as SAG-AFTRA has a deal, we're
going to bring those voiceactors back with open arms.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
So we will hopefully be seeing that happen very soon.
In the meantime, you guys hitus up on Twitter, instagram or
whatever.
X, you know that thing.
We should probably set up ablue sky, too At FESUP Hollywood
, and let us know if you have ashout out, a story to share.
We would love to connect withyou.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
But until then, go create in peace.
The Hollywood Confessional isproduced by Megan Dane and JR
Zemorethal, special effectsprovided by Zapp Splat and
Pixabay.
Hollywood Confessional is aninth way media production.
(23:46):
Follow us on socials at FESUPHollywood.
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