We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamie Jude a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jamie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.
I was visiting LA from northern California. I was hanging out with my two childhood friends; George Bladon and Koutn Hagopian. All three of us had developed an interest in film throughout high school and had each produced little videos of our own attempting to showcase our skills. That night we were getting dinner and we were all feeling creatively restless, wanting to make something…anything. Eventually, we spawned the idea of a production company (with an emphasis on music videos) and began brainstorming what that could do for us. I came up with the name Peyote Pictures, and we then began to build a presence for this small seed on social media. We were doing our best to solicit anyone at the time but didn’t hear back from many people. Eventually maybe 2-3 months later, we shot our first video. Over the course of two days, we got the most incredible rush filming our first project. We were incredibly fortunate to have access to some solid G&E equipment and made the most of everything. I remember sitting in my friend’s living room for two days straight while we edited the project and were ecstatic when we finally finished. (That video was finished in 2019 and released in 2020) Flash forward to today and our little brainchild still exists. Peyote Pictures is more of a systematic operation now. Our process is more streamlined and the way we approach projects has definitely matured and I would say our work shows that. The growth and evolution of our projects and skills have allowed us to meet some incredible people along the way and have brought us opportunities to work with premier forces in the music industry such as UMG, Atlantic, Format Ent. and Interscope. I think more than anything, the reason why this project still exists is due to our persistence for the dream. We knew when we started it was going to be slow and I don’t think we had any ulterior motives other than to creatively express and challenge ourselves. I say this wholeheartedly when I say I would rather die than not do something creative because I believe that feeling of creating is what pushes me toward art in general. That sentiment is what keeps these projects alive because it evokes a feeling of achievement and satisfaction unparalleled.
Jamie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Yeah absolutely, so I was born in London and then moved to LA where I grew up in Topanga Canyon here in Los Angeles until about the age of 12, From that point my family relocated to Northern California in Davis where I lived for roughly 7 years; attending high school and becoming a young adult. My interest in art started down here though when I became enamored with graffiti and street art. I began to dabble as a kid and became very in love with the art form. I would often film myself painting and also film videos with my friend George, attempting (rather poorly) to get a laugh out of people who saw our videos. The whole video thing predictably snowballed into my career and now I seek to live off of the hobby. My real introduction to the industry was working as a PA for YouTube TV. I worked on a commercial for the World Series and threw heaps of questions at the DP who was gracious enough to indulge my endless curiosity. After more and more gigs similar to that, our production company came to be and I found myself starting to work more and more freelance both as a director and cinematographer. Our company is generally hired when a musician or client wants to make a music video or film something. We then take care of everything from creative treatments (if necessary) to hiring crews and renting locations. We try to make it as seamless as possible for a client to translate their idea into visual content. What I am more proud of than anything is that feeling of being on set, looking at the playback monitor, and having that “holy shit! We made that!” feeling. I am also incredibly proud of the scale of the productions we have been able to pull off. Sometimes our crews have over 20 members and it is always special to work with such an expansive team. George, Koutn, and I do our best to find the best people we can for the job.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
For us, it’s always been about respect and who the client is as a person. Most of the people we have been lucky enough to work with have been people that we would consider friends because that initial project or shoot we did together created a great relationship. People who respect our hard work on set are always treated like friends and a lot of our clients we hang with outside of work. It’s been a huge blessing to meet some of the people we have and that is one aspect of this business that I never grow tired of.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I would say the main goal I have is to fully exhaust myself of my potential. Obviously, in the here and now, I want to be able to make amazing films and financially support myself but more than that the one thing that haunts me is the thought of looking back at the end of my life and realizing I didn’t take it as far as I could’ve or that I never tried this or tried that. I want to make films that I have been dreaming of and have creative experiences I’ve been dreaming of and more than that I want to have creative/film experiences I didn’t even know I was dreaming of…if that makes any sense.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://peyote.pictures
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jjamiejude/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeyotePictures
- Other: My Reel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uluwOWj4moI&t=124s
Image Credits
Kiara Vaziri, Zach Goodwin