We caught up with the brilliant and insightful JC Conklin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, JC thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Without the knowledge of what you love and the dedication to that vision a risk is a risk. But if you can see life as an ongoing lesson that leads you to growth and experience then your never risking anything. For me that occurred after spending enough years in retail Managment in Pittsburgh, I was offered a place to crash with a film buddy from college in GA just as the film boom was getting off the ground. I turned down a cushy GM job and was unemployed for a year visiting sets and building relationships with film people. But the whole time I kept a positive attitude of this not being the wrong decision but the perfect decision for that moment. And if I kept at it then I would find what I was looking for. And sure enough after having just been told “NO” by a production as an office PA, I was chatting about the fact I had been a teacher at apple for years just causally. And one of the production coordinators said “isn’t the director obsessed with apple and looking for an assistant”? And by being myself and staying true to the cause I landed a role of directors assistant on the ABC TV show Quantico. Never doubt yourself because everything happens for a reason, trust your gut because it is your true instincts, and know that no matter where life takes you keep a positive attitude and you will never risk anything!

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?

I am a family man, a content creator and a storyteller. I bring a fresh, unique perspective where I see everyone on set as an extension of myself trying to accomplish the same goals! Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Speilburg were the two of my influences in there unique ability to create emotion with simple lighting techniques and camera angles.

Seeing at a very young age how powerful visual storytelling could be, and learning that building a truly emotional experience creates a reality that transports your Audience to a world where their minds can’t tell what’s real/imaginary, I realized this was what I was going to do in my life. I would use that knowledge to create positive Tv/Movies that helped the audience remember love, kindness, and what it means to be a genuine human.

I became who I am today by finding out that the strength of my success came from being happy with who I was. Every part of me I could see and couldn’t, I embraced my quirky weirdness and allowed it to be my calling card.

And now I have just been picked up by a manager of RCM talents as a director all because of being genuine to my vision and to who I am.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The biggest resource I wish I knew when I got into the industry was the belief and confidence in myself. And I don’t mean belief and confidence that I could make it as a big Director being rich and famous. And that I was better than everyone else. No that is confidence fueled by the ego, and in this industry that is a very familiar word. This is the confidence that comes from inside. How I know no matter how my journey goes I will have the ability to see it as the “right” path. That if I get 100 “No’s”, I know there is a reason and a lesson there to help me grow. I know if my project isn’t getting funded, I may need to stop relying on others to make my dream come true. Really it’s to have the confidence to know that I am living my highest joy doing what I love, giving it my all, and loving every “Now” moment that comes my way. With this perspective there is no bad direction and only sucess.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

When I was on “The Walking Dead” I had a situation that showed me the power that good storytelling had. I was in the office going over fan mail and we had just killed off a key character when I came across a theme in many letters. Summed up, it revealed that everyone was sending letters that made me wonder if they thought that this character/actor had really died. Just such emotion in their words. Obviously everyone was fine but to take the time send a letter about a fictitious character’s death blew me away. I procrastinate working out let alone writing a letter about a fake tv show character’s death. It was then I knew there was a reality being built in the audience’s mind that was very close to the reality they experienced everyday. Then after doing research I found out the brain truly can’t distinguish the difference between a memory and a thought. So my mission that simply started as making the world a better place, evolved to creating tv and movies that would bring positivity and messages of love into the audience’s everyday life. Now this didn’t mean it was all sunshine and rainbows because that’s not real, but what was real was the understanding that as filmmakers we have a responsibility to ask ourselves what reality are we bringing the audience to and how will it ripple into there lives.
So I began to teach filmmakers new and seasoned about that concept and created something called “EFOCUS” which stands for emotionally focusing on cinematics using storytelling. There will be a link somewhere in this article for people who want to know more.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chillbabyproductions.com/
• Instagram: Chillbaby_productions
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcconklin88
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCDKojpi8C5TuoqdifAbpqrg
• Other: EFOCUS instagram : e_focus_films IMDB : https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3849534/