Crafting Violent Endings w/John-Michael Powell - Just Shoot It 498

Just Shoot It: A Podcast about Filmmaking, Screenwriting and Directing

How do you define your voice as a director? John-Michael Powell https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3119508/ talks about his new film "Violent Ends" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6902560 and the career journey that brought it to theaters.

When the entire faculty of his art college told him to give up on becoming an artist, John-Michael moved to Los Angeles. He landed his first job at Bunim-Murray Productions, spending nights watching VHS tapes of "The Real World" and transcribing every line of dialogue onto scraps of paper. By day, he lived in a garage in the Valley off the 405 and close to the edge of moving back home.

The better he became at editing TV segments with paper scraps thumb-tacked to a corkboard, the faster he spiraled towards mastering useless skills and boring stories about the way things were.

But John-Michael had a knack for finding building blocks in any situation. Even alone, the work fueled him. But he still didn't yet know why that mattered to him.

Soon things started taking shape: a Sundance award, editing a documentary on the Boston Marathon bombers, learning comedic timing from legend Jerry Zucker, and eventually an Emmy. Suddenly, he began seeing how the trajectory he was on, was nothing he imagined growing up in Arkansas.

Listen as John-Michael shares about his career. Why Arkansas is a big part. And how it's all about constant discovery. You're really going to enjoy seeing and feeling why he’s in love with building his voice as a director and uncovering the secrets that await.

Find him on Instagram: @johnmichael_powell

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Matt's Endorsement: The cookbook "Let's Party", by Dan Pelosi https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/dan-pelosi/lets-party/9781454956785/

Oren's Endorsement: An interview with David Zucker on the podcast "How I Write: Hollywood Director Explains The 15 Rules of Comedy" https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/david-zucker-hollywood-director-explains-the-15-rules/id1700171470?i=1000715428218

John Michael's Endorsement: "A Dictionary of Color Combinations", by Sanzo Wada https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Color-Combinations-Various/dp/4861522471

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