We were lucky to catch up with John Redlinger recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, John thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I grew up in a Dallas suburb in the 90’s, so needless to say the entertainment industry seemed about as far away as could be. But both of my parents were creative in their own ways and always encouraged my imagination. On weekends I’d wrangle whatever friends I could to brave the summer heat and make movies on a little Sony handycam I’d pilfered from my dad’s office. Even at that stage of creative development, I fell in love with all aspects of the process… the collaboration with others to make something entertaining. In high school, I was fortunate to have a theater teacher who was also a caring mentor – she nurtured my burgeoning passion for storytelling (in various forms) with wisdom, guidance, and a healthy helping of tough love. With the support of many people wiser than I could ever be, I found my way to the theater program at the University of Southern California. I learned so much from the people I met and worked with there, but throughout that rigorous and formal training I continued to work with friends and long-time collaborators on outside passion projects — short films, video competitions, scene recreations, parody videos, spec commercials, etc. — and now looking back with some perspective, it was those scrappy experiences that provided the best education. Long hours with little-to-no money or resources, working alongside people I love and respect to make something ultimately more important than the “final result”… those are my fondest memories!
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 founded my production company, Bad & Classic Productions, with my longtime friend and collaborator Sam Schweikert. Our work together started from humble beginnings — just a group of high school friends getting together in our spare time to create fun videos. Our passion and creativity continued to develop as we found ourselves pursuing our dreams and moving to Los Angeles for school. The ensuing years have been filled with many projects and awesome opportunities! All of this lead us to officially form our company Bad & Classic Productions. We pride ourselves in embodying the rogue and rebellious nature required of indie filmmakers, “BAD,” as well as the crisp, clean craftsmanship of professional big-budget creatives, “CLASSIC.” What was once a group of youthful enthusiasts seeking to emulate their big-screen heroes has evolved into a full-service, cutting-edge, boutique production company servicing all aspects of storytelling. Bad and Classic Productions has a long resume of award-winning short films, commercial content, industrials, actors’ demo reels, documentaries, live events, and even two full-length independently financed pilots. When not developing our own narrative content, we pride ourselves in working closely with clients at every budget level to deliver professional-quality results with a personal touch.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
In my experience, a great deal of training in the performing arts is unhealthy. Often, the approach is one-size-fits all, and step 1 is to break the individual down to “build them back up.” The approach is one-size-fits all, and step 1 is to break the individual down to later “build them back up.” It is frequently financially driven and generally harmful to a person’s long-term wellbeing. Now, there is nothing wrong with a set method or structure, but when training creates self-doubt or when an teacher’s point-of-view becomes overly dogmatic and the persona eclipses the message, I believe it squelches out the room for joy. I experienced quite a bit of that back in the day. But, the truth is… early on along the way in every person’s artistic journey, some bit of discovery evoked joy – maybe they told a joke and people laughed, or they strummed a guitar and the notes sounded pleasing, or they danced and it made them feel alive, etc. As a young actor and filmmaker in LA, I allowed myself to be “broken down” — I felt I really had to suffer to be good… to reach for some undefined level of darkness to be interesting. But life is hard enough, everybody will face challenges regardless of our chosen path, so why seek out more trouble than needed? It was a long and winding road to rediscover the joy in being an artist, to re-learn that what makes each individual performer compelling is their inherent uniqueness. My philosophy now is to seek out people, circumstances, and opportunities that inspire — and to hopefully, help provide those opportunities for others.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Wow, big question! I should say first and foremost, there is a reason I chose a career playing make-believe rather than questing to solve real-world problems. A recent collaborator put it like this: the strength of the arts lies not in determining solutions, but in creating possibilities. But here goes… society needs to prioritize arts education in schools and within communities. This includes providing funding for arts programs that allow for hands-on work (go get your hands dirty!) but also facilitating mentorship opportunities. Then, the goal should be to foster a culture of collaboration between artists and other sectors such as tech, science, and business. A healthier network of cross-disciplinary collaboration could lead to innovative new opportunities for artists. Lastly, and perhaps most immediately importantly, artistic training programs need to incorporate a larger focus on mental health education and awareness. Providing artists with tools to recognize and manage stress, anxiety, and other mental health challenges will only continue to help remove outdated stigmas surrounding the arts, and empower artists to be better equipped to weather the highs and lows inherent in this career path.
Contact Info:
- Website: badandclassicproductions@gmail.com
- Instagram: @johnredlinger