We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Josh Chitwood. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Josh below.

Josh, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Since 2014, the mission of Chitwood Media has been to create films that cultivate inspiration, expand perspective, empower community & affirm hope. We love stories and here is ours:

In 2013, there was a local film festival with the challenge “to create a 3-minute film about your neighborhood and why you love it.” At the time, I was living with a family in North Minneapolis as a college student and had been dating Morgan, my now wife. North Minneapolis is where my wife grew up and was a side of town that often got overlooked and stigmatized. When I told Morgan about the festival, she said, “We have to make one on North!” This unfolded into a journey of Morgan and I taking my $200 Sony DSLR, vintage Minolta 50mm lens, and a 25¢ garage sale mic as we prayerfully walked around and interviewed neighbors. A few months passed and Morgan and I had created our first documentary film together, “Welcome to North.” Sharing our hopes for the film, we both agreed that success to us meant for the film to shift at least one person’s perspective. We submitted the film into the festival and eagerly waited as the film festival rolled around. The day had come and we sat in the theater eagerly watching each film. At the end, awards were announced and we ended up winning first place and audience choice! We couldn’t believe it. The cash prize allowed us to upgrade our camera and buy a car (biking and busing had been our only transportation). From there, the film went locally viral and because of this exposure, Chitwood Media was born.

Since then, Morgan and I have created a diverse array of films for both national brands and everyday people. We recently relocated to Indianapolis and ironically 10 years after creating our first documentary, we were hired to tell the story of our neighborhood. We live in the Hawthorne neighborhood, in the Near West Side of Indianapolis, which is a neighborhood often overlooked and stigmatized. Sound familiar? We hope to tell a different story in our upcoming short documentary film, “¡HAWTHORNE! an indy west side story”.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Starting out with pencil drawing, Microsoft Paint and skate films, I never thought I’d start my own filmmaking business. Ever since I was a little boy, I have loved creating things. I love the sacred exchange of creating something and observing someone else respond to it. Whether that response be unexpected tears or that warm feeling of being seen, I love it. Fast forward to now, Morgan and I have a heart for telling unscripted and compelling stories. Naturally, we have found ourselves mainly hired to create story driven films for both brands and weddings. Our desire is to get to the heart of each story, without overtly directing or scripting every movement. We aim to film with creativity and curiosity and our interviewing style is very conversation based. My editing style is very personal and I am incredibly intentional with each frame. Morgan and I’s pursuit has never been to strike-it-rich by creating films, but to enrich others by the films we create.

A few years ago I created my most personal film to date: “When We Were Syrian: Early Lebanese in Indianapolis”. This film tells my own family’s immigration story from Modern Day Lebanon to Indianapolis in the early 1900s. Not only is this film the proudest work of mine, I literally invested my very being into every moment of that film. To a degree, I try to do this with each of our films, no matter the scope. I think perhaps this is why our work continues to resonate with people. Our films are not meant to be consumable commodities, only adding to the noise of the endless content of our day. Or at least, I hope this to be true. Either way, I’ll keep creating.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Relationships, plain and simple. There is value in online marketing and being active on social media. However, I have found over the past 10 years that word of mouth and investing in community is the best way to build clientele and open doors for new opportunities. This does not mean to pursue relationships with a distorted intent to capitalize on them somehow. What I mean is to be so invested in those around you, that perhaps they will invest in you and your business.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being creative, I believe, is part of what it means to be fully human. Each of us were created with the capacity to discover beauty around us and to create beauty from within us. Whether you are creating spreadsheets or writing a symphony, creativity is what drives our ideas.

Being a creative, to me, is living with a posture of curiosity. It is a rewarding way of life, discovering the beauty already around you or to have the imagination to dream of something better. The creative life to me, is a profound spiritual connection between me and my Creator.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chitwoodmedia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chitwoodmedia
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chitwoodmedia
• Other: https://vimeo.com/chitwoodmedia

Image Credits
Image “8” credit goes to Timmy Howard