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

Ross, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

Well I started music way back when I would say I wanted to, I would have liked to have started taking on film projects at an earlier time I can certainly say that. I started recording music at the end of high school, and built up my indie label at the time. I did direct several music videos, including executive producing some animated ones which was interesting. In terms of my main series “The Zodiac Files” I did not release the first episode until during the pandemic, but my channel Planet X Filmworks (subscribe) was already established at that point with some live shows, and movie reviews. Starting sooner would have helped me build up my true crime audience, and gain more momentum earlier. However, filmmaking is a difficult process, many projects do not release until years after shooting and editing which is very common. Looking back I would have just got the axe to the grind, and producing more film projects to hone my skills, I should have started as soon as possible. Nowadays people win awards shooting films on iphones, I suppose I still have a very traditional process in mind for film making.

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 originally created my channel to create short films, even independent feature films, web series, motion comics, comic books, all around the action / sci-fi / horror / crime genres. We are mainly known for “the Zodiac Files” true crime series which is an depth deep dive of the Zodiac Killer unsolved cold case crimes in Northern California in the late 1960s. We also do “Paradigm Review Show” Reviewing movies/TV shows/ Short firms every Saturday as a live show. What separates us is we do movie shows, interviews with actors (Such as John Philbin from “Point break”), true crime case topics, and other more esoteric material such as the paranormal and cryptids. I am most proud of my main series “The Zodiac Files” Check out the latest episode 4, in which we deep dived a 1963 case known as the “Domingos Edwards” murders in Santa Barbara, CA. Viewers can subscribe to the channel to see our content which mostly covers unsolved true crime cold cases, and film making reviews and history retrospectives. Planet X Filmworks on youtube. the best ways to support the channel are to become a member to get early access release on episodes, or on our new patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/c/planetxfilmworks

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

For the main series, yes there absolutely is. Since we cover unsolved cold cases, the ideal result would be someone from the around the time these crimes occurred watching my video series and have it trigger some forgotten memory. From there they could contact law enforcement and provide a tip. Although the more time passes the more difficult this scenario becomes. That would be the mission goal one hundred percent.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I will share one I have not previously discussed. While looking for the trail to get down the canyon during the Ep. 4 shoot, invitingly named “Rattle snake / Poison oak canyon”, we got lost and hacked through the bush for about an hour or so. We nearly cut our own trail back down to the bottom of the canyon with machetes. During this glorious voyage I grabbed on to a tree, possibly poison oak which exploded in liquid like a water fall. Turns out that type of sap is essentially liquid napalm of poison oak. The end result was I had what was probably the worst out break of poison oak of my life covering my forearms, hands, and ankles. The reward? A strong sunburn on the back of my neck for the duration of the day 2 shoot. That’s how resilient I am. I highly doubt anyone will be filming down there any time soon, other than that though Santa Barbara is beautiful and the trip was great! Did I mention I come 100% out of pocket for the main series episodes? Subscribe to Planet X Filmworks on YT! Join the channel with three different level tiers to get early access perks and exclusive Q&As with me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://patreon.com/planetxfilmworks
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/rossgpxf
• Twitter: @RossGeraciPXF
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/planetxfilm
• Other: https://patreon.com/planetxfilmworks

Image Credits

Ross and Graffiti legend Mear One

Ross and Lloyd Kaufman creator of Troma Films at SDCC

Ross and Hip-hop Legend Chino XL (R.I.P) at SDCC