We recently connected with Steven Lloyd Bennett and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Steven thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

I think the craziest story is with my very first film project I was doing under my company’s name back in 2010. I had done a play the year before under the JusB moniker that had a decent turnout but this was the first film and I was really excited. It was also my very first short film so I was trying to get everything just right.

The short film was in dedication to my late mother, Audrey who’s nickname was Blossom. It was entitled, “What’s in Blossom’s Purse?” Needless to say it was at the time, an extremely important project for me. I only had about 600 dollars saved up to shoot this short, so I hired a Director of Photography and a sound guy for 400 and 200 respectively. My sister owned a music school with a bunch of eager artist kids, so I hired one of her high school aged students as a production assistant, free of charge. That was going to be my entire crew.

The cast was 10 actors over the course of a three day shoot. No one was going to be paid except for the DP and the sound guy. On the morning of the first day, the three actors scheduled all showed up…
But that’s it. The DP and the sound guy both did not show up. And were not answering any of my frantic phone calls. I was freaking out. The actors had come from Brooklyn, had taken an hour and a half train ride to come shoot in New Rochelle, and weren’t being paid, so I thought in that moment, “I can’t cancel this.”

Fortunately I had bought a DSLR camera, a Canon T2i a few months prior to teach myself framing techniques (I still have it). I also bought a crappy sound recorder weeks prior, I forget why. In that moment, a thought occured to me that calmed me instantly. “If I do everything, I know I can at least trust that it will get finished.” And that was all I cared about. Finishing the project. So, I decided I was going to shoot the entire short film myself. I was going to do camera, lighting and sound, and direct this short film that I wrote. And in my head, all I can think of was making the project. I didn’t care how, or with who, it was all about the project that was in my head and needed to be on screen. This way, maybe I could sleep at night.

Because my actors were so considerate, and talented, and I was shooting in locations around my town that I knew inside and out, the shoot went very smoothly. Now, technically, the film was a mess. The picture quality was poor, because I had very little idea how lighting worked beyond what some youtube videos told me (youtube was very different back then). The sound quality was a disgrace. But… I made a movie. And I thought that film was going to win awards and cure all the wars and famine. It did not.

What this experienced taught me is that I don’t really have any hurdles in my life. Everything that occurs, every difficulty, is meant for your success. Every difficulty is an opportunity to grow, to learn something new, to be a little more battle tested. Since then I have actors cancel on me on the day of, I have had rain delays in California (during a drought no less) and I have had a couple feature films die before they can get funded. But I now know, and I have proof that I’m dedicated and nothing will stop me until I get any project done. By any means necessary.

What it also spawned was the genesis of knowing every single skill when it comes to filmmaking. I am a professional writer, director, and editor because of those guys canceling on me last minute. And I am forever grateful.

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.

My name is Steven Lloyd Bennett. I am a filmmaker and CEO of JusB Films. Together with my COO Alberto Lopez, we are a production company based in Los Angeles that focuses on creating films, (short and features) of a thought provoking standard. We want to entertain but also enlighten through our works. We are also focused on developing newer filmmakers and opening doors for them they couldn’t open before.

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

I’ve never sold a business but I’ve sold a screenplay, which is pretty much the same thing in my eyes. Late 2022, I sold a screenplay titled RUSS & DRU to Tyler Perry Studios. It was a big moment for me as it got me into the WGA (writers Union) and it will solidify me as a player in the industry. It didn’t come easy for me though as I was initially intending to shoot the film myself. Raise the capital, and produce it through JusB. But when Tyler Perry Studios wants your project you have to do a cost benefit analysis and see which path makes the most sense for your company. I was in a position where I had several other projects cooking. It wouldn’t make sense for me to hold onto one of them. Especially when selling one can greatly benefit the others. Which is what we are working hard at now.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met my business partner Alberto Lopez on the basketball court. A mutual friend had invited a bunch of guys to go shoot some hoops at a local high school. I get there and this guy with this THICK Brooklyn accent is talking trash on the basketball court in the middle of Glendale, California. We started talking and I realized he was also a New York Knicks fan. The rest was history.

Contact Info:

• Website: Jusbfilms.com
• Instagram: @jusbfilms @justevenb
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3l7jsYMY0Z_DWIU6I4T4Aw