Story & Lesson Highlights with Josh Mitchell of Burbank

Josh Mitchell shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Good morning Josh, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
I’m chasing disruption — that moment when a story bends the culture instead of just reflecting it. I’m after the films that make people uncomfortable in the best way, the ones that ignite debate at dinner tables and force audiences to sit with ideas long after the credits roll. I’m not motivated by safety or by repeating what already works. I’m chasing the thing that feels slightly dangerous, slightly impossible, and completely alive.

If I stopped? The world wouldn’t collapse, but something in me would. Storytelling is the engine I run on. Without it, I’d be idle — and I’ve never been good at standing still. I create because it’s how I process the world, how I question it, how I push back at it. Stopping would feel like going silent in a moment that demands a voice.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
“I’m Josh Mitchell, the founder of Wickid Pissa Films — a Boston-bred, Hollywood-based engine for bold, inventive storytelling. I’m a prolific screenwriter and producer who gravitates toward projects that start conversations, rattle cages, and refuse to play it safe. My background as a publicist in this industry taught me one thing: the films that endure are the ones that dare audiences to look a little deeper. That’s the energy I bring to everything I create.

Wickid Pissa Films is all about attitude and originality. We champion stories with sharp edges — the ones that blend heart, humor, danger, and cultural friction. I love taking big swings, and I surround myself with collaborators who aren’t afraid of a little heat. Whether it’s a gritty character drama, an off-center biopic, or a genre-bending narrative that no one else would touch, I’m drawn to anything that sparks debate and gets people talking.

Right now I’m focused on pushing several feature films toward production, including projects that blend social commentary with entertainment in ways audiences haven’t quite seen before. At the end of the day, I’m here to shake things up and leave a mark — because filmmaking should be anything but boring.”

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
The part of me that I’m learning to release is the version that thought I had to wait for permission — permission to take big swings, to tell the stories that feel dangerous, to push the envelope until it tilts. In this industry, you’re trained to second-guess yourself, to play by invisible rules, to make work that’s ‘market-friendly.’ That mindset served me early on because it taught me the business. But now it just gets in the way.

I’ve hit a point where I don’t need validation to trust my voice. The part of me that played small has served its purpose. What’s replacing it is a sharper, bolder instinct — the confidence to follow the story wherever it wants to go, even if it ruffles a few feathers. Especially if it does.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Absolutely — there were moments when I almost walked away. Writing is such a lonely pursuit. You pour months, sometimes years, into a script with no guarantee anyone will ever read it, let alone champion it. You start to wonder if you’re shouting into a void. There were nights I stared at a script thinking, ‘Why am I doing this if no one’s even asking for it?’

But the truth is, that uncertainty also became my fuel. I realized that if I only wrote for applause or validation, I’d never finish anything. I had to fall in love with the grind — the late nights, the silent victories, the scenes that click when no one’s watching. The moment I stopped tying my worth to whether someone would read the work… I got better. Braver. More dangerous on the page.

So yes, I thought about giving up more than once. But each time, the story pulled me back in. And that’s how I knew I wasn’t done.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
My closest friends would say that what really matters to me is impact. I’m not someone who does anything halfway — if I’m writing a film, building a brand, or helping someone push their project into the world, I want it to mean something. They’d tell you I care deeply about truth, loyalty, and leaving a dent in the universe through the work.

They’d also say I’m obsessed with craft — that I’ll stay up all night rewriting a scene because the story deserves that level of respect. And they know how much people matter to me. The friendships, the collaborators, the underdogs I try to champion in this business…that’s my foundation. It’s not fame or trophies. It’s building something worth talking about with people I trust.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
I think people may misunderstand the intent behind my legacy. They’ll see the provocation, the sharp edges, the risks I took — and assume it was all about shock value or stirring the pot. But that’s never been the point. I’m not interested in controversy for its own sake. I’m interested in truth, in friction, in the stories that scrape beneath the surface of culture.

Long after I’m gone, I think people will realize the work was always rooted in heart — in wanting to challenge audiences because I believed they deserved more than recycled narratives. Some might misinterpret the ambition as ego, the boldness as rebellion for rebellion’s sake. But really, everything I’ve done has come from a place of wanting to push storytelling forward and give outsiders, underdogs, and overlooked voices a seat at the table.

My legacy, if I’m lucky, won’t be the noise. It’ll be the impact hiding underneath it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vimeo.com/picknroll
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchmitchell24
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/wickidpissafilms
• Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/mitchwickid

Image Credits
John Garrigan.