We recently connected with Jason Crossman and have shared our conversation below.
Jason, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
More often than not, life requires us to do many things we don’t like or enjoy: paying taxes, waiting in line, rush hour, bills, etc. So, it becomes vitally important to discover what provides you the most joy and meaning. Meaning comes from having purpose and purpose from an eternal perspective, that is, having a focus that extends beyond our lifetimes and impacts the world long after we are gone. How often have you heard someone say, “I want to change the world?”
Changing the world means different things to different people. For me, changing the world means helping others find their hope and purpose so they can live their fullest lives. On one such occasion, I had the privilege to travel to Uganda with my friend’s organization, Visiting Orphans. They aim to provide much-needed education, resources, and assistance to individuals worldwide serving orphans in their country. I went to film the trip, tell the organization’s stories, and get a glimpse of the lives they are helping. That is where I met Katie David Majors, a young girl who had left her home in Tennessee, served in the Peace Corps, and saw thousands of children without parents or homes. They will allow you to adopt children in Uganda, but there is a catch. You can’t take them out of the country. If you adopt them, you must stay in Uganda and raise them there. So, at the ripe old age of 22, Katie adopted 13 little girls. Yes, you heard that right. She wrote a book about it, Kisses From Katie.
Seeing her serve her community and those little girls rocked my world. In addition to her children, she helped provide food for over 1200 children in the surrounding area and education for kids. While filming, I set the camera down and joined the team in washing the feet of over 1000 kids and giving them some new shoes donated by Soles for Souls. You wouldn’t believe the sores on these kid’s feet. In some cases, you could touch the bone. But, no matter what, they were happy. They hugged us and thanked us.
I walked out onto the patio to catch the bright crimson sun setting over Lake Victoria, and I witnessed something I will never forget. There was a pile of shoes that rose almost to my waist. One little boy, the last of the kids to get his boots, dropped his old shoes on the pile. I asked him why he didn’t take them with him, too, and he looked at me like I just asked him to fly. “Why would I do that?” He replied. “I only have two feet.” He laughed as he ran off in his new shoes. I thought about cleaning out my wardrobe.
Though in serving American World Adoption, Katie Davis, Shoes for Souls, and the kids, I had helped a lot of people, in the end, I was the one who benefited the most. Isn’t that the way it always works?
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
As an Emmy Award-winning director, I’ve spent my entire professional career finding ways to effectively connect brands, personalities, and ideas with people. I didn’t start as a filmmaker; I was in pre-med training to become a doctor, but I took an elective TV production class my sister was in, and the rest was history. I fell in love with it. The university I was attending didn’t offer any other film classes; they had a communications and public relations department, so I transferred from medicine and created my film course in my senior year. Ever the problem solver, I wrote five new classes, including film history, short films, feature films, and screenwriting. I got the courses approved by the university and finished my final year as the first filmmaker to graduate. I did my post-graduate work at Watkins Film School, where I won best picture for a Civil War film and was featured in Kodak Cinematography Magazine. From there, I started my own production company and worked on developing video and interactive presentations in Nashville. Nashville has a lot to offer in terms of production, so I joined some other amazing companies, including Revolution Pictures, Travis TV, and Taillight, where I directed, shot, or edited music videos, commercials, short films, TV shows, and EPK’s for dozens of artists including Carrie Underwood and Blake Shelton. My life has been full of incredible experiences; I’ve traveled to over forty countries and taught Master’s level classes at University. My work has appeared on CMT, GAC, Fox, E!, Cinemax, People Magazine, PBS, TNN, and YouTube. While all of that has been great, my main passion and goal is feature films. I’ve got dozens of scripts ready to go, and I’m excited for the next chapter of my life! I’ve recently written a book, After Happily Ever After, which will be released later this year. I currently host a podcast on Spotify called “Entertainment Dudes!”
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I have wanted to director feature films since 2000. I’ve spent over twenty-four years doing projects for others, and I have never shot my own feature. It has always been about getting the money to do it. I sold everything and moved to California after fifteen years in Nashville. I came out here on the promise I would be able to direct two new shows a friend of mine had been greenlit for. Two months after I had arrived, all of the shows fell through, and the company dissolved. I spent our entire savings building a new company, creating new relationships, and focusing on writing as many scripts as I could. I honed my craft and learned about video volumes, LED production, and AI (I’m currently studying at MIT). Last year, I finally had my first film greenlit. It was ten million dollars, and I flew to Hungary to location scout. I was living on cloud nine, and finally, I would get the chance. Then, SAG decided to strike. Because of that, our production halted. We couldn’t package our deal or make any offers to actors. The investment firm pulled all their money from the film fund into real estate. I lost another deal. I have been close about thirty or forty times and have never given up. I have days where I am broken and question what I am doing, but through it all, I press on. I keep my eye on the prize and have an eternal perspective. I do not get my value from my ability to make a movie but from the fact that God created me and has a purpose greater than my aspirations. Along the journey, I have helped many people, taught others, and inspired the next generation of filmmakers. If you focus on serving other people along the journey, it makes the delayed gratification worthwhile!
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Many people do not and can never understand a creative’s life and mind. They cannot comprehend why we would forsake the security and comfort of a steady paycheck to pursue a highly improbable opportunity to make a living out of creating. It is highly stressful, filled with ups and downs, and uncertain. It makes no sense to choose this path unless you know it willingly. And by now, I mean, you’ve been bit by the bug. Every fiber in your being demands that you create, and the longer you turn away from that calling, the worse it gets until you are completely miserable, no matter how hard you try to ignore it. My advice would be to listen to the arguments of people who are worried for you, take the wisdom from their advice you can apply, and ignore the rest. You do have to make money, so if you aren’t successful in the craft, find something to pay the bills until you are. They will worry a lot less, and you will ask to borrow much less money. This will make everyone happy.
Contact Info:
- Website: entertainmentdudes.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasondcrossman/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasondcrossman/
- Other: hausinfluentia.com