Check Out Joseph X Casillas’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph X Casillas

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up all around Los Angeles. With my mom, we’d lived in Whittier, City Terrace, and even Pomona. But with my dad, I’d always been in Glassell Park. My drive to tell stories started with him. He’d tell me about how Tarantino shot Reservoir Dogs in our backyard. How he always loved Pulp Fiction because it showed the parts of LA you don’t often see in film and television. So when I was given an ultimatum of getting a full-time job or going to college, I decided to study screenwriting. I always knew I wanted to be a writer, I just wasn’t sure in what medium or capacity. It wasn’t until a couple of years into college that my first screenwriting professor – Mick Curran – told us, “Fifty years ago if you set out to be a writer, you wrote a book. Today, we write screenplays.” That’s what solidified it for me. Since graduating with my bachelor’s degree in film & television (and an emphasis in screenwriting), I’ve had several experiences for companies like Our Turn, NALIP, and Big Apple Film Fest. I’ve also placed in the Academy Nicholl Fellowship and Austin Film Fest. Currently, I am a reader for Shore Scripts coverage and am working on a documentary titled Glassellland, a personal account of the gentrification I’ve witnessed over the years in Northeast LA, Glassell Park.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been anything but smooth. I think you grow up with a plan or at least a set of goals. But the older you get, the more you realize nothing goes according to plan. I used to compare myself to my favorite screenwriters and directors. I’d think, if they did it by this age, I need to, as well. Looking back it makes me laugh, seeing how I used to think.

A year into college at my CSU, I woke up one morning to my family standing around me. My father stood at the doorway, crying. My younger brother looked at me from across the room, scared. It turns out I had compulsively shaken in my sleep, biting down on my tongue in the process. All my life I had these… attacks. I just assumed they were anxiety-driven. I thought everyone had them. Turns out, my whole life I had epilepsy. Those “attacks” that I assumed were anxiety, were actually seizures. This changed the course of my life.

I had to take a year to get my health together. I never took time off of school, but I did transfer to a local community college to take some pressure off of myself. At the time, it felt like the end of the world. I saw it – ignorantly – as a downgrade. But I’d go on to meet some of my closest friends at that college. Including Patil Kojikian, whom I consider to be my writing partner. Nothing anyone has read will ever see the light of day until Patil reads it first. So I’m grateful for the rocky, oftentimes scary road my life has gone down.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I wear many hats. When I’m not doing coverage for Shore Scripts, I’m probably in grad school where I’m working on my Master’s degree in Creative Writing. Beyond that, I am the Lead Drama Editor for the literary magazine “Northridge Review” (one of the oldest literary magazines in LA County).

If I’m not at school, I’m working on Gladlyinsane – an independent production company I founded in 2010. Gladlyinsane started as a joke – we were just a group of friends making silly skits with an old camcorder. But over time it has evolved into something much bigger. Gladlyinsane now offers script coverage, photography portfolio’s, merch, and has produced over seven new shorts this year alone (all of which is now featured on the recently launched Gladlyinsane.com website). Also under the Gladlyinsane umbrella is the short documentary “Glassellland” which I am directing. The doc follows gentrification in Glassell Park and has been in production since late 2022.

As a director, I specialize in short-form oddball-style comedy. My goal as a comedy director is to always harbor an environment that not only fosters but encourages improv and experimenting. As a writer, however, I specialize in drama feature screenplays. My drama/thriller feature “Pink & White Skies” placed as a quarterfinalist in the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship of 2023 as well as the second round in Austin Film Fest of the same year. But I don’t like to box myself as just a screenwriter. A couple of my non-fiction short stories have been published in the literary magazine Writers for Rights and a fiction short story of mine “It Rained Frogs Last Nite” is currently top 15 in the entire past year on Coverfly’s Red List.

My writing tends to revolve around Native American characters and feature out-of-the-box narratives. I write a lot about Los Angeles as I find this strange and beautiful city to be rich in themes of identity and different cultural tapestries.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The most important lesson I’ve learned are three things which are all linked. One, nothing goes according to plan. Two, life is short. Three, no one cares. So do what you want, at your own pace, and do it in a way that makes you happy. Because at the end of the day, again, no one gives a fuck.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gladlyinsane.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/big_big_love_/
• Twitter: https://x.com/gladlyinsane
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDNx_CsNyqOWCjEKrHy4Cug
• Other: https://writers.coverfly.com/@g-l-a-d-l-y-i-n-s-a-n-e

Image Credits
All photos credited to Joseph X Casillas.